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05-26-2008, 6:23 PM C-17A Joined on 01-30-2006 Posts 388 Maine Gold Trip -- 24/26 May 2008 Greetings GoldGrubbers, Had the change to load up the Jeep and take my family on a Maine outting this Memorial Day weekend. We blasted up the coast to Bar Harbor, Maine, leaving at 5 AM on Saturday from Newport, RI, , arriving about 11AM. We had lunch at the Bar Harbor warf, visited the Acadia National park, drove up to Cadillac Mtn, then hiked Penobscot Mtn, and then went to Thurston's Lobster Pound for dinner. Man was that Maine "laubsta" good with fresh drawn butter! Also, I slept real well after such a long day... Sunday was exploring the Maine mountains and gold prospecting day. So, we drove up to Byron, ME, and pulled over on the Swift River at the campground/mineral shop pull out. Beautiful river! After talking with the mineral shop owners, we settled on the first big pull out up the road, about 500 yards up the road from the store. I waided across the river above where the rapids section starts and started sluicing on the side of the river, back down a little ways, basically on the polished, smooth bedrock. I dug aggregate out of low lying areas, cracks and some nice and deep holes in the bedrock carved by smaller rocks swirling round and round when the river flows fast at flood stage. Actually, it was actually pretty slow going, as I had to REALLY dig to get the rocks unjammed from the cracks and holes without a large/heavy steel bar. My small Garrett crevice tool was too small and too soft to dislodge these tight packed rocks in the cracks. I found almost no black sand, just LOTS of pink garnet sand as the heavy sand. In the course of 3 hrs I probably didn't sluice more than 6 2-gallon buckets of aggregate. But still, the weather was absolutely amazing, 70 degrees, clear, light breeze and the water was cool and clear. My two kids splashed in the river all afternoon and my wonderful wife sun tanned most of the afternoon, when she wasn't painting the kids with sunblock or making a picnic lunch. I was amazed at the deep holes carved into the bedrock in places. Some were 2, 3 or even 4 feet deep, and about 1 to 2 feet across, and there was no way I could get down that deep to try to get to the gravel at the bottom below the rocks. I was sure there HAD to be gold at the bottom of those holes.... I tried my best on a few smaller holes, but very time consuming. Bailing out the water with my bucket, then reaching as far as I could to try to pull rocks out, one by one. I only cleaned up the sluice twice, and during the second clean up, my pad of miner's moss slid off into the river and washed away before I noticed and could retrieve it. I chased it down stream, but it sunk in a really large/deep pool, never to surface again. Dang it. I was done for the afternoon. :( Panning out some of my cons I did see a few very small specks, so I didn't get skunked. :) Will pan out the small amount of cons soon and post a pic if there's anyting to report. We hit the road this morning and stopped off at Ogunquit Beach, ME, just above the New Hampshire border. A really nice, sandy, wide/flat beach. My son dug a large hole with my shovel and my daughter splashed in the cool waves for a while. Seemed all of Maine turned out as well, not to mention the Memorial Day Parade of bands, fire trucks, hot rods and police cars that marched thru town, down to the beach where we were and back. God bless America for small town U.S.A. and patriotism that still warms the heart! We got home about 3 PM. For the most part, had a really nice trip to Maine, our first. Many aspects reminded me of Alaska -- high water table, boggy and wet areas all over, heavy trees/underbrush, and lots of animals. We saw Ospreys, a fox, 2 wild turkeys, 5 Cooper's Hawks and others, but no Moose. Hoped to see a Moose. "Laubsta Pounds" were ALL over. These are the local laubster restaurants where fresh laubsters are kept in tanks just waiting for you to pick it out and eat it or take it home. So, hope you all start getting out, if you haven't already, and start panning, sluicing, highbanking and dredging for the yellow stuff. You might just see springtime in nature with its wild flowers, new leaves and new growth, as we did this weekend. I posted 2 pics on the Forum... Heavy pans and Happy prospecting! Randy    Report

05-26-2008, 9:59 PM twig/al Joined on 01-24-2006 Gadsden, Alabama Posts 4,629 Re: Maine Gold Trip -- 24/26 May 2008 C-17A, As usual, great story!!! Sounds like you and the family had a great time... twig/al Alabama Prospecting Supply www.alabamaprospectingsupply.com Email: tom@alabamaprospectingsupply.com Southeast Treasure Hunters Forum www.southeasttreasurehunters.com    Report

05-27-2008, 5:10 AM GasCan/SW-GA Joined on 01-25-2006 Summerville, Ga Posts 656 Re: Maine Gold Trip -- 24/26 May 2008 Another outstanding story, C-17A, thanks for taking us along. No better way to spend a weekend than out with mother nature and the family. Hope you are keeping a copy of all your adventures, one day you may want to write your life history; I've been doing that for years. GasCan/NW-GA, Formerly SW-GA    Report

05-28-2008, 3:38 AM Herschel Joined on 01-30-2006 Monterey, Louisiana Posts 3,152 Re: Maine Gold Trip -- 24/26 May 2008 Randy, you really do write good reports. Can't wait until the next one. Herschel "Chief Instigator" Stop "Poly-Ticks" in Washington!! (definitian) Poly: many Ticks: blood suckin' insects    Report

05-28-2008, 4:42 AM russau Joined on 02-06-2006 st. louis missouri Posts 1,171 Re: Maine Gold Trip -- 24/26 May 2008 it is better to have seen a place once, rather than have heard about it 1 thousand times! Randy it sounds like you had a good time!    Report

05-29-2008, 8:04 PM C-17A Joined on 01-30-2006 Posts 388 Re: Maine Gold Trip -- 24/26 May 2008 Thanks everyone! I "had" to make a second trip up to Coos Canyon on Tuesday afternoon and prospected on Wednesday. Had the day to find more gold..... Beautiful Maine mountains in the spring......cool clear water, nice trees, rugged bed rock........ Will post a new report of my last trip and new pics sooooooon. Randy    Report

06-03-2008, 6:15 AM sunnyslife Joined on 11-01-2006 Ohio Posts 223 Re: Maine Gold Trip -- 24/26 May 2008 Randy, I think we have all learned to live kind of "vicariously" through your reports.  Love reading about your trips. Just sounds like you need to bury a sucker tube in your trunk for when you get to those holes that are just a little too deep for the arms. thanks for sharing. Barbara I am too blessed to be distressed and too annointed to be disppointed.    Report

06-06-2008, 7:53 PM C-17A Joined on 01-30-2006 Posts 388 Re: Maine Gold Trip -- 24/26 May 2008 Barb, I have purchased a set from Deserdog and now have the smaller and 2 inch hand dredges.......... Have used both now. I love the 2 incher.......it has the most suction, biggest capacity, easiest pull, a 45 degree elbow to keep the aggregate inside, and best 2-lip seal going. Can't wait to use them again. :) Randy    Report

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