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09-16-2008, 7:03 PM C-17A Joined on 01-30-2006 Posts 376 Buchanan, GA Trip Report # 4 -- 14/15 Sep 08 Greetings GoldGrubbers, Time for another gold prospecting trip report from hot/humid Georgia! I took leave from the USAF to get away from the Ops and to go prospecting...a chance to enjoy nature, get into the creek and dredge for gold! Man, was a I not disappointed, again. Sunday: Driving up early Sunday morning I had no problems........except for the OUTRAGEOUS gas prices here in Georgia. They jumped $.75 a gallon due to Hurricane Ike....to about $4.19 to $4.49 a gallon. Ouch...... Got to "Ft Bovine", the GPAA claim, about 8 AM and had my tent pitched, table/chair set up and all "camping" items ready to go by 8:30 AM. I then proceeded way up stream, to a section of the creek I'd never gone before, but was highly recommended, as it had very shallow bedrock and good gold in all those cracks, if you were willing to work for it. I was.... Arriving just below the road crossing bridge, I inspected the area up/down stream and saw numerous areas obviously dredged by floating dredgers in the past, mostly in the middle and sides of the creek. As I had a land borne dredge unit, I selected a very nice area under a tree with big branches on the far side for shade, and started dredging the very shallow areas close to the bank.......seeing that I had a suction nozzle, I could do so w/o problem. After about 3 hrs of dredging I could see that I weas really getting into areas not previously dredged.......very hard packed, very much a challenge to break up, and very flakey and layer Saprolite bedrock. My 2 1/2 inch Proline dredge spewed a stream of "boiling gold" silt/water behind it as I destroyed the soft and crumbly bedrock with my Keene cerevise tool, and sucked it all up for max fine gold in my dredge. Man was it nice to see a nice spread of fine gold again in my black rubber mat during my clean ups.....for all the sweat I was producing. The day was some what cooler than days recently, but pretty sunny. I slathered up with SPF 50 ultimate sunblock and tried to keep moving up stream to keep the direct sun off of me. Amazingly, it wasn't overly hot, about 90 degrees, and very few mosquitoes. I had sun block, DEET bug spray and a healthy layer of good old sweat on me.......must have scared everything off! After 9 hrs of endless dredging and clean-ups, I was flat exhausted. So I packed up and drove back to camp. Had a few minutes to get adjusted to life outside of a skin tight wet suit, and get my huge ribeye steak grilling on my small propane BBQ. That and a can of warmed up wax beans made for a feast! After dinner, I relaxed at the creekside with a superb Rocky Patel double maduro cigar and several small glasses of fine Islay Scotch whiskey. Ah, that's living! What a great last hour of daylight to end a great (but exhausting) day working real hard on the stream, throwing rocks, digging bedrock, vacuuming it all up for the gold. I saw hundreds of swallows and swifts, all getting an evening meal of bugs........hundreds of little minnows in the water, loads of honey bees all coming to the creek for a cool drink of water, and a few warblers too. Oh, can't forget the small herd of wild turkeys I chased along the dirt road leading from the camp to the upper access site. Obviously a few adults and many younger birds, all "trotting" as fast as they could w/o flying. I even picked up a real nice tail feather to show my kids. No better day than one spent totally going for it on the creek! Oh, can't forget the sounds of Coyotes howling at the full moon about 2 AM........they were a ways off, but had my wife been there she'd have freaked out. Monday: Woke up about 7:30 Am and got breakfast going.........breakfast burritos with scrambled eggs, mushrooms and Tobasco sauce in a tortilla. Yum! Totally forgot to pack my small water pot and coffee strainer, so no Java to get my aching muscles going.....note to self.........bring coffee stuff next time. Got back on the creek about 8:30 AM and was dredging a totally new area in the middle of the creek around a big rock setting on the bedrock. I was sure this had to be a past dredge target, but the sand/gravel around it was very uniform and fairly hard packed. I worked all around it for 2 hrs, throwing hundreds of rocks away, to get to the aggregate under it. Luckily, my 2 1/2 inch suction nozzle fit under it with ease and I was able to really suck out some good cons and Saprolite materials below it. I tried to flip this rock over, but by myself, I could only get it up about 10 inches, and then it would fall back. No dredge buddy to help me get it flipped over and no come-a-long, so, I moved. I ended up finishing the day back at the creekside, close to the bank, slightly up stream, in some real shallow water. This area seemed undredged, as it was very hard packed, especially between the bedrock ridges and humps. Took lots of Keene tool digging and scratchinjg to bust it up and suck it up... Overall, I got some great cons, with good fine gold showing to take home. I have yet to find my first big picker or nugget. This dredge trip was blessed with safety, good weather (except for a few sprinkles Sunday morning), good cons and great time awa from the office and out with nature. Hope everyone has great trips out before winter arrives and makes it too cold and uninviting to get in the water.... Posted a few pics of the adventure... Happy panning, Randy a.k.a "C-17A"    Report

09-16-2008, 7:47 PM digi Joined on 08-09-2008 TN Posts 46 Re: Buchanan, GA Trip Report # 4 -- 14/15 Sep 08 Sounds like a wonderful trip. You really reeled me in when you talked about the huge ribeye and maduro cigar. I'd fight a black bear to the death if he tried to take my steak after a day of digging.lol    Report

09-17-2008, 7:23 AM twig/al Joined on 01-24-2006 Gadsden, Alabama Posts 4,627 Re: Buchanan, GA Trip Report # 4 -- 14/15 Sep 08 C-17A, Another great story!!! twig/al Alabama Prospecting Supply www.alabamaprospectingsupply.com Email: tom@alabamaprospectingsupply.com Southeast Treasure Hunters Forum www.southeasttreasurehunters.com    Report

09-17-2008, 7:33 AM ghost Joined on 03-17-2006 Marksville, LA 71351 Posts 474 Re: Buchanan, GA Trip Report # 4 -- 14/15 Sep 08 Just above the bridge, where Holcomb runs into Beech, there was some serious hardpack where I found a few nice pickers and nuggets a few years back. Paul Prospector and small scale miner (so far)    Report

09-17-2008, 4:04 PM shellyrat Joined on 05-30-2007 kentucky Posts 177 Re: Buchanan, GA Trip Report # 4 -- 14/15 Sep 08 Oh my that is a neat report. Makes me wish I could go dredging again this year but Ill have to wait till our resourses (money) builds back up for next year. Keep the reports coming makes it a little easier to take. Kathy c in ky Life is what happens while your busy making other plans !    Report

09-17-2008, 7:54 PM C-17A Joined on 01-30-2006 Posts 376 Re: Buchanan, GA Trip Report # 4 -- 14/15 Sep 08 Thanks everyone, I plan to meet Steve from Florida at Buchanan on Friday, and use his dredge to "rearrainge some creek bottom" on Saturday. I will go up early on Friday with my 2 1/2 inch Proline combo (old Faithful) to get some more good cons for my cons sales and then have a BBQ when Steve shows up later in the day. Hope the Wx is good still..... Will have to post a new report after all's said and done! The weather has FINALLY started to cool a bit, so Fall is almost here....got to prospect while I can. :) Randy a.k.a. "C-17A"    Report

09-17-2008, 9:13 PM Truckin_Riley Joined on 09-11-2008 Grand Jct, Co. Posts 9 Re: Buchanan, GA Trip Report # 4 -- 14/15 Sep 08 Sounds like you had a great time away from the office and looking forward to the next trip report from you Charles    Report

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