Well to start off it was a long drive or flight for all of us but i think it was worth it it. Well it was for me anyway, I found more than gold, I found we have some very good friends in the Lost Treasure Chat Room and what better way to show that friendship than by traveling all the miles we did.
We left here at 7:30 in the AM got to Happy Camp bout 7:30 in the PM and didn't have a clue as where to go to find anybody seems nobody knew of a indian creek campground and that's all we had to go on. Well being the great detective I am I soon found Cat and Q. After talkin to Q and Cat for a few min. we were on our way to Indian Creek where the campground was that Laura and Susan were located at.. after following Q for what seem like hours back up into the hills, where I never would have found the campground even with a map.
After reaching the grounds there was Laura and Susan looking just as pretty as ever after having been there for a week already, so I just had to let go with a Wolf Whistle and then couldn't help myself had to start laffin an so was everybody else and have no idea what was so funny, I was just glad to see them.
After finding a camp spot an puttin my tent over the biggest bolder I could to sleep on ( well it was dark) we set up some chairs and did the same thing we do here, we started chatting, pretty soon RC and Jesse rolled in laffin all the way and more chatting, then a few hours later Bob~O rolls in with two of the locals that had a snoot full of fire water and he was laffin ( It must have been at his guides) heh heh. Again more chattin after the hugs an handshakes till bout 3:00 in the AM. What a night that was.
The week was spent doing a little panning and some detecting with the gold machines I don't think anybody found very much nor did they care. Q found a nice little heavy flake as did Susie but they had to move a lot dirt to find them. The day after we took the Mac-Vac down and moved even more dirt but alas it just wasn't in the pan for us to find any gold, well there a few fines but not much, oh well.
We got invited up to one of the locals claims( the same local who was the guide for Bob~O ) and it seems the had a jade mine there so we wound up doing a little bartering, he says "here i give you this piece of jade for a cigarette". when we went up to their claim we didn't figure on doing any mountain climbing but that's what we did it was way down the hill via this little path, which we had to climb back up when we went back to camp, as it was a good time was had by Laura, Susie and myself even if we still didn't get any gold.
At one point we had a little claim Jumping going on, It seems if you are a member or a guest of the New 49 ers you can lay out three 20 foot sections and that is your claim on the 49 ers claim, sort of a claim within a claim, well any way Susie and Q had been working a part of the creek and found the nice little nuggets and a person near by had ask the if they found anything, well being proud of what they found the said yes. Well during the night this person takes some markers down to the creek and marks a claim for him self in the same area as where Susie and Q had been working. the next day comes around as it always does and we started to work the area and here he comes saying that is his claim and we have to leave..... well we got into a discussion with him and then he says well he will get the New 49ers here to clear it up, said go for it, Ray one of the officers for the club comes down so here we go again more discussion at one point after this person said he came in the night to mark the claim I called him a claim jumper an started to take a punch at him but Ray stopped me then I let Susan (az) take over and walked away. It turned out well Ray saw this person was in the wrong and we on to work the ground but still no gold (hum think we should have let him have it ?).
One thing you have to remember is if your in the woods your n Bear Country that is their home, well sometimes the like to see who is in their home ( well wouldn't you ), we get back to camp after being gone for a while and see they got to the trash bags an to Laura's awning, a big rip in it. They paid us a few more visits before we had to leave the area. Laura got some paw prints on the trunk of her car, hope they made it all the way back to Utah with her.
Ok I'm going to wind this thing up but first have a little to say about the people who showed up for the first Lost Treasure Chat Rendezvous! Happy Camp - August 1998 .....
Q..very quite but one hellva nice guy and came from the longest way away.. Guam, Thanks Q.
Cat, from Ohio very nice lady, but very different in person, (Ha Ha) was great Cat.
Bob~O, close to me but had never met till now, If he had been there when the bear showed up , would have let him go first, (heh heh )
RC, looks a lot younger than his pics, to bad he didn't have detector with him that worked...he didn't find much either hah hah.
Susan (az) very quite lady, very nice, took some great pics, and she talks more in person than in the chat room.
Jesse, well lets see what can i say about him, Jesse is just Jesse just a little shorter heh heh Putz.
Susan (ca) Better not say to much about her she's my daughter and knows where I live heh heh
Laura/ White Feather (UT) Saved the best for last ( well it was for me) you know how we talk in the chat room for months on end and you get a feeling for what a person is like but never really know them, well this gave me the chance to get to know her and find the answer to the feelings I felt when ever she didn't show up in the chat room....The best find of all at Happy Camp......LOVE..Okay now the whole world knows...... Thank you Lost Treasure and to all the friends who were there.
Jim (calif)
PS: Laura meet you in chat later?