The first person to hit town was Q(Guam), with Laura/ White Feather (Utah)not far behind. Q looked and sounded exactly like I had thought he would, and a nicer person I don't think you could find. Now Laura showed up incognito fresh from the shower with a white towel hiding her red hair! She also was exactly like I'd thought she would be, very genuine and quite enthusiastic about just about everything.
We checked out some of the local claims, and the Happy Camp airport (where GOLD nuggets have been detected in the past) and located the computer center. The next day(Monday) we checked in with the New49'ers and received an enthusiastic welcome from them. They showed us the campground at the south fork of Indian Creek. As we were being updated on yesterday's gold finds, and last weeks nuggets, I stared at this beautiful stream with bedrock everywhere and a swimming hole to boot! We had landed in heaven on earth! Laura immediately chose a campsite and set up housekeeping, and Q and I hit the GOLD bearing stream. I showed Q how to scruff up his shiny new GOLD pan so the GOLD would stick to it and gave him a quick lesson in panning. Others working the stream gave him various tips thru-out the day.
The next few days were spent detecting the Scott's Bar claim, test panning various places up and down the stream to see if there was a pay layer as there was a rumor that Bob-o was bringing his high-banker, sluicing a small area, going into the computer center to touch in with family and chat members that weren't in camp yet, getting two bags of ice a day, Q seeking softer rocks, tracking down white feathers, setting my watch by Q's arrival for Laura's morning coffee, watching Q grit his teeth as he placed his feet in the sacrificial pair of soggy water shoes that came to live in the tree each night, and discovering that both Laura and I did indian seed-beading. I kept being presented with various feathers, the stream gave me an unusual piece of driftwood and gave Laura a really big stick. GOLD? People were finding nuggets and nice pieces on a daily basis, Q kept finding nice bits, I cleaned out empty bedrock holes, Laura worked an area and threw away the black gold. For all I know, I did too. One day Q let Laura and I use the hotel shower instead of the swimming hole. As the temperatures were as high as 112 deg in the afternoons the swimming hole was indeed a god-send. I kept running into people in town and on the claims that remembered me from '95 and '96, which I found to be quite amazing. It was really nice to drop into the computer center and check e-mail and send pictures and drop into the chat for a few minutes to keep everyone up to speed on the doin's.
Friday, when the largest group of us was due to arrive, rolled around. Laura and I kept an eye out for people to show up and tried to guess approximately when each would arrive. As the day dragged on and EVERYONE was a no-show we started to wonder if the big weekend really would come to be. Oh well, we could have green chili burgers without moose and salmon. We had given up and were just a tad worried that catastrophes had happened to everybody (?) when Q knocked off for the day and headed back to town. Laura and I got to wondering if maybe people had shown up and were staying elsewhere, so we decided to check the Lost Treasure Chat sign up sheet on the bulletin board in town.
Just as we were preparing to trek into town here comes a car parade! Q in his trusty red steed showing Cat and her family the way to camp! They were followed closely by two more cars and a boat loaded with people and camping gear. Jim Cal and Susan Cal and their family! Loud laughter and wolf whistles echoed off the mountains as everyone piled out and did introductions all around. Once again I was simply amazed that everyone pretty much looked, acted, and sounded about like I thought they would. If anything I think Cat (Ohio)was even more articulate than on-line. Jim(Cal) had saved a handlebar mustache from his beard so that was a surprise. It was such fun to meet everybody's families! Teenagers, small children, husband's..what a well-rounded group! As it got darker and the skeeters came out Susan(Cal)and her family and Jim set up their camp. Stories were exchanged all around about flat tires and various adventures in locating each other! Just after dark another car comes winding it's way down the dusty little trail leading to the campsite. Lot's of hootin' and hollerin' and laughing and it's Jesse and RC! I don't think I've ever heard so much laughter on a continuous basis in my life! I think everyone was just so relieved to find the campsite at the end of that little trail that went through those gravel piles... Jesse looks just like his pictures and his laughter sounds just as boisterous as it does on-line! RC looked much younger than his pictures and talks a lot more in person than he does in the chatroom! Jesse managed to get a second hug from me by pleading amnesia. After all, Jim got two hugs from himŠ And the laughter continuedŠŠ
A couple of hours later here comes a small 4wd pickup picking it's way along the rocky little road. You could hear it coming for a ways due to the loud laughterŠ..figured this must be another member just on the laughter alone! Hey it's Bob-OŠand friends. Bob piles out looking worried, quickly smiles, shakes hands, says hi, says sorry for bringing these guys, I gotta take them somewhere. By now his inebriated passengers have started bailing out of the truck and he piles them back in and takes off into the dark. The laughter continues!!! A short while later he shows back up alone, still apologizing and glad he's alive. When they told him to pull off into those gravel piles in the middle of nowhere he got a little worried about the wisdom of using the town drunks as his guides! Bob-O looked just like his pictures and was a super nice person to boot! So hail hail the gang's all here! And the laughter continued long into the night. Jesse and Rc tried sleeping in the vanŠoh myŠ How odd to be among a group of total strangers that already knew each otherŠ..
Up bright and early Saturday morning. Jesse and RC must have gone into town for breakfast. Bob-o has tied a hammock between a tree and the back of his truck and is doing a wonderful impersonation of a snoring mummy! White Feathers and I have gotta get a pic of thisŠ.After a while everyone starts stirring for the day. Set my watch by Q's arrival, Cat and her family show up and begin their day of GOLD hunting with scruffing up their GOLD pans and some panning tips, Bob-O starts testing some areas, I pan out some placesŠnot even any GOLD in the layer changes or moss, it all appeared to be in the top layerŠ..Q lends me his mask so that I can see the bottom of some great looking Š.but emptyŠ bedrock troughs. Various other people show up and start working various areas. HmmmŠJesse and RC are having a VERY LONG breakfast. Nobody knows where they wentŠ..
I go into town for ice and eggs for deviled eggs for the bar-b-que that evening. While in town Thompson Creek suddenly calls my name. I answer the siren call of 'slabby GOLD' and one very pretty GOLD bearing creek. Didn't look as if a group dig was coming down today, maybe tomorrowŠA beautiful afternoon on Thompson Creek but skunked again.
Arriving back at the campground I make up tailgate deviled eggs and join the bar-b-que. I've been anticipating finally getting to taste Moose for months! Hmmm, tastes likeŠ. green chiles!Š.. WowŠsmoked SalmonŠdeliciousŠ and the laughter continuedŠJesse and RC wimped out and hoteled it for the night (something about a showerŠ.)Š..
Sunday am doesn't dawn quite as early! Great barbecue! By late morning Bob-O is packing for home, Laura and Jim are gonna go detect the Scott's Bar hydraulic pit (in temps @ 100 deg!) and, hmmmm, still no Jesse and RC. Those two sure have long breakfasts! And then there's upstream to check out at nice, cool Thompson Creek with it's 'slabby GOLD!' Jesse and RC blow into camp, and we take group pictures while there's a group to take pictures of. Cat's husband, being naive, volunteered to be photographer! Out came a gajillion cameras! He did a really great job of it! Slabby GOLD, slabby GOLD, slabby GOLD! Drat, skunked again! Back at camp, I find Jesse down in the creek slaving away at what he hopes is a GOLD-bearing layer! Unfortunately, by the time he panned all the mud out there wasn't much GOLDŠ..skunked again. Meanwhile, Q is steadily adding to his collection of nice little bits of GOLD. Susan(ca) generously invites me to dinnerŠagain! My compliments to her husband the chef! Jesse and RC had finagled their way into a camp trailer for their evening accommodations.
Monday am Jesse and RC spend some time in camp before leaving. Jesse was catching all kinds of razzing for losing GOLD concentrates back into the stream, but I think he was forgiven for discovering that some of the GOLD had a soft black coating! Now, just how much of that black GOLD have we thrown out in the last week???? The three white feathers on Laura's tent were still there. Well, off to check out some creek claimsŠ..pretty, nice and cool, and..drat!Šskunked again! You can cover more distance with a detector, but I'm thinking about panning and sluicing again! A quick stop at the computer center to touch in with all and sundry. There is MUCH excitement back at camp! Q and Susan ca have each found a lovely GOLD NUGGET! They found them sluicing out buckets of PAYDIRT from an old tertiary streambed above the current stream. It took Q about 3 buckets worth and Susan ca about 8 buckets! Good going folks, especially since NUGGETS had been metal-detected in the same spot two weeks before and the friday before! Gee, guess they didn't find them all! Could there be more???? Quick, take pictures!
Tuesday am I take the quick trip into town to send out the news of the GOLD NUGGET discoveries! I think the e-mail to Jesse and RC said 'Left Too Soon!' as I sent out the photos of the proud new GOLD NUGGET owners for the website. Back at camp the campground was totally deserted! HmmmmŠdown at the streamŠGROUP DIG! Finally! Everyone was tearing apart the bottom layer of that old tertiary streambed, ferrying buckets up and down the steep rocks(Q), metal detecting the next area to tackle(Richard, Susan Ca's husband), mac-vacking to make sure every little speck of GOLD was retrieved off that old bedrock (Jim Ca), and running the buckets of PAYDIRT through a sluice(White Feathers),(and Susan Ca seemed to be everywhere at once)! Hmmm, too many buckets, not enough sluices, room to set up one on each side of the sluice operator. Back up to camp for my folding sluice and Gold bug 2. As I was assembling the sluice back down at the stream an open jeep loaded with equipment and prospectors pulls up above the stream banks. One of the local club members anxiously approached me and said we were on his 'claim'. The New 49'ers has a '60 foot' rule where club members are allowed to mark off up to 60 feet as theirs to work. Since this club member was camped long-term next to the stream, I found it odd there had been no mention of such a claim before, particularly since this spot had been worked by any and everybody on a casual basis for the past week and a half. I had talked to this member earlier and he had mentioned that he and some friends had marked off some high-banking areas (which this was not) the evening before. He had particularly mentioned a spot up at the top of the claim. This was getting curiouser and curiouser, as nothing had been said about this being 'claimed' when Susan ca and Q had worked this same area the afternoon before. Of course, this was before they had found those pretty little GOLD NUGGETS. Well, Jim ca was the tallest and most senior member of our little group so I went across the stream and scrambled up the steep rocks and told him what was coming down. None of us wanted any unpleasantness as we were here short-term, on vacation, and just looking to have a pleasant experience. Little bits of GOLD just aren't worth hard feelings or possibly worse. After talking to the club member for a few minutes Jim Ca said sure, no problemŠ.then I think he started to smell a ratŠAs he looked around and surveyed the whole group working hard on that hillside, and watched as his grandchildren were happily playing in a small swimming hole they had made among the rocks and were amusing Flash the wonder dog, I think the 'not-rightness' of the situation hit him. So he said 'no go!, we're staying.' The club member agreed and went back to his group, I went back to setting up the sluice box, and Jim ca went back to that high and dry ancient streambed. Next thing I know, the club member is back. He wants to bring the club in to settle the 'dispute'. Ok by me. AboutŠoh two hoursŠlater Ray, a club officer, comes down to the creek to see what's what. Jim figured out real quick this guy had marked this claim in the middle of the night and got pretty upset with him. Thank heavens Susan ca and Q show up, Ray had met them on Sunday, and Ray started to smell the same rat we had. He decided in our favor. Too bad there weren't any more GOLD NUGGETS in that hillside. Oh Well..We're On VacationŠ..
Turned out part of the group of prospectors were Frank and Mark, the Bridge Trolls (as they called themselves) that Bob-O had utilized as guides to the campsite. They lived up at the old Jade mine. I think they felt bad about the whole incident as they showed up with some samples of Happy Camp jade for everyone, and were really nice folks.
Wednesday the entire creek was oddly deserted. I stared at the tailings pile across the river on the Portugese Creek claim and decided not to mess with the river crossing alone and did some short stops on some other claims on my way back to Happy Camp with no results. Laura, Jim ca and Susan ca tried one of the hydraulic areas. As I headed down to the swimming hole I spooked what turned out to be a small young black bear. Back up at the campground I discovered it going through the garbage. Well, since the garbage was going to have to be picked up anyway, I decided to get some pictures! After getting some nice pictures I chased the bear off and started looking for new garbage bags. Uh oh, more food .Uh oh, food everywhere! HmmmŠwell, they wouldn't believe me anyway, so I left the evidence of the bear visit. After about an hour with no more bear sightings I headed into town to the computer center to send bear pictures. White Feathers and Jim ca pull up from their adventures, Susan ca and her family had to go back 13 miles to retrieve some forgotten tools! While touching in with the chat room, we were suddenly informed 'chat rooms weren't allowed due to 'inappropriate language'!' HUH?? After a week and a half?? What kind of chat rooms do THEY hang out in? Come to find out later our access had been 'pre-approved'. Arriving back at camp, it was discovered the bear..or bearsŠhad returned! And so began the bear adventures that we had been warned were a possibility!
Well, comes a time when all trips are done. Bears, skunked on GOLD (yes, I found some, but not quantities, and not big), it was getting hotter again, and 'Wanna come see our jade mine?' was sounding too much like 'wanna see my etchings?'Š It was time to head over the mountains for the cool foggy coast and the redwoods and elk. I could wake up on the oceanŠŠ
I found that as a whole treasure seekers are an amazingly self-motivated group of people, are very genuine, enthusiastic, and a fairly tight-knit community of separate souls that enjoy each other's company for sharing experiences in our common pursuit of treasure, in whichever form it takes. Thank you Lost Treasure for the chat room that enabled this group of treasure seekers to meet each other, and the subscription prizes that were donated to the Rendezvous.