Gold prospecting has definitely got to be my new favorite hobby, and panning specifically is the best part. A friend and I recently went on a few day excursions out into the backwater places of Southern California for gold panning and prospecting, and thinking back on those trips, we really did find some amazing things out there. Though I can't say that either of us really found very much gold, the other treasures, the unexpected ones we found made the trips really memorable. The one overarching thing that makes gold prospecting great is that it's in the prospector's best interest to find places that are the least traveled as possible.
Doing a little research, my friend used Google maps to find us locations of streams that looked promising, well off the beaten path. Once we had found something that looked like it might be good for panning and prospecting, we'd do a little more research to see if there was ever any gold found in the area, or ever any actual panning and sluicing done in the immediate stream. If either question's answer was yes, then off we'd go within the week.
Needless to say, neither of us ever really found an extraordinary volume of gold, but what we did manage to find was much more than I ever expected. On one of our trips, we stumbled upon a 75 foot waterfall that none of us knew existed, and none of us had ever heard of before. On a different trip we found ourselves along an extremely narrow winding ridge that dropped off a few hundred feet and showed a remarkable view of Southern California's countryside.
Not just that, but my friend and I also have gotten the extra benefit of saying that we made our own gold prospecting equipment. The pans we bought, but everything else, the sluice box and hand tools, we made from plans we found on the internet. Gold prospecting is like a guy's paradise. Being able to make your own gear, going off and exploring from a map that you found yourself, and spending a day outdoors in the beauty of nature and water, sweating while excavating and mining the riverbed for gold. There's really nothing like it. It's too bad it's Winter now. It's too cold to tromp down to the rivers. Neither of us have the best gear for cold water. That's when all the best rains happen though that was new gold down from the hills. We'll just have to wait until next Spring.
Winter is a great season for other hobbies anyway, like snowboarding. I don't know though. If the price per ounce of gold keeps rising like it has been, I might just have to look for some cheap used gear and con my friend into braving the icy waters of the mountain streams. And who knows anyway, that fact might make the prospecting and panning even more exhilarating and exciting than it already is. In the meantime, I'll just have to let the anticipation of the next season excite the senses as I recollect all the great memories of the wonders and natural treasures that we already discovered. As for you, get out there with a pan and a sluice box and give it a try. You won't be disappointed.
Author Resource:-
I hope you enjoyed this article about gold prospecting and panning, and all the other natural wonders the world has to offer.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlesbacklink.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
