Gold Field Trip 2015: Sierra and Nevada Counties
September Field Trip to Lazy Yuba Claims
& other Nevada localities
A three to four-day trip to the Yuba River gold claims is planned, but depending on how it goes, the trip may be extended. Gold finds are shared, if you want to be in the group. Richard plans on leaving his Highbanker on one of the claims. After the trip to the Yuba River, the group will travel to a Turquoise location west of Yerington in Nevada. Plan on exploring around and east of Tonopah, Nevada to pick up some Wonderstone. Then, the group might head out to Utah for more rocks. No problem if you only want to go for the gold or stay longer. Richard will help with ride sharing as necessary.
Departure Date: Sept 20 or 21, 2015.
Meeting Time and Place: Consult Richard for details.
Organized by: Richard Mueller. This is a non-SDMG field trip, no SDMG liability.
Contact/RSVP: Richard Mueller at 619-445-0800 or richalp@cox.net. Do not reply if you have no interest in going.
Reservations: Limited group size, so RSVP by September 17.
Camping and Vehicles: Primitive camping and tents, possibly hotel stay in Nevada. High clearance vehicle required, but 4x4 is not a must. Motor homes or high campers will not make the roads due to tree overhangs.
Bring: Metal detector. Camping gear and appropriate clothes, including sturdy hiking shoes, hat, sunscreen, water, food.
Trail Blazing update
field report by Richard Mueller
August 28, 2015
Yuba River trailblazing trip, August 2015. Top: Tertiary location where gold claim was staked on previous field trip. Bottom: Gold in pan is from one day on the tertiary. Photos: Gio Norman.
The July field trip was productive and fun. When a nice 2-3 grain picker was found with only 1.5 buckets, plus a lot of flake gold, it was a good indication that there was gold to be had. Several participants made two gold/placer claims on the middle fork of the Yuba River covering nearly 60 acres, with about three-quarter miles on the river.
A return trip in August offered a good opportunity to find gold on an old tertiary location found on the last trip. Organizers shared gold mining equipment and taught participants about prospecting.
Originally, the plan was to return to cut a trail down to the river from the Nevada side. An old patented property impedes direct access to the claims, which are located in two sections (the Lazy Yuba 13 claim and Lazy Yuba 18 claim, respectively). River access is via a trek that zigzags about 0.3 mile. The team started to do major trail blazing on 13, but after going more than half way down they realized it was too steep and coming back up would be a bear. And yes, they saw a real bear on this trip. So, a different way was found to get to the two claims. Still, getting to 18 is a semi-arduous hike. From the 18 claim trail blazers can reach the 13 claim hiking along the river.
Send Richard Mueller your email address to sign up for his Field Trip mailing list. Many trips are planned with little notice and cannot always make the newsletter, bulletin or website. So, if you would like to be notified, the only way is to let him know is by getting on his Field Trip List.
(Please note that SDMG is not co-sponsoring Richard's trips and has no liability.)