Here's my Trip Report from last weekend's camping/gold prospecting adventure to Beech Creek, and the GPAA "Farm Claim" in Buchanan, GA.
My main reason for going was I had done 3 things to my 5 year old Keene 4 inch dredge recently, and wanted to see if/how the changes worked:
1). Replaced the old 18 feet of cracked & collapsing 4 inch suction hose with 20 feet of brand new reinforced 4 inch suction hose.
2). Rebuilt the T-80 air pump.
3). Installed a fresh air intake stack on the T-80 air pump.
Saturday 24 July: Well, like always, packed up Friday afternoon, and blasted up EARLY Saturday morning (5:30AM), arriving the campground about 8:15AM to find a HUGE tree had fallen in the campground, from near the fire circle East to block the traffic circle & fill up my favorite tent site. Bummer!
So, I selected an area well under the trees on the South side of the camp, unloaded, set up my tent and got ready to head to the creek. There were 2 other campers in camp, all set up with tents & pop-up trailers & stuff. As I was unloading 2 other prospectors came into camp. One unloaded a dredge into the creek from his longbed truck at the camp creek put in. The other went up stream...I walked to the creek for a look............nice............VERY clear, but kinda low & slow, but still enough flow to dredge well. I surmised, judging from all the exposed dredge piles baking in the sun, and exposed gravel bars, that IF I tried to go far up stream I'd never make it, as I'd have to pull my fully loaded dredge over one obstacle & then another......and another.
So, I backed down to the dirt road crossing, pullled my keene 4 incher into the water, uploaded all the hoses, gas can, tubs, equipment, etc., onto it, and reparked my Jeep/trailer back at the camp in my site & walked back. Up stream was busy with 2 dredgers, so I floated my dredge down stream, and coming to the first big shallow area/gravel bar about 300 yards down stream, I elected to drag over it and into the full sun/middle of the creek. Staying on the up stream side would have been cooler & in the shade, BUT I learned a long time ago, that if I got below 2 feet deep, I'd need the full sun to see the bedrock well & what I was doing dredging under water..............especially when the water gets murky or stirred up due to a sidewall cave in/slides.
By 9:30 AM I think I had my dredge set up, roped off & running to warm up. I did a short intro video, and man was it HOT & HUMID already! I was pouring sweat & longing to get into that cool water & start dredging & COOL off..........so I did.
As I was getting the dredge sped up, I was TOTALLY startled
when my T-80 air compressor decided to release excess pressure with a loud "WOOSH" sound, which I'd NEVER once heard in the 1 1/2 years I'd owned it..........until now! 
Guess my rebuilt T-80 was pumping so much air, the pressure relief had to open.......awesome!I looked at the creek before setting up, imagined the flood stage flow and set up smack dab int he middle at the lowest point. After an hour of pitching rocks & dredging I hit bedrock at about 1 1/2 feet down!
I figured it might be 3 or 4 feet down, but no, there I was... I imagined the 7 to 8 feet of water at flood stage earlier this year must have washed a LOT of the usual overburden further down stream, so no complaints here. I got my mask & regulator and proceeded to work to expand my hole.........About 2 1/2 hours of running I ran out of gas & it was time to do a clean up and sample the cons....... Man-o-man was it HOT by now, in the full sun and standing in a black wet suit too. Ugh...
Took me 15 minutes to clean the box, regas & find some shade to "sample" the 1/2 a 5-gal bucket for signs of color. YES! Despite most of this run being flow sand & easy to move overburden, I did find some lead birdshot & fine gold.
Back into the water to cool off & really work the bedrock now.
The day was near cloudless, humid & blazing hot.........like mid to high 90s. I sucked a LOT of loose material off the bedrock, water blasting the quartz stringers fearlessly, and used a pry bar to break them up and suck it all up...........making deep holes in the soft bedrock. Some sections looked highly polished and smooth..........making me think the floods had "ground" & "polished" bedrock, not another dredger sometime recently had been there. I worked to the edge of the creek somewhat, and there once out of the main flow, found layered & clay bound and conglomerated material below the flow sand & above the bedrock..........nice! VERY hard to break apart and dredge.
At 4:30PM it was finally time to do a 3rd clean up and quit for the day.....did another sample and wow! Had a bunch of birdshot & nice chunky gold to show for my "hard fun".
One of my better sample clean ups ever at Buchanan. I guessed I hit a pocket/holding point for gold in the bedrock, as I had at least 20 lead birdshot and several small pickers & nices flakes too. I made a short video of this clean up.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znAYXYsoDXo
Time to stop. I was tired, HOT & so ready to pull my dredge to the bank, rope it off, and go back to camp. The Wx report was for NO rain, so I felt comfortable leaving it all on the creek side, out of the water, but ready for immediate restart Sunday morning. I know Beech Creek can swell & flood REALLY fast in thunderstorms......
Back at camp I fired up the BBQ, had an awesome porterhouse steak, 2 hotdogs, and 2 sliced vine ripe tomatoes. Oh, 2 bottles of ice water too.
What a feast. After dinner, I relaxed in my folding chair with foot rest, puffed a Man-O-War cigar, sipped some fine Islay Scotch whiskey & tried to cool down & not sweat so much in the 95 degree heat! Man was it hot, humid and hot...Made some cell phone calls to friends & family & went to bed early............a GREAT gold adventure day under my belt. My air stack worked perfect, my rebuilt T-80 air pump worked perfectly.......never knew how much air I was supposed to get, now I can gulp air as much as I need and NEVER run out, and that new 4 inch suction hose is awesome! I only had 3 rock jams in 1 1/2 days of dredging, and all 3 were at the hose/flair union & TOTALLY my fault for letting a HUGE rock sneak in when I was working the nozzle with 1 hand, the water blaster with the other hand, and a cave in ran a rock I'd never allowed to go right in.....
Heard some coyotes howling & yowling at the moon about 1 AM & 3:15AM, but otherwise, slept like a hot, sweaty log on top of my sleeping bag......
Sunday 25 July: Up at 7:15AM. scrambled some eggs & made hot cocao. Yummy. With the temp already about 75 degrees & the humidity was about 100%. I was already sweating just eating....
As I stepped to the creek about 8:15 AM, the old prospector across the way stopped me to say "Hi" and ask about my dredging & as we chatted, he told me how they were from Alabama, packing out and going home that morning. He told me his dredge/combo with air had burned up it's belt and if not for a fellow prospector giving him a belt, he'd have been SOL early. I said, man, good you had some help & found some good fine gold too!
Arriving at my dredge the day looked to be a carbon copy of Saturday.........clear..........HOT (98 degree high)...............HUMID............fun!!!
I dragged my dredge off the bank, had it all set up, primed & pulled the starter rope.......fired right up. Oops..........no water flow. Guess I'd not primed the water pump well. Reprimed, went back and pulled the starter rope. SNAP! It broke off in my hand!! Oh no........dead in the water! So, my early start was going to be delayed at the least, and my day maybe over.......... Walked back up stream, to the Jeep, got a bucket of tools, (really glad I chose to throw in my Craftsman tool box), and waded back to my dredge. Once I had the side cover off, I figured out how to restring the pull rope, rewind the internal return spring & reassemble it all right there on the water. Thank you Lord!
One pull later I was running!!!!
Really glad I brought my tools...Back into the cool water to cool off, blasting the bedrock and sucking up loads of flow sand/material too.
Long story short............I dredged until 2:15 PM and did a final clean up, quickly broke the whole operation down and proceeded to get the dredge back to the road crossing, load up, break camp and get going home. One thing surprised me.........the creek water level had dropped about 4 inches, and so the gravel bar I pulled it all over was now high & dry, and there were many exposed obstacles to overcome back up stream. Plus, I had a 5 gal bucket of cons weighing about 60 lbs, a 3 gal bucket of cons for about 40 lbs and a 10 gal tub with about 30 lbs of black sand cons in it. This plus the 2 weight belts and ankle weights all had to be hand carried up stream separately in the hot Georgia sun.
Had the dredge & equipment on my tilt trailer by 3 PM, and camp broke down by 3:30PM, and was on the road at 3:45PM.
I was one exhausted puppy in that sun, heat & humidity, all by myself. I drank 3 bottles of ice water from my cooler & stopped by Wal-Mart in Bremen, GA, for a fresh/hot rotissery chicken to eat on the long drive home..........man was it GOOD! Summary: Another bust hump, hot & sweaty July Georgia gold adventure......proved my Keene 4 incher is fully mission capable & I found some very nice GA gold too and got a bunch of fresh GA cons to share with others.
I just love this hobby!
Plz take a look at my 4 short YouTube videos I posted helping to share my trip...under "Buchanan, Georgia -- 24/25 July 10" First one is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJa18fUV8SI
Enjoy! Good luck, have fun, God bless!
Randy "C-17A"
http://www.goldadventures.biz
