We decided to head up to a very inaccessible stretch of river, I have wanted to check out this area for a few years now. There is one area in particular that look really good for high banking on the map. I want to be sure it was a good area before I pack a highbanker all the way down there.
The flight in was a very enjoyable flight. We located a nice little gravel bar to land on. It was a good landing area, because it was located at the upper end of the stretch of river, I wanted to check out.
After an hour or so of detecting, we were finding alot of lead, but not much gold. The gold we found, was very small and there wasn't much of it. Around 10 or 11 it started raining. I lost track of David and decided to wait under a large tree for him. That way I could stay dry and eat my lunch. After lunch, I noticed a flat spot on the hill side a little bit above the river.
We decided to climb up there and check it out. I wanted to see if it was an old mining camp. There was very little trash but I did find some old square nails. I made a note of the location and when I have a little more time, I will hike in there and check it out a little further.
After several hours of hiking and detecting downstream, we had gone as far as possible, the canyon narrows up quite a bit and gets extremely steep. At that point we have found nothing but lead and very small gold. With only about an hour left, we decided to head upstream to the landing site. The clouds were starting to get very dark and there was a lot of thunder and lightning.
We were beginning to wonder if the helicopter would be able to make it back in with the nasty weather. We're very happy when right on time, we could hear the helicopter coming in. We loaded the chopper as fast possible, because the weather was getting pretty bad. The ride out was very exciting, there was lots of thunder and lightning. It rained extremely hard and to say it was a bumpy, would be a gross understatement. After we landed at the Airport and look back up where we just come from, I'd say we got out of there in the nick of time.
All and all, it was a fun and exciting day. We didn't find much gold but, we got to checkout a lot of very inaccessible river. Boy am I glad I didn't hike all the way down there, just to find out there was very little gold.
Still we went home with a little gold and a lot of lead. I'm calling that - a very good day!