It was going to be hot that day! I could feel it coming on when I left Modesto that early morning. I arrived to meet up with Kenny at his house in the foothills. I thought I was early but upon arriving I saw Ken and Beth out planting oak trees on their land. Well so much for this early bird.
We decided to travel light so we could cover more ground. With 40 pound packs we headed upstream. About 1 hour into our trek we came upon an area that was covered with quartz rocks, from 150 pounds down to 1 pound chunks. After exploring the area we finely found its source. Hidden from the river we stumbled upon a deep dark hole, an entrance to hades that time forgot. We discussed on how we would descend this hole safely then dropped in. Beautiful rock formations, crystals, quartz, bugs, crawly things that bite, oh yeah all the good things in a nightmare! It's amazing how people lived and worked like this in the past, carving out their existence in solid stone. Crawling through a self made tunnel of hopes and dreams only to find what we found. NOTHING! But it was pretty dam cool!
Further up river we think we found out where these 49ers laid out their town. So that means a return trip with our metal detectors and this will be another adventure for a future blog.
One more month till dredging season, will it ever arrive?
Photos of this trip are posted at ...yoreplacermine.com... enjoy all.      

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