Well we started early and we knew the path to this claim was to be tough. Boy did we underestimate this one! The hills were riddled with 4X4 roads, switch backs, washouts, and 2,000 foot drops. Even with the driving skills of Ken we still had to hike in another 6 miles just to get to the top of the ridge  and that turned out to be just the HALF WAY POINT! Then it took a dive almost straight down for another 2,000 feet. Well we did not have the time or the energy to continue because by this time the rain was coming down hard! So it was time to turn back and rethink this claim.  We noticed that  the trail was littered in spots with gold ore that fell off the miners carts back a hundred years ago so it was slow going trying to check them out. We did finally make it out of there right when darkness overcame us so I guess that was a lucky call on our part for if we did continue on we would most likely still be there searching for the truck! We planned to return the next day with an ATV and give it another go but we got sidetracked and hit another claim with our new redneck vacuum system. It worked great and rewarded us with some nice pieces of gold. We also found some new gold prospectors as well as two fishermen with a 20year old map that was written on a napkin. I sure hope they found there way to that fishing lake because out there if you get lost, you stay LOST! Oh and a quick note: We did stumble upon a GEO CACHE in the fork of a tree. GEOCACHE.COM  We left our names and contributed to the cache then promptly returned it to its hiding place. Pictures and videos of this adventure are now up on my site at yoreplacermine.com

      

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