Robbins, North Carolina
19-22 June 2008
The 2008 Gold Fest at Bearfoot Gold in Robbins NC proved to be a weekend of good times with great friends. Many faces were finally linked to names, and it was fantastic to meet everyone and share in some lifelong memories. Of course all of our good times were based around prospecting, but not everything that happens at Bearfoot Gold will stay at Bearfoot Gold... Wylie, Terri, Lucas, Layce Kevin, Janet, Connley Claes, Bobby, Tom Skip, Cathy, Amanda, Sam Dave, Laura Tom, Rich, Jim Danny, Zeke, Shack  Many of those who attended this outing will require mental evaluation following this event. My stomach still hurts from laughing so hard during our after-dinner comedy hour routines. We all arrived at the property around 11:00 or so on Thursday and set out get all our vehicles down the newly improved road to the camping areas by the creek. We occupied 8 camping areas in total, spread about a quarter of a mile along the creek. Some of us had more permanent "camping" facilities, some set up the Wilderness Hilton, and the rest of us are still trying to figure out what we forgot at home... 
 Our hosts have put quite a bit of time into improving the property. In the past few months, they cleared new camping areas, created an entire new road down to the creek, and expanded prospecting sites to the feeder streams on the property. I couldn't believe how much the property had changed since the last time I saw in in Nov 2007. The road was super, and if I can get a 14' enclosed trailer down on that property, just about any vehicle with decent ground clearance will have no problems. If you're pulling a serious load, I would suggest 4x4 as the trek back up the hill can be a little too steep for a 2-wheel drive vehicle pulling a load. 
 Once everyone got settled in their campsites, it was time to hit the creek. We had a variety of prospecting gear on the property, and I think everyone who wanted to try a piece of gear had the opportunity to do so. Dave, Danny, and Zeke spent most of the weekend up on Gold Creek, a feeder stream to Cabin Creek. This is a neat little stream that works its way down the hillside, and right past the old mine and mining operation. We saw some pretty nice gold come out of this creek. Wylie used his pump off his dredge to push water 200' uphill, and using 2" PVC pipe, he was able to put some water in the creek so some dredging and powersluicing could be done. At one time, we had two dredges and two combos running at the same time in there! 
 
 
 Once Tom was on auto pilot with the 5" in Cabin, I pulled the 4" out and moved it to Gold Creek. Past reports of gold in this creek were not the reason for the move. Recently, Kevin found a beautiful Morgan Silver Dollar right in the creekbed, under all the overburden, still shiny and just like the day it was dropped. Finding gold is one amazing thing, but to find something like that is, to me, is simply unbeatable. Just to think... a miner who was working that mine in the early 1900's probably had that coin in his pocket. I can picture men lined up at the end of the week to get their pay. That coin may have been his pay for the day, week, or even the month. Finding something like that is personal. I worked the creekbed for a couple hours each day, hoping maybe he dropped another in there. Dave also jumped in the hole and dug a sizeable crater. We found some nice gold in there, but no coins. Bummer! 
 Further upstream, Adawg set up his dredge and went to town on a very nice bar created by the discharge of one of the feeder streams. Kevin set up his 4", and Adawg was able to get Tom, Dave, and Skip some time on the nozzles. Every time I went up there, someone different was on the dredges. Thanks for sharing your equipment and experience Claes! I know the fellas really had a good time! 
 
 
 
 
 
Here are some of my memories of Gold Fest 2008: * Standing around in the parking lot of Lowes looking like a bunch of nomads in need of an oasis. * Losing the trailer on the way down the hill. * 1st time meeting: Dave, Laura, Skip, Cathy, Tom, Jim, Danny, Zeke, and Janet. * Trying to find a campsite as far away from Wylie as possible. * Trying to find a campsite as far away from Kevin as possible. * Getting a campsite right inbetween the two of them... * Sliding the dredges down the "dredge slide". * Trying to walk down the same slide. * Wet boots and sliding down the slide, might as well be slicked with crisco... * While underwater, seeing a shadow in the creek. Throwing a rock at the shadow. * The shadow was not a fish, log, or rock... it was Rich. Sry Rich! * Putting 2 dredges and 2 combos in Gold Creek. * Drooling over Wylie and Kevin's Morgan Dollars. * Morning Coffee with Kev and Wylie. * Seeing Dave up to his chin in a hole in Gold Creek. * Dredging with Danny in a man-made creek. * Chats with Jim, Dave, Danny and Zeke. * Trying to hit Rich and Tom with rocks (again). * Watching Tom get on air for the first time. * Trying to learn all the dogs names. * Listening to the bark-fest every time someone got up from the fire. * The Chow! Beans, Ham, Corn, Steak, Chicken, BBQ, Burgers, Dogs, cookies, brownies, watermelon, UGH!!! * Never running out of coffee, ever. * Getting a vial of specimen gold from the mine. * Watching Skip win a prize. * Watching Skip try to win another prize. * The Bearfoot Shuffle, everyone passed by Wylie. * The Eye. * The Toe. * The Forehead. * Burning the hair off Wylie's legs and arms. * Leeches love Tom, alot! * Did you know that ear drops are highly flamable? * Did you know that Wylie is highly flamable? * Flaming Marshmellows of Death on a stick, they do stick, and they do hurt. * Campfire stories and laughs with the entire gang. * I got a video of the bikini. Yes, I did. * The rescue of a baby hummingbird. * Dave and Laura's feast of champions. * Danny's magic pineapple juice. * Trying to sneak quietly down a trail at night after two bowls of beans. Not gonna happen... * Operation "Muddy Methane Midnight Boom". * Wylie for not telling me about a certain puddle. * Do not pee on the trail. * Who's phone is rining? * Kevins Apple Cobbler, all day, every day, till its gone. * Not sharing the apple cobbler, telling everyone it was gone. * Gas with Adawg... Gas is $4 a gallon, we got 9 gallons, price was $40??? Hummm.... * Late night chats with Rich. * Quite walks at night around the property, thinking about my dad. * Hanging out with the kids. * Seeing if Chase would bite. Yes, he does bites. Yes, it hurts. * Chase also hates Kevin, very much. * High-Five with a puppy trick, and the chow on the nose trick. * Bearfoot Gold 2008 T-Shirts. * Saying good-bye to some great new friends. * Trying to get that 14' toaster up the hill. * Meeting so many great folks. This is more than a hobby, its a family. * If you haven't yet made it to a group outing at Bearfoot Gold, you need to. |
