Rapidan River, Virginia
Steve bought a new canoe and was itching to get it wet. We decided to take a paddle down the Rapidan River in Orange & Spotsylvania Counties. It was a cool, overcast day in the 80's, and were were glad for the lack of sun and heat. The river was low with barely any current, forcing us to debark and walk through most of what rapids remained. 
This part of Virginia has a good history with gold mining. There are a couple mines in the immediate area that were in operation as early as the 1850's. The Rapidan, although not directly involved with these mines, is fed by streams and creeks that ran through these mines. We decided to explore some of these streams and do a little panning and sluicing. 
 On the way down the river, we had the honor of observing a bald eagle. This is a fairly are sight in Virginia, we attempted many times to get close enough to take some photos. Just as we got close, he would take off. After about a mile of chasing this bird down the river, he finally relaxed in an old tree. Upon closer observation, Steve noticed that there was another eagle in the same tree! I practically fell out of the boat trying to get our cameras. Steve quietly and carefully steered us closer, and I was able to get close enough to get these shots on both cameras. These are beautiful birds, purely majestic. I took a second to think about how these birds represent the land of the free and the home of the brave. 
We left the eagles, and felt proud and free. We found a couple streams draining into the Rapidan further downstream. We picked one stream that had some water running in it, parked the canoe, and did some exploring for about 3 hours. We were also able to do some prospecting with our pans and hand sluices. We probably ran 4 or 5 buckets and found some very fine gold. Small, but there. 
 I think the best part of "prospecting" is exactly that, looking and exploring. We had a great time on the river, even though a storm 30 miles away put another foot or two of water into the river just as we were trying to get home... We had a great time out in the woods, walking the streams, and seeing the eagles. We found some fine gold and plan on going back some day to do some more prospecting. |
