Techniques, finds, and field notes from weekend prospectors who read rivers for a living — and share everything they know.
4,200+ prospectors already in the creek
Flour gold doesn't behave like flake. It rides the surface tension of slow water, drops behind micro-obstacles you can't even see. Here's what the riffle is telling you — if you know how to listen.
Dale Hutchins
High Sierra Prospector
Three trips, six hours each, nothing but black sand. Then I moved upstream of the big granite outcrop and there it was. A piece the size of my thumbnail.
42.°N [redacted]
Marlene Osprey
Oregon Weekend Panner
Everyone starts with the 14-inch green plastic pan from Amazon. Most people use it wrong. Here's every rib, every angle, and what each feature is actually designed to catch.
Terrance Webb
Retired Geologist
Magnetite and hematite have nearly the same specific gravity as gold. Where the creek drops them, it drops gold too. Learn to read black sand concentrations like a map.
Connie Blackwater
GPAA Member · Nevada
4,200 prospectors sharing techniques, GPS-redacted find reports, gear reviews, and the kind of knowledge the old-timers only told their kids.
No credit card · No spam
The old-timers always said the cracks hold it. I always nodded. I didn't really believe it until I wedged a screwdriver into a three-inch fissure and pulled out a half-gram piece.
40.°N [redacted]
Ray Fortunato
Klamath Basin Regular
A 7.5-minute USGS quad tells you everything — where the gradient drops, where the canyon widens, where ancient channels buried by glacial till might still hold placer gold from a thousand years of erosion.
Susan Clearwater
USGS Map Enthusiast
Too steep and the gold washes through. Too flat and the riffles clog with gravel. The sweet spot is narrower than you think, and it changes with water volume. Here's how to dial it in fast.
Pete Sandoval
Weekend Sluicer · Colorado
I retired in June. By August I had a pan, a classifier, a pair of waders, and absolutely no idea what I was doing. By October I had 2.1 grams and a completely different relationship with rivers.
43.°N [redacted]
Donna Creekmore
Retired Teacher · Idaho
prospectors in the creek
Joined this week: 47
Moved upstream of the bedrock shelf like Dale said. Found my first picker in 20 minutes. Twenty. Minutes.
Gary M.
American River, CA
the creek is calling
Join 4,200 weekend prospectors sharing what works, where to look, and what the river is telling them this season.
Join the Creek — It's FreeNo card required · Takes 30 seconds
