My avatar is a picture of me standing in the middle of the Arkansas river approx. 8 miles north of Buena Vista, CO. I set the camera to a 10 sec. delay, sat it down on a boulder, pushed the button and made my way to my spot. Half way there I fell in the hole I was digging, but managed to get up just in time.
I was prospecting for gold at about 9,000 feet elevation. It was the first week of Aug. and a cold front was moving through that Mon. and Tues. Highs for those days was about 73 degrees, lows at nite about 45. Wed. and Thurs. temps went back to normal about 90 for the high and 50 at nite.
I camped out and had a great time. Bought an out of state fishing lic. and caught two trout also.
Not sure how much gold I found because I'm still panning out my cons. Most of my time in CO. was spent feeding material into my sluice. After it was full (taking about 1/2 hour) I dumped the sluice into a 5 gal. bucket. I filled 3 buckets about 1/2 full.
Since my wife does not like to camp out she did not go.
Next year I'm going again and I thought it would be a great idea if a bunch of us dodge board people could all go together. Think about it! Get your camping gear ready. And be ready to find some AU. We could even get lurker to stand watch at nite and keep an eye out for bears!!! lol....
The water is not that cold in Aug. I was able to stand in it all day long and I felt real nice. The current isn't dangerous unless you do something stupid and try swimming across in a deep part. There is also rafting available in the area. We could have alot of fun and it would not cost an arm and a leg.
I'm serious I think if 5-6 or more wanted to go, we'd have a great time.
Keep it in mind!