53 Verified Apartment Reviews of Apartment Iris Village Kato Paphos | Booking.com
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The lure of the mother lode has excited man since the dawn of time. That remarkable yellow metal that is so heavy and yet so soft and malleable will drive it’s victims to irrational behavior. The trembling hands, shortness of breath, rapid heart beat and cold sweats are the symptoms of “gold fever” – known all too well by prospectors young and old.
Most people believe that gold comes from deep, dark holes in the ground, somewhere in Africa. What if you knew there was probably gold right near where you live? Excited? Visions of great wealth and extravagant lifestyles flashing before you?. Hold your horses. While many of the US states have gold occurrences, you’re probably not going to get rich, but you will have a lot of fun.
Gold prospecting is a great activity for kids. Once they see that first shiny flake, they will be hooked for life. It’s cheap, but requires a little elbow grease to get some color in your pan. The first thing you need is a gold pan (available at many online retailers). These are available all over the internet. Next you need a shovel, a bucket, a small vial and a sniffer bottle to suck up the gold. Most of your findings will be small flakes or tiny nuggets that you can’t easily pick up with your fingers.
There are numerous websites and books that publish information for each state, where gold is most common. Alaska and California are known for their gold, but states like Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Montana, North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado and many more also have great gold prospecting opportunities. This does not mean you should not try other spots. You never know when you could strike it rich. Find an area, you wish to visit and learn a bit about the river. You can talk to locals, but when it comes to gold, people get very tight lipped. It’s a great idea to do some research first before heading out with the kids. Another great way to get started is to visit a commercial prospecting location, where you are more likely to get some beginner assistance. From there you can head out on your own.
Before you head out to the stream, it’s important to know a little about gold. Gold is really heavy. When it mixes with sand in flowing water is quickly settles to the bottom of the stream much like kernels at the bottom of a shaken popcorn bag. Because it’s so heavy, it doesn’t like to move along the river bottom either. Only very fast moving water, like spring floods, will pick up a nugget and wash it down stream. So look for a spot on the river where fast flowing flood water has deposited it’s load. That’s where gold will most likely have settled out.
You want to look for obstructions that may have caused the gold to get trapped while moving downstream. Large boulders often have deposits of sand and gravel on their downstream side. These are great spots to start prospecting. Another good area are holes or cracks in exposed bedrock. Because of the solid bedrock, the gold cannot sink any further down. Any stream area with cracked and rough bedrock should not be overlooked. Avoid areas where the flow is slow, or the stream bed is covered by many feet of sand and gravel. Fast flowing streams with exposed bedrock and sandbars are your first choice.
I particularly like this activity for kids, as it not only gets them outdoors, but the sense of discovery is always there. Even if you’re not that successful at finding gold, they have a great time just playing in the stream. Many times, it’s the parents who get the gold fever and can’t stop. Either way, a family can have a terrific day on the river, gold or no gold.
The actual process of panning will have to be covered in another article. Remember, always check your local laws and regulations pertaining to recreational prospecting. Also, some areas still contain active claims, and the owners may not welcome claim jumpers. So do your homework.