I have been there,, or least close. Started out for Loon Lake but I think we got sidetracked... There are just so many beautiful places up there you can't count them all. I use to have this Volkswagon Rabbit Pickup. Mini of the minitrucks. And she was diesel so she was a dog on the getting up and go department. But mileage was off the charts and semi level roads. I never did a mileage check on it,, but diesel was cheaper than gas, and I could put 6 bucks in it,, drive from Hayward all the way to Lake Shasta, kick it there for the weekend, come home and still had some left. Fuel was like 75 cents I want to say. You could put afew bucks in the tank and make it to work for the week. I had a TON of airbrush work done on it.. The whole hood was a Confederate Flag with an Officer who was a skeleton riding a white horse. Man it looked Bitching. Cost a pretty penny of time. My Bro Wolfman did the airbrush work and I did the soilid colors and clears... Stupid me,, I was a painter and had to go work on a friends job for a week. Well turned out it was the Acorn Project in Deep East Oakland. To say the least, I was worried about my truck, and I was up a ladder when I saw a dude key my truck.. Man I got down there and jacked him up about it,,,, alittle checkup from the neck up... But after we exchanged niceties, I realized I best not be working on that job anymore......
But tha truck was a dog on an uphill grade,, try getting on highway 80 up by gold run heading up to Truckie, you get on doing about 35-40 MPH But once you got speed up that sucker wood drive forever. I used that truck to do my prospecting trips. I can't say I've seen most waters in the state by no means,, but if it had a history of placer gold production,, I was there. A guy around here in Portland bought some fairly local quarry mine it. Was for his kids sand box.. Well having a high bank sluice sitting there,,, why not run it? He did find gold.. I was surprised at the amount. 8 bags of sand and he recovered like 3 penny weights of flour gold.. Mann, you got just so many places around to go mining there.. Hey isn't there a place around you outside of town called the Devil's Slide of something? The dumps off that hill? It had a name or was that George Town? I use to teach gold mining in Jamestown. I'd imagine you know where that is.. Well, my friend,, his name was Rahlp Shock, he owed that place on Main St that had all the stuffed dummies hanging out front. Well, we taught basic panning all the way up to a workable mining skill. We even took people,, that had monies,, on a helicopter trip up to Jackass Creek dow south of you. Merced River Drainage.. Good gold there.. People were getting1-3 oz a day.. Oh well I'm babbling,,, All;;;;;; Keepem Green