Gold Panning

In 1994, Glen got a gold panning kit for his birthday. It provided an excuse to find some marvelous scenery here in Southern California.

I liked these flowers. If anyone knows what they are, let me know!

On our second expedition, we tried Piru Creek in Hungry Valley.

We found this creature on a rock.

Upper Lytle Creek was beautiful.

Sarah made paintbrushes from this yucca, like she had learned in outdoor school.

The road was interesting.

At one point, we forded the creek, but didn't go much beyond this point. The road was getting progressively rougher and the Astro Van is not 4WD.

On this expedition to Piru Creek, the girls found a good rock next to a deep pool.

They're ready to jump!

We took the gold panning equipment with us to camp in 1996 and took and extra couple of days to travel north to try out the Mother Lode area. Here we are hiking along the Merced River near Maricopa.

The Merced River.

Yellow flowers found by the path.

The girls located a large berry patch.

Finger-licking good!

Another trip to Piru Creek, one of our favorite spots.

This time we saw a bunch of tadpoles.

The East Fork of the San Gabriel River is known to contain gold deposits. We hiked along the fire road down to the river. I've combined several trips in this photo group.

This pink flower had to be captured on film.

Fording the river to follow the trail on the other bank.

The girls busied themselves making a dam.

By this time, Glen had acquired a small sluice to process silt faster.

Splash!

Jenny tries her hand at panning.

So does Anne.

The water was definitely deep enough for swimming in a couple of spots.

A friendly frog.

Time to put shoes back on for the hike back to the car.

We discovered a back way in to Upper Lytle Creek, over the mountain from Wrightwood.

This field of lupine is spectacular.

Lisa brought her notepad with her and spent some time writing and sketching.

Sarah's ready to have fun.

Another trip to Piru Creek, this time via Hard Luck Campground.

The girls worked on building a dam.

Sarah and Jenny battle it out with cattails.

Another little frog climbs Jenny's shirt.

Piru Creek via Goldhill Road. We parked above the creek and hiked down.

A good spot to get wet.

North fork of the Kern RIver above Lake Isabella.

Sarah found some mistletoe.

Jenny and Sarah enjoy swimming. The river was slow and shallow enough here to allow that. Below Lake Isabella, the Kern River is way too dangerous.

Roger is on his first gold-panning expedition in June 1998.

We are back again to Piru Creek.

Jenny and Sarah like floating along in the current.

Lisa was working on another dam project.