Keyesville

Really fine gold if you can avoid the summer time crowds. Off season when river is running low no crowds pretty much have the place to yourself.

I have worked in the Kern River Valley for last 3 years and didn't realize there was an open mining area in Keyesville till I joined the GPAA a couple of months. I decided to swing by and check it out with just a shovel, pocket sluice, and pan. Went to Keyesville Beach on north side of river, which is in one of the two recreational mining areas shown on BLM map outlined in green. The river was low, at level it would normally be for August/September time frame. However, there was a lot of tent sites stake out where the was some good exposed gravels to check out. Also everyone seemed to have a barking dog tied up. A couple of spots that didn't have tents up and some pools to pan in had a lot of Blue-Green Algae blooms and scum. Noticed some good inside bends on southside of river and drove over there through Keyesville South entrance from the 155. However, once there found that most of the decent spots were already worked over. On the southside of river, continued to the just west of the raft launch at Hogeye Gluch cause of the dry wash that feeds into river there that starts from further up near old mine. Once there started down trail to river edge but encountered a Mining claim sign on the trail. This spot should have been smack dab in the middle of the open mining area according to BLM map for the area. Sign didn't list claim name or owner and could not find a container anywhere that had paperwork inside. Walked the north-south line on the south side of river to find corner post, but no luck. The location is just 100 yards west of Keyesville Beach area. Took GPS coordinate for marker and will check on MLRS to see what is going on. When I visit BLM office in Bakersfield to find out more info on restrictions on Kern river for sluicing will ask to find out more about this. It was a really good spot. Plan to return in fall when less people and maybe even check out the drywash with a detector if the map is correct for what is open area and the claim marker isn't legal.

Because it is a public area and there are campsites on the property, keyesville is still closed due to covid 19. I will keep updated though, i am a kern county resident and visit the surrounding area often.

Went back to keyesville very happy to see it is reopen, been all around the area but not to that exact location. Its a great beautiful location it a decent stretch of the river, i only had about a hour and a half to prospect today so only stopped at one location....i was skunked. i stopped at about the center of the river on the claim did quite a few pans and came up with nothing. With more time i could have panned a few more locations but again i will be back hopefully with more time to check out different areas of the claim. Also next time i will try to use my drywasher there are some great drywashing spots coming down of the surrounding hills that are completely dry and look great, all in all yet again......i will be back hopefully with better results.

I am new to GPAA as of September 2021. This is the 2nd claim I had th joy to visit. Now this is my type of prospecting. Did a lot of scouting out, and it seems all of the easy to get to spots may be well worked. So I dove in a little deeper, a lot harder access and difficult to dig I found something! Just keep looking. I won’t go back to this exact spot because of access trying to get everything in. You would need a few bodies for help, at least I would.

Good times! Happy Hunting.