Where's the Gold: Bending the Bends

Spring thaws are over, and this is an area that sees a great deal of the melt — even to the point of flooding right into the late spring.

Before you take a shot at this one, take a really good look at everything and think about where the water was versus where it is now. There are three major features in this photo that are the keys to getting on the gold and they are subtle.

 

 

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ANSWER

 

 

1. The bedrock is slick and higher in this spot, meaning that high water was running very fast here coming out of the bend to the right of the mark. This yielded NO GOLD.
2. This is a drop pool and, like a small waterfall, the water crashing into the spot kept everything moving downstream. Given the bedrock wall between A&B to the left, material was forced to the right creating the gravel bar: NO GOLD.
3. Look very closely, this is another bend in the stream. Material was forced into this spot and stopped as it built a gravel bar. See the small amount of debris in the bush circled? GOLD FOUND HERE AND ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE BAR TO D.
4. At first glance you would think of this gravel bar as an outside bend by looking at the direction of flow of the water and the layout of the bar. D is the major clue. During high-water events, D becomes an inside bend to the shoreline and the gold dropped out on the edge of the inside bend and across the gravel bar.

It all goes hand in hand with using all of your prospecting skills and not looking at any area and only seeing the now.