Claim Jumpers!

Apologies for the extended absence. Two weeks in Kansas City along with some visiting relatives have made my already infrequent bloggings even more rare.

Since getting back to the Black Hills, I've been playing catch-up with all my summertime hobbies, including gold prospecting. I don't claim to be any good at it, but I can tell you that there are few things as thrilling as finding a bunch of gold flakes at the bottom of your pan (especially when gold is over $1k an oz!).

For the last week or so, my buddies and I have been panning at Potato Creek (where Potato Creek Johnny made his great find) with good results... even our amateurish efforts yielded gold flakes in every pan. Apparently, our efforts did not go unnoticed, because a local mining operation filed placer claims up and down the creek last weekend. We have only ourselves to blame, I suppose... it only costs $150 bucks and some paperwork to file a claim and we certainly could have done so.

Weekend

A pretty quiet weekend in Lead. Friday night we enjoyed a Mystery Dinner at Enigma in Rapid City. The appetizer was one we'd had before and great favorite: fried brie with a crushed walnuts and raspberry reduction sauce. The pasta course was also pretty unbelievable: mushroom ravioli with crispy shitake mushrooms in a delicious broth. The main course was also quite good: some kind of crazy beef wrapped around asparagus with potatoes. Desert was the only disappointment: some kind of crepe with a slice of fried pineapple. 3 out of 4 ain't bad!

Saturday was spent vegging in front of the TV after a hike to Deadwood. Sunday was another lazy day, though we dragged ourselves and the dog up towards the Englewood trail head. We found the Bismark Mine and the Wasp Mine, two old gold mines that closed in the 20's. The mysterious Dr. Nero and I will probably make our way up there to go through the tailings.

Gold Fever

The mysterious Dr. Nero and I went prospecting this weekend, with some small success. Armed with an improved knowledge of both geology and panning techniques, we snorted around two spots in the Kirk valley, garnering several microscopic bits of gold dust. The areas we worked in had to be pretty picked over, due to their easy accessibility and proximity to the Homestake mine, but it was nice to find some "color" in our pans at the end of it all.