Multiple Prospecting Experiences For all types of Prospectors.
Just starting out, recently joins a club or organization and want to know "What do I do next ?"
Maybe you just want to learn more about panning for gold or mining in general. This is the place for you!
Twice a year Pete opens his claim to the Public to help all types of prospectors and miners advance their prospecting skills. Activities and classes on a variety of prospecting skills. Classes on drywashing, prospecting, metal detecting, reading the land, fine gold recovery and others are conducted during the event. The GPAA, the the claim owners Special Guests and other experienced miners are there to conduct the classes .
There is always a Potluck dinner and special events hosted by local Prospecting Clubs from Southern California. Access to these experts is plentiful so there is ample time to answer your questions.
Some equipment is available for you to try out to assist your decision in what equipment you may wish to invest in. Placer Pete also has events with prizes and giveaways. All in all, it's a great time.
You may think that there is a cost for this event but there is not. There is an ask for donations to help with the claim maintenance and that is up to you. So come on out to these twice a year events and learn to improve your prospecting skills.
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Is Alaska on your bucket list?
Placer Pete’s Newest Experience. When it’s too hot in the desert, and you need a trip for the entire family, why not travel in style and still find some gold!
Offer only available to Friends of Placer Pete!
Join us for our Inaugural 2024 Inside Passage Alaska Cruise. Only 15 cabins, Special Pricing, Available only to friends of Placer Pete.
(All cabins - 15, must be booked by November 2023).
Learn More Here
New to the prospecting game?
Our Outings get you started on Desert Prospecting. Just joined a mining or prospecting club and don't know where to start? We will work with you on our private claim and show you how to find that color! You will be prospecting on a private federal mining claim so don't worry about claim jumping,
Learn The Desert Prospecting Equipment
Never Worked in the desert before? No worries we have the equipment and the know how.
From 1 day to 3 days this experience is just for you and tailored to your needs
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Want to add a little gold fever to your next camping adventure?
We will coordinate a gold adventure while you camp at Camp Williams! You will get to visit with Placer Pete. He will provide you with an in depth personalized gold panning lesson for your group.
Learn the panning techniques that will turn you into a gold prospector! Pete will also let you in on some of the history of Camp Williams, Eldoradoville and Johnny Knocks Portwood (the bad man of the canyon).
Hear about the lost treasure stories and the rumored locations. Who knows, you may be the one who finds the buried stagecoach saddlebags filled with gold!
Gold Bearing area Camping?
Have you ever wanted to learn how to find gold in California? Planning on going camping in a gold bearing area of Southern California and want to add a little more adventure to your trip?
Placer Pete has just what you are looking for! Placer Pete will come to your campsite during your visit and show you just what it takes to find gold in "them thar hills!" From the history of the area to learning how to pan for gold this experience will add that memory of a life time. Who knows, you might find that elusive nugget!
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Here are some pictures from some of our adventures
We are excited to offer a new experience
Our May Outing (previously our March outing) will be a hands on, work with experienced miners 3 day event.
Special Guest Kevin Hoagland from the GPAA will work directly with you to help you with your equipment setup, locate your "Golden Spot", make sure everything is operating efficiently and tuned to the desert environment.
Special guest and inventor Allan Guthmiller with the Gold Rattler will be there to demonstrate his desert wash plant.
Influencer and social media content producer and graduate of the Placer Pete mining classes.
Social Influencer Chris Undertaking will be there to help with your mining adventure and you may even get into one of his You tube videos!
Prospectors Club of Southern California (PCSC) President and owner of advanced mining equipment Joe Chimel
will be here on Saturday and Sunday to help with your metal detecting instruction.
We will work with your while you are detecting or drywashing. Heck we will even help you shovel if needed. There is even time for both. Special coin hunting event sponsored by the PCSC will be held as well as a Saturday night Potluck, Campfire with giveaways and for the first time a special "Find the treasure at the end of the Rainbow" team event requiring all your prospecting skills and a great treasure for the first team to find the Pot of Gold.
Keep all the gold you find
There may be a minimal donation for the PCSC coin hunt.
Donations to the Claim owners to help keep the claim open is greatly appreciated.
Periodic updates on this event will be sent via email when you sign up
7:00 AM (B) Pete’s Breakfast
8:00 AM Important Daily Announcement
9:00 AM (1) Open Dig
9:00 AM (9) Metal Detecting Equipment
10:00 AM (2) Walk The Claim
10:00 AM (10) Secrets of Metal Detecting
11:30 AM (11) General Detecting Questions
12:00 PM Lunch (on your own)
1:00 PM (12) Open Metal Detecting
1:30 PM (7) Find the Sweet spot
3:00 PM (14) Gold rattler Demonstration
3:00 PM(8) Time To Sample
5:00 PM (D) Dinner – On your Own
6:00 PM (3) Gold Recovery, Water – vs – Dry
7:00 PM (4) Prospect From Home
8:00 PM (6) Campfire
7:00 AM (B) Pete’s Breakfast
8:00 AM Import Daily Announcements
8:30 AM (1) Open Dig
(2) Walk The Claim Open Drywashing
(9) Metal Detecting Equipment
10:00 AM (10) Secrets of Metal Detecting
10:30 AM (14) Gold rattler Demonstration
11:30 AM (11) General Metal Detecting Questions
12:00 PM Lunch (on your own)
1:00 PM (14) Gold rattler Demonstration Open Drywashing
1:00 PM (12) Open Metal Detecting
3:30 PM (18) Fine Gold Recovery
3:30 PM (13) PCSC Coin & Nugget Hunt
5:00 PM Potluck Prep
6:00 PM (5) March Madness Irish Potluck
8:00 PM (6) Campfire
8:00 AM Important Daily Announcements
8:30 AM Open Dig
9:00 AM (15) Hunt for The Rainbow Treasure
11:30 AM (17) Gold Weigh (16) I didn’t find anything
Course Descriptions
Important Daily Announcement (1/2 hr.) – Please join us at the main camp area for our daily announcement. Introductions, meeting areas, last minute changes, questions, and on Saturday a VERY SPECIAL EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR 2024 will be made at this time. We ask everyone in camp to please attend this short 30 min session.
(B) Pete’s Breakfast (1hr) Scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, and coffee be served for breakfast. A $6 donation is asked to fund the meal. This activity requires a signup prior to our event. It will not be held if folks are not interested in the offering.
(1) Open Dig (ALL Day)– This is for folks not wanting to take a track Session. This time is set aside for your own prospecting adventure
(2) Walk the Claim (2 hrs.) – Join the claim owners for a tour of Placer Pete. Learn the history and topography of the claim. Feel free to ask all questions you may have. Great starting session for first time visitors to Placer Pete or anyone who wants to understand how to read the land.
(3) Gold Recovery, Water – vs – Dry (1hr) Come visit with Allan Guthmiller (Invertor of the Gold Rattler, as seen on you tube) as he explains the value of fine gold recovery using water techniques versus drywashing. This is an opportunity to talk with the expert.
(4) Prospect from home (1 hr.) – Learn techniques that allow you to know your area before you even get there. Learn the tools available to you to prospect from home and be ready for that first trip to your prospect area. Steve
(5) Yummy - Potluck, Irish style (2hrs) Well, you have to be hungry after all that searching and digging, right. Join us for an Irish themed potluck. Bring your favorite Potluck contribution in the Irish tradition. Join us, if you so choose, for some home brewed (courtesy of Phil and Steve) Spruce tip Irish style green beer. Is desert your thing, how about some shortbread or a Guinness Cake or Baileys Cheesecake. You can decide for yourself. Bring what you like.
(6) The Campfire of course (1.5 hrs.) Top off the evening with a traditional campfire with stories, jokes, and over the top prospecting stories. We have some giveaways for the best stories so make sure you come to the campfire. We have entertained you all day now it’s your turn.
(7) Find the Sweet Spot (1.5 hrs.)– Work with experienced Placer Pet Drywasher prospectors on how to find that good spot to drywash. There will be some extra machines available if you don’t have one.
(8) How to Sample (1.5 hrs.) Well you have your drywashing spot all picked out, what should you do next. Learn how to sample your area to make sure you aren’t digging for nothing. Determine the value of your spot before you got into production mode! Steve / Phil / Chris/ Kevin/ Pete
(9) Metal Detecting Equipment (1 hr.) – Ever wonder what additional equipment you should have with you when you go metal detecting besides your detector? Listen to Kevin Hoagland speak on what added equipment you should bring when you go Metal Detecting
(10) Secrets of Metal Detecting (2hrs) – Work with Kevin Hoagland to learn the basics and finer points of metal detecting. Learn from the GPAA metal detecting expert himself.
(11) General Metal Detecting Question - (30mins) Have a question you are itching to have answered regarding metal detecting? Now is your chance Kevin Hoagland (Both Days) and Joe Chimel (Saturday only) will be around to answer your questions.
(12) Open Metal Detecting (up to you) - Ok, you have learned it all, now take your detector and find some nuggets (and trash of course). Kevin (Friday and Saturday) and Joe (Saturday) will be wandering the claim if you need help with your detector. Look for them near the Easy Up. Bring your best nugget and trash find to the campfire for a prize!
(13) PCSC Coin & Nugget Hunt A really fun for everyone. Come and join the PCSC Coin Hunt and find buried treasure you can redeem for really cool prizes!
(14) Gold rattler Demonstration (various) Want to see the best wash plant system in action
(15) Hunt for the Treasure over the Rainbow (2hrs) – This is our first attempt at this so please bear with us. We have buried a treasure on our claim and all you need to do is to find it. BUT clues are necessary to lead you to the treasure. You need a team of 4 folks. Bring your shovels, detectors (We can loan you one if you need it), a GPS system (usually on your phone), a compass (could also be on your phone), water and a working knowledge of prospecting. We will start you off with a clue and from there on you will need to find 3 more to lead you to the treasure. And, yeah, you’re going to have to dig it up
(16) I didn’t find anything - Ok – so you spent 2 days digging and you say you found nothing. I don’t believe it. Well, here is your last chance, A claim owner will go out on a dig with you and make sure you find some Placer Pete Gold. However – I really can’t help metal detectorists sorry.
(17) Weigh your gold (Available for an hour or so per session)– Help us out and have your gold measured. We will dry and weigh your gold, so you know how much you are going home with! We use this information to plot the claim, so this is very important to us. Want to help us out? Please come by our camper to have your gold weighed.
(D) Friday Night Dinner – This one is on you, you could invite Phil , Ken and I or anyone else if you like but this meal is NOT A POTLUCK
(18) Fine Gold Recovery - Kevin Bell (GPAA State Director and Mentor) is bringing a new final recovery system that he developed with him and will demonstrate how to get even more gold from your concentrates! Kevin’s life begins somewhere around 200mesh.
