The May outing was changed to the Memorial Day Weekend in order to give folks an option at an extra day to close out the Spring Prospecting Season. Several of our members went out the week before Monday through Thursday as it was forecast to be a bit cooler, but windier. Personally, I arrived Wednesday evening and it was perfect, in the 80’s and dead calm, really a pleasant night. Thursday through Monday morning had 10-15 mph winds with occasionally stronger gusts, just enough to nix the evening campfires for fear of a windblown spark starting a wildfire, as the hills are covered in short, very dry yellow grass. The dirt was in great shape and very easy to throw through the dry washers and the yield almost the same as last month. Over the course of the outing, we had a total of 14 people float in and out from the main north basin. The main problem for the weekend was the heat on Friday- Sunday, it went up to the mid 90’s and even with the breeze it was very hot and I was wetting my t-shirt every 1/2 hour to get some convection cooling. The heat was definitely a challenge and really wore you down by the end of the day. Wind warnings were again posted for Tuesday with gusts up to 50 mph so almost everyone pulled out either Sunday late afternoon or Monday morning instead of trying to last until Tuesday. We all found a good amount of color in multiple different places around the claims. I drove my Jeep up this time to finish the posting of the paperwork and quite frankly needed it to make it over to the far east side of the Smoken Claim. On the bright side the post-holiday traffic never really showed up, and the drive home went faster than usual for a change down the Cajon Pass.
So that’s a wrap on the early desert season and we now head up to Big Bear and the BB1 Claim for the summer where it is nice and cool in the pines. Remember to get your Campfire permits and check with the forest service for the fire hazard level. If you also are a member of TVP and/or SPMA they have claims available to explore and work as well. Last year I took a day to hike up to the Cabin in the Sky and tried to find the “old Spanish Fort”. But there are also 3 old city sites and many left over mines and prospects to explore.

Jerryk