In the early gold 
rush days the sluice box consisted of a simple wooden trough lined with raised obstructions placed at a ninety-degree angle to the flow of the water. These obstructions are what are known as riffels. When all of the gold carrying gravel is “run” through the sluice the water is shut off and the riffels are removed. The heavy materials containing the gold known as concentrates would be gathered. This run would sometimes consist of processing several tons of gold-bearing gravel through the box. Continue reading
equipment
How to Stake a Gold Claim
You might be surpr
ised to learn that you can still find gold in the United States. In fact, over 80% of the world’s gold is still yet to be found. I guess once you realize these facts the questions are: Where can I go to find gold? And if I do find gold how can I be sure I get to keep it? Well, there are two likely routes you can go to answer these questions. First, you can join the Gold Prospector’s Association of America (GPAA) then you are entitled to go out and prospect on any of there gold claims or land leases across America. If you are the more adventurous type you can strike out on your own on any of the open public land across the country and try and stake your own claim.
Here is the Idiot’s quick guide on how to find and stake your very own gold claim: Continue reading
Where to Look for Gold in a Stream or River
When I first started 
looking into how to find gold I assumed that all of the gold that was there to be found already had been. As it turns out, I was wrong. Really wrong. Less than 10% of all of the world’s gold has been extracted from the earth. That is great news for those of us that still want a chance to go out and find our share. Continue reading
Check List for Triathlon
My hig
h school football coach once told me that “Proper Preparation Prevents a Piss Poor Performance.” I have found that there is no worse feeling than getting to the transition set up for a race and realizing that you have forgotten something. Here at the Prepared Idiot we want to help you avoid that feeling as much as possible so here is a list of things you might want to bring to starting line of a triathlon. Continue reading
5 Ways to Make the Most Money out of Your Garage Sale
Do you have stuff lying around that you haven’t looked at or touched in the last six months? Do you want to make a few extra bucks? My family and I had a garage sale this last weekend and as I was negotiating with strangers for cash in exchange for my old junk one thing kept running around in my mind. How can I do this better? As soon as the last customer was gone I spoke to all of my friends and family that I know to be garage sale veterans. Here are the 5 most common things that I learned for you so that you don’t have to look like an “Idiot” the next time you want to have a garage sale. Continue reading
Dry Prospecting vs. Wet Prospecting
There i
s a great difference between wet and dry prospecting.
Wet prospecting is by far the more useful and the one which will provide the most frequent discoveries this is because you get a much better separation rate of gold from gravel when wet and sent through a sluice box and subsequent sieve or series of sieves. However, this separation rate is much, much lower when dry and the likelihood of expelling gold with your sand or gravel is greatly increased. Continue reading
The Top Three Things to do as a family in Yosemite with Young Children.
As a father of not one but TWO sets of twins 
under the age of ten it is important to find something that we all can enjoy and accomplish when we are in the great out of doors. We as a family of 6 make the trip to Yosemite National Park every year. We have whittled them down to a top three must do events each time we head to camp in the valley. Continue reading
What is Panning?
From pounded out iron to highly sophisticated polymers the gold pan has remained the last step in any gold prospecting operation. I am always intrigued by simple and elegant tools that have stood the test of time and remain the standard by which things are done. Why dose gold panning wor
k? Continue reading
The Prepared Idiot’s guide on How to Run Your First Triathlon
Have you thought about the idea of becoming a Triathlete? Or, you are one of the many that just want to see if you can do it? Do you have no idea where to begin? In this episode of the Prepared Idiot Podcast We’ll see if we can help you out. We have a great conversation with Shawn Buddenhagen the author of the blog firstti
metriathlete.com. Here are a few important things that I leaned on my journey and maybe they will give you a head start over me.
Off Roading For The Beginner
What is the most heart pounding excitement you can have moving at 3 miles an hour? For many it is the thrill of off roading! Seeing nothing but blue sky out of the windshield as your 4X4 finds its grip on the rocks under your tires (That you can’t see). Then suddenly, feeling the rubber grip and you see the ground in front of you again it is probably already too late you hooked. Then all you want to do is find another hill, mud pit, sand dune, or rock to conquer.
In this episode of the Prepared Idiot Podcast we ask a life long off roading enthusiast the dumb questions on where to start off roading. Your host Rich Barna tries to find the answers to questions like: What is the best 4X4 to buy? What modifications should you make to your 4X4 first? With tires is bigger better? How do I learn to off road? What gear do I need to have in my rig? And where can I go legally to wheel/ off road?
The Prepared Idiot 