May 01, 2025 - First day of Membership Renewals .  Membership for the 2025026 season starts on this day and ends on July 31st.  Renewal applications will be in the newsletter and on line.

May 31, 2025 - Since the FCM does not escort you to the campout, we have offered, for years, a tour prior to the campout so new members, and old members that haven’t been there in a while, can see how best to get to the claim. We will actually tour all three claims so you will know how to get to them all and find your fortune.The tour is on Saturday May 31st. Meet for the tour at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace Restaurant parking lot in Pioneertown at 7:45am. We will depart at 8am from there. The claims are only about 12-14 miles from Pappy’s. A 4x4 is recommended but the roads are pretty good so a 2WD truck/SUV can do it. No sedans! You need a vehicle with the clearance of a truck. Greg Herring will be leading the tour and will provide a short brief at Pappy’s as well as ensure your vehicle can make it. Bring your FRS radios and tune to channel 7 for a narrated tour along the way. Be sure to have a good spare tire and know how to change your own tire, if necessary. Bring plenty of water, have food along for lunch, snacks. Bring your prospecting gear if you like; we will have time at the RRR to do some prospecting after the end of the tour. At a time that Greg will announce during the tour (midafternoon), he will lead the group back to Pioneertown. If some chose to stay and prospect a bit more, and can assure Greg they can get out safely, they can remain behind .

June 6 - 8, 2025 - (Fri-Sun) CAMPOUT AT RATTLESNAKE CANYON IMPORTANT CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEARS!!!! Of our 3 claims in the mountains (Rattlesnake Placer, Red Cabin and RRR) most are finding more gold lately on the RRR, so why not camp there?! The RRR is located in Old Timers Canyon on Forest Service Land and the claim bisects Forest Service Route 2N02 – AKA Burns Canyon Rd. Look in your Welcome Aboard packages for directions or see attached maps. The Campsite is on the north side of 2N02. It can easily accommodate 15 campers, but more if we get cozy. The RRR campsite is at 5935 feet of elevation. Some will be there on Thursday. No restrictions, come when you want and stay up to 14 days if you like. There will be our usual potluck on Saturday evening there at the RRR campsite. Suggest bringing bug spray, that whole mountain area has little biting gnats in the summer. You can drywash and detect here. Most gold is on the bedrock or in the banks of the wash. Bedrock is exposed in some areas and as deep as 4 feet in others. Nuggets here range from sub grain to several grams; a couple have been pulled from the banks that were over an ounce.