Yes l had been well warned of what it was like there. I have not actually been there but l have been very close.
I used to dive for gold mid winter at near 3000 feet above sea level with snow drifts on the bank and ice in the river. I couldnt even think of doing that now…such are the affects of age.
I worked with a guy who was good friends with a few glacier guides down there. And he said that they had all been up there after hearing tales of the old timers and found really good gold. They all intended to drag a dredge up some time but I’m not sure if they have been back. It sounds like a hell of a journey to get up there
Anyone got a pin on a map of Little Beach? Curious to see exactly where it is.
It’ll be getting cold in the water up there now, brrrr!
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Hi Gav, Still be pretty cold even in summer as it is glacial ice melt water. 
JW 
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That’s ok, I’ll just take a double dose of the concrete pills 
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Read somewhere there is a hunting trail up rope creek, have looked at going for a wee walk in there, haven’t got round to it YET.
When I said I used to dive for gold in mid winter then this was the extremes I used to go mining in. Taken trying to drive to one of the spots I used to work!
Note 6 inch underwater dredge on back of Landrover. Back in those days it was worth the effort!
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You guys are giving me dreams of sneaking up that river and finding millons in gold and also nightmares of the whole gorge collapsing or a flash flood sweeping you to your death XD. Speaking of copters etc, Are you aloud drones in that area? I think it may be a no as I reamember at the franz josef viewing platform it said No drones. But if so my grandad has a top of the line drone that can be operated from 10Km away so we could get that to survey the stream and find potential deposit’s (this is just dreaming at this point), although as you guys have said itwould be crazy hard to ever get in there yourself and even if you did you would have doc all over you as its in a national park and it would be crazy dangerous. Maybe once mining robots become a thing (there probably already are robots that could be used for mining but would cost too much) it could be a viability lol.
Cheers-
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Thats because you are a mad bastard. A nice mad bastard though. 
JW
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Madness is contagious - the only antidote is WHISKY!
I couldnt live those days again buddy. I do remember getting changed out of my wetsuit when it was snowing heavily and by the time I went to get into my trousers they will full of snow.It is quite a sight a near nude nutter cavorting about in heavy snow - I didnt seem to feel the cold then…but I sure do now.
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The old saying …you don’t feel the cold when your on the gold!
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Lammerlaw you must have antifreeze in your blood or dam good Irish whisky, I do have a video of the depths of the monster but don’t seem to be able to up load have been told that the gorge has a massive slip sitting upstream that has been assest as being capable of unleashing a synamie type event on the town if it lets go , I found what I would gues to be a 1 ton boulder sitting 5 meter above the waterline that had been spun into a perfect ball from the millennia it had been stuck in an overhang, it has deep channel’s even in low flow and deep holes blown out by the force of nature how the old timers got up there with chest waders is beyond me!
Il find out the rout my friend took to go up there and I’d be keen to go up some time if any one else is keen. Drone or no drone?
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Heading down to Jacksons Bay this summer for a week, first time going that far south on the coast and looking at stopping somewhere on the way back. Is the Waiho worth a crack? Prob will only get a couple hours worth of panning. Might look for some of that green stuff that been lying around for a few millions year down near Jacksons as I take it there isn’t much point in chasing the shiny stuff that far south.
did you get any panning in with the way the weather was going
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You will definitely get some colour in Waiho, we found a nice $5 picker right in the surface stuff just up in the gravel on the big main inside bend as you walk down to the river (callery side), your probably not going to strike it rich as you can’t hit bedrock unless you cross the river and mine some seriously hard stuff, but I would almost bet give it a few hours panning and you will have some colours, worth it for an afternoon if you are in the area but we won’t be going two hours out of our way again to mine there, but if your passing by worth a crack 
. The video footage I shared a bit earlier on this post and the other guys feedback would hopefully help showcase the site a bit more.
Cheers
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$5 picker? That must be world’s smallest picker 
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0.05 is a still an alright picker, it was nice and chunky not a flake, thus why Im calling it a picker, and was easy to pick up so picker. But yeah not huge but still decent, especially for overburden. I have heard bits a 10th of that size again be called a picker so its not being too generous.
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It’s all good gold mate!
Nah I mentioned I was there in summer, a week at the end of January