He raced out in the deep snow to check out one of his favorite Sooke River tributaries.
“Accessing the area was really tough because there was about a foot of snow. I had to plow up through the logging roads myself in my truck.
There was a fallen tree in one of the tributaries of the Sooke River that had been there forever. The tree caused a huge pileup of sand and rock and debris and hid the bedrock, where I usually find gold.
When I got there I saw that tree and the debris was totally washed out by the storm and exposed fresh bedrock that nobody could access before.”
Prospectors are often looking for exposed bedrock when sniping gold nuggets in a river, and it paid off for Pauly.
In the video PioneerPauly gets in the water surrounded by snowy river banks and finds one beautiful nugget. Right before he gets out, he finds another, even bigger one.
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We know where it’s from, because we sucked it up the nozzle ourselves.
Was it painful to get in water that cold, we asked?
“Psychologically, you think it’s going to be super cold because you get in with snow around you. I found it’s not that much colder than usual, but you have to get your face in the water long enough so it goes numb. You won’t feel your lips or anything. It’s pretty f***ing cold, but your body’s warm because you have a thick wetsuit and you’re moving around.”
Pain is beauty, as they say, and two gold nuggets that weigh 8.6 grams is a beautiful thing in our opinion.
At today’s gold spot price, those nuggets are worth over $450! They could be worth even more, though, as gold nuggets are often more valuable than the weight of the gold they contain due to their unique shape.
Watch him make his strike here!
Other great gold finds for you to enjoy
If you liked reading this article, you’ll love these other stories from Bering Sea Paydirt:
Alex used to do "fancy" things like work next to the White House and fly business class and wear suits and shower everyday, but left all that behind when he moved to Alaska in 2017. He was commercial fishing and building boats until a certain reality tv star showed up and he became a husband, a father, and a dirty gold miner. He thinks now is the best time ever to be a treasure hunter and wants to connect readers with the best stories and teachers on the internet.
