Then · 1850s
River bar gold rush
Thousands of prospectors worked Italian Bar and nearby diggings. Nervie's Store and the historic bar on the Stanislaus drew miners to one of the Mother Lode's richest stretches.
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Gold Trails - Founders Birthday Bash
Hands-on prospecting with Kevin Hoagland at LDMA's Italian Bar — historic Mother Lode ground on the Stanislaus River near Columbia, California.
September 16, 2026 - September 19, 2026Italian Bar Camp - California MotherlodeDry campsite included
Reserve this session
South Fork Stanislaus River · Mother Lode gold country
1977
First LDMA camp
160
Patented acres
River
Stanislaus gold
Mar–Oct
Camp season
The venue
Italian Bar — where LDMA began
The very first LDMA camp, built from the ground up in the 1970s on an 1850s gold rush site along the South Fork of the Stanislaus River. For decades, Italian Bar has been a destination for prospecting, camaraderie, and learning at the river.
This Gold Trails session uses that real claim ground — not a classroom simulation. You may pan and sluice the Stanislaus, run a highbanker, and work targets with a detector — with river access, camp amenities, and field time built in.
Explore Italian Bar on LDMA →
Now · LDMA era
Living prospecting camp
160 patented acres with clubhouse, showers, campsites, and river access. Panning, sluicing, highbanking, detecting, and hands-on education — including this session with Kevin Hoagland.
Why attend
The system for learning in the field
Train in real gold country
Work historic 1850s ground on the Stanislaus — panning, sluicing, highbanking, and metal detecting on the river and in camp.
Hands-on with Kevin
Live coaching across prospecting methods: reading water, running a sluice, highbanking setup, detector tones, and clean recovery.
Beginner to advanced
First time with a pan or fine-tuning your coil — sessions meet you where you are and build skills you can use on your own claims.
Dry campsite included
Stay on property at Italian Bar during the event. Arrive ready to learn and prospect without scrambling for lodging.
Small-group field work
Classroom concepts become river and dirt time — sampling, processing, detecting, and reading ground with coaching nearby.
Leave with a playbook
Build repeatable habits for research, sampling, and recovery so your next trip to the river or the patch starts stronger.
Immersive field work
This is not a passive seminar
You'll be at the river and in the dirt — running pans and sluices, setting up a highbanker, swinging a coil, and recovering gold with coaching nearby.
This session
Reserve your spot
Choose your event option and complete secure checkout. Seats are capped so everyone gets real hands-on time.
Gold Trails - Founders Birthday Bash
September 16, 2026 - September 19, 2026Italian Bar Camp - California Motherlode
Join Kevin Hoagland and his team for 4 days celebrating our founder, George Buzzard Massie's birthday at Italian Bar Camp. Sep 16, 2026 - Sep 19, 2026.
This is a on your own prospecting adventure. Bring your sluice box, metal detector, gold pans and classifiers. Along with your digging tools and buckets. Or any other California recognized legal equipment you want to learn more about. You might be on your own, but I or one of my team will be around to help you out.
Beginning at 8:30am In the mornings for the first three days there will be a mini Gold Trails class to help you, become a better prospector.
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Day 1- 9/16 Wed- Where’s the gold – This is in the field 1 hour class on reading the water and land, not the geology. You’ll understand distribution and concentration and why the rules of thumb mean little in the real world.
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Day 2 – 9/17 -Metal Detecting past the basics – Bring your detector to this class if you have any questions. I and my team will help you understand your detector and get you dialed in to make your detecting time more enjoyable and hopefully profitable.
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Day 3 – 9/18 – Introduction to Fluid Dynamics for sluicing. You will learn the patented process for recovering more gold with your sluice box no matter the brand, style or size.
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Day 4 – 9/19 Sat – Your day, you can go out and prospect or just hang out around the camp waiting for dinner.
Saturday BBQ – 5:00pm – Smoked and grilled Tri Tip dinner with grilled red potatoes, some sorts of other vegetable, bread, salad and desert. Included with Registration. Kid’s 12 and younger free.
Board games, dominos, poker and (fire restrictions permitting) campfire every night.
Equipment demos – Manufactures or Dealers will be demonstrating new and tried and true gear.
I-Bar is an off-the-electrical grid camp. Generators are allowed with quite times between 11:00pm to 6:00am.
I-Bar has separate men and ladies bathhouse with showers and toilet facilities.
Questions? Call the Event Hotline: (888) 465-3717
USD 35.00
Cancellation policy
We plan and cap these events so everyone gets real hands-on time. Refunds are available only when you request cancellation at least 7 days before the event start date. Requests inside that window help us cover committed costs and staffing.
Know before you go
Plan your trip
- Camp season: Italian Bar is typically open March 15 through October 31.
- Road access: The canyon road is steep and narrow — rigs up to about 30 feet are recommended.
- On-site amenities: Clubhouse, showers, restrooms, dump station, and community fire pit.
- Dry campsite: Included with many session options — check your event variant for details.
Location
Italian Bar, California
24997 Italian Bar Rd, Columbia, CA 95310
Nearby
- Columbia — Restored 1851 gold rush town, ~6 miles south
- Sonora — Queen of the Southern Mines
- Yosemite — National park within day-trip range
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