[durasell]

Been to Alaska just once. Picked up the gold panning bug real fast! 8-)


Is it any fun at all or just a quick money activity?

[Smokin' Joe]

Easily as much fun as fishing, imo, but you can't eat what you catch.

The other aspect, just being out in the boonies, 'playing' in a creek/stream (something both basic--3 year olds do it--and primal in that), away from the world.

Ahhhhhhhh. Work hard and relax at the same time.

Quick money isn't as easy to come by as the solitude, either. You earn it, either doing homework, dirtwork, or both.

[etcetera]

"Is it any fun at all or just a quick money activity?"

I experienced it as a tourist activity, but if you check it out seriously, gold panning is legal on most federal lands. You can look for gold without a permit if you use shovel and pan and smaller equipment like rockers and sluices (I think). But dredging requires a federal permit.

In tourist areas, you can get a few dollars worth - at least that's what the owners of the place put the value on the gold flecks that you pan.

Panning is actually cold, back breaking work - you slosh around in cold gravel streams, bent over your pan looking for "color". It can be exciting, but requires patience, practice, and luck.

With gold at around $500/oz. I suppose it's more rewarding now....8-)

[Chena]

Is it any fun at all or just a quick money activity?

It's fun AND good money. Hubby found a 9 ounce nugget and had fun finding it. We are gold bugs....have dredge, have sluice box, have gold bugs, have pans....love our "hobby". LOL