For our final day on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula, we had a day planned in Cooper Landing. After another great breakfast at Teddy's we headed north, then west on the Sterling Highway.
Our first stop was Prospector John's for a little gold panning. Sure, this is a "touristy" activity, but we were tourists. So - why not?!? The web-site makes the business look bigger than it is. In reality, it is a small building (about the size of my tool shed) and an outdoor area that could accommodate about a dozen gold-panners. There were only four other people there at the time (a family - 2 adults with kids) so we had plenty of room. An enthusiastic 20-year old young lady took our payment (around $20 for a bucket of dirt with my Northern Lights coupon), handed me a shovel and bucket, and guided me to a pile of dirt on the boardwalk. I shoveled the bucket full, and she guided us to the sluice box area. She spent about 10 minutes with us, showing how to wash the dirt and find the gold! Later she showed us how to pan for gold, which is a tougher chore.
It took us about an hour to go through the bucket, and we found a few flakes of gold. Prospector John himself put our treasures in a glass vial, added a garnet (I think he felt sorry for us,) and pronounced our find worth about $3. We had a good time working together, and could honestly say we had panned for gold in Alaska!
Note: after one bucket, we had our fill. We were offered additional bucket for only a few dollars more, and we declined. I'm glad we did. The family of four apparently had purchase several buckets of dirt. Mom and Dad were obviously tired of panning, and the kids lost interest during the first bucket.
So, we had fun panning for gold. Unfortunately, the next part of our day wasn't nearly as "golden."
Our first stop was Prospector John's for a little gold panning. Sure, this is a "touristy" activity, but we were tourists. So - why not?!? The web-site makes the business look bigger than it is. In reality, it is a small building (about the size of my tool shed) and an outdoor area that could accommodate about a dozen gold-panners. There were only four other people there at the time (a family - 2 adults with kids) so we had plenty of room. An enthusiastic 20-year old young lady took our payment (around $20 for a bucket of dirt with my Northern Lights coupon), handed me a shovel and bucket, and guided me to a pile of dirt on the boardwalk. I shoveled the bucket full, and she guided us to the sluice box area. She spent about 10 minutes with us, showing how to wash the dirt and find the gold! Later she showed us how to pan for gold, which is a tougher chore.
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| Yes, that's GOLD !!! (Okay, you have to look real close.) |
It took us about an hour to go through the bucket, and we found a few flakes of gold. Prospector John himself put our treasures in a glass vial, added a garnet (I think he felt sorry for us,) and pronounced our find worth about $3. We had a good time working together, and could honestly say we had panned for gold in Alaska!
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| Our treasure (with the "charity" garnet.) |
Note: after one bucket, we had our fill. We were offered additional bucket for only a few dollars more, and we declined. I'm glad we did. The family of four apparently had purchase several buckets of dirt. Mom and Dad were obviously tired of panning, and the kids lost interest during the first bucket.
So, we had fun panning for gold. Unfortunately, the next part of our day wasn't nearly as "golden."
