Found my GOLD panning river! Woohoo

[Wawannabe]

I'm strictly recreational actually but avid!
The Skykomish outside Gold Bar WA.
I have panned in MT - Libby area.
Gems too! Rockhound. Yep.

Spent the afternoon there, scouting. Talked with locals on the river. Contemplated, took pics!
Stopped in at the Steak & Ale pub in Gold Bar.
Very Good. Damn hot. Burger. Recommend!
They even have a kennel for your dog. Didn't take mine as it got to mid eighties and I went in the afternoon. Met some cool locals at the bar! Good times. Going back this weekend fer sure!

[trueblue2007]

1. my hubby goes gold mining in WA state too.

[ansible]

2. I pan for gold here in California too, surprisingly there's still some left

It's fun but it's hard as hell, it took me about 20 hours going back and forth several days to a place called Briceberg by the Merced River, on the way to Yosemite National park. It's one of the few places left in CA where recreational gold panning is still legal. I'm not even sure this is worth more than a few $$$ but it's still cool to know you can just literally pull gold out of the ground here for free.



It's a very beautiful place for camping too, camping and just exploring is free for the day, $10 a night. I really recommend it.

[Wawannabe]

3. I got up to Alaska this summer

Ran a borrowed sluice box in a river near Girdwood. Old mining town turned attraction. I have snuffed some fines but still panning the stuff I brought back with me. I just kept at that sluicebox for 8 hrs. Took 12 lbs of black sand laced with fine gold.

I had a blast!! but it WAS hard work. Panning takes a long time, right?

I moved to Fall City, WA area and live near the Raging River (Tiger Mtns) which has gold. Have been prospecting there this summer. Not getting rich but I still love to be outdoors and like you said pullin it out of nature. Pretty. Darn. Cool.

Nice to meet ya

[ansible]

4. Yeah pans only

Local ranger said you can't use anything else with sucks. How much gold are you finding per day? I really wish I could do this full time, I live so close to it too and there's a bus stop too, it would only cost me $120 a month going there every day. Would be happy if I could find 1 gram a day. The one most important thing I learned about panning for gold is that it's not really profitable at all if the cost of travel to that location ends up eating whatever profit you make.