Which Gold Panning tour?

[Robin122]

We will be on the Infinity on July 6 and my hubby wants to do a gold panning tour.

 

We realize the pans are 'seeded' etc.

 

Between the Klondike Gold Fields tour in Skagway or the Historic Gold Mining and Panning Adventure in Juneau, which one do you prefer and why?

 

We are doing this as a last minute trip (just booked today!) so we don't have a lot of $ for tours in every port, so that could play a factor. Is one port better to see on your own? We are NOT, I repeat NOT, shoppers nor are we drinkers. We like history but presented in a fun way for us and our 7 yr old son.

 

My initial thoughts on the two are:

1. Skagway says you can stay as long as you want with shuttles every half hour. That would be nice to be able to pan to our hearts content. It says it has warm water troughs to pan in which also sound nice, but it would be fun to have the choice to pan in a river.
   
2. Juneau has the meal option and hubby is drooling over the idea of the blueberry cake. LOL Sounds like this has the option of river or troughs. I think this would be my first choice if only we could stay and pan longer if we wanted.
   

 

Thanks!!

Robin

[sherryf]

Between the Klondike Gold Fields tour in Skagway or the Historic Gold Mining and Panning Adventure in Juneau, which one do you prefer and why?

 

We've done gold panning in both Skagway and Juneau, but don't know if they are the same places you are considering.

 

In Skagway, we went to the Klondike Gold Dredge, as a tour combined with seeing sled dog puppies and a 40 Below Zero chamber. The troughs here were heated, but you only got one pan that they didn't allow "double dipping". They gave you a small container for your gold that looks like an old film canister - opaque black. You can't see your gold in it. They then try to sell you jewelry or other containers for your gold so you can actually see and display it. We didn't bother.

 

In Juneau, we did a tour to the Gastineau Mill and I don't think the troughs were heated, but you could pan as much as you wanted from the dirt in the bottom. You didn't get as much gold from there as your first "seeded" pan, but you could get some more. They gave tiny glass bottles to put your gold in, so you can actually SEE it. They didn't try to sell extras.

 

We enjoyed both tours for different reasons. We took the kids on the Skagway tour, and they loved the puppies and 40 Below chamber. They had fun panning the gold but didn't care about displaying it in an expensive trinket.

 

The Juneau tour included a tour of the mine, led by a real miner who was quite interesting. I thought the gold panning was more fun and relaxed there, and I preferred their little glass bottles.

[ikirumata]

I can't give any recommendations on panning excursions, but I did notice that if you go to Lower Reid Falls and look along the shore in the sandy areas, you can see gold colored flakes all over. Not sure if they were real or not, but I thought it was kind of cool.

 

Here is another thread talking about these gold flakes around Skagway

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=992706

Edited June 8, 2012 by ikirumata

[Robin122]

I can't give any recommendations on panning excursions, but I did notice that if you go to Lower Reid Falls and look along the shore in the sandy areas, you can see gold colored flakes all over. Not sure if they were real or not, but I thought it was kind of cool.

 

Here is another thread talking about these gold flakes around Skagway

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=992706

 

 

Thanks for that link! As I read through it seems that there is no gold in the Skagway area and that it is brought in for the panning tours.

 

I think that settles it - Juneau it is! At least there actually is gold there. LOL

 

Thanks for your comments too, sherryf

[prospectorSteve]

:)I have done allot of gold panning and I have to say the gal at the Back Alley Rock Shop is a great instructor. She is great with the kids. A real gem. Real friendly and stays with you until you "get it" The gold you get is real bright and they give you little glass bottles for your gold. The setting is very Alaskan and quaint among the rock and sculpture garden, The best part, after your first pan you can stay as long as you want to search for more in their gold flumes. The "paydirt" comes from a gold mine in the Yukon gold fields. Great fun

[silvercrikhix]

In Skagway, the best tour is what we did in July!

We used Rainbow Adventure Tours. You take the scenic fast ferry from Skagway to Haines. The fun, personable and knowledgable guide Holly Jo meets you and takes you in a large passenger van on a drive to The Big Nugget Gold Mine at Porcupine Creek. Our group of 4 only shared the van with another couple and their 10 yr old son. We all made him feel special by having him ride shotgun and being the wildlife lookout. He had a blast! This is the real deal! This is a real working gold mine, as see on Alaska Gold Rush on Discovery TV. Along with seeing the teen, grandson, Parker Schnabel at work with his crew, we panned for gold with dirt from the mine.

 

We each found our seeded bit and Holly Jo had little cases to put them in with stickers Gpa Schnabel had made years ago to close them up. Learning the techniques and finding our piece was so much fun! This was a very fun, educational, scenic and informative tour. Lunch is included, too. We also caught a glimpse of Dakota Fred at work at his mine down the road. You take the ferry back to Skagway when through. We choose to hire Fly Drake (also seen on Discovery TV on Alaska Wing Men) to fly us back to Skagway via a breathtaking glacier flight tour.

 

We can't recommend this enough! This tour is only in it's 2nd year and although they do want to grow it some, they do not advertise it as they don't want it to get too big. It is a very unique opportunity. It was Grandpa John Schnabel's dream for a couple of decades to offer tours to their gold mine claim many years ago and to be able to participate in making this brilliant mans dream a reality was such an honor. Grandpa is not doing so well and just moved from home to an assisted living place in Haines. His grandson, Parker is doing a fantastic job of carrying on his dream and legacy and we wish him the greatest of luck!

[TMS MT]

The Rainbow Adventure Tours to Porcupine Gold Mine sounds fun! My husband loves watching that show. I've e-mailed them for more info.

[silvercrikhix]

The Rainbow Adventure Tours to Porcupine Gold Mine sounds fun! My husband loves watching that show. I've e-mailed them for more info.

 

It is so fabulous! Hope you do it and enjoy. It's quite the opportunity!

[TMS MT]

It is so fabulous! Hope you do it and enjoy. It's quite the opportunity!

 

We are booked! We were able to get on the 8 AM fast ferry, coming back at 1:00. That will give us time to check things out at Skagway too afterwards since our ship sails at 6 PM. I'm really excited for this tour and glad you posted about it. I would have not known to go looking for it. Thank you much!

[prospectorSteve]

I hope you picked the back Alley gold panning in Skagway. Klondike gold fields do not let you pan as long as you like. Back alley does. isn't there enough cake on the ship?