With the end of summer nearing, many people are looking for a last-minute getaway to enjoy some sunshine and outdoors play. With this in mind, here are 5 places we highly recommend to go gold panning before the summer's done. 

1. Jamestown, CA 

California is rich with gold mining history and remarkable finds, and Jamestown is one of the best places to go. Close to Yosemite National Park, there are a number of gold panning tours available, including our own recommended tour at California Gold Panning. Let Gary show you and any friends or family members how to pan for gold. You'll be amazed at what you find!

You can take the gold you find at California Gold Panning home with you!

2. Alabama Gold Camp, AL

Though the name speaks for itself, the adventure of gold panning at Alabama Gold Camp also yields the possibility of finding garnet, citrine or fossils. With tours open to all ages, this is a great place to explore if you're close by. 

3. Colorado Gold Adventures, CO

Colorado offers an array of fun activities outdoors, including skiing, hiking and mountaineering. It's also well-known for its gold panning as well! Check out Colorado Gold Adventures, which provides you with a full-service guided gold adventure while also teaching you everything you need to know about how to prospect, read a stream and find Colorado placer gold on your own.

4. Gold Mining Adventures, WA

Following the discovery of gold in Swauk creek in 1873, the historical town of Liberty was one of several gold-mining camps that sprang up in Washington. The Swauk creek discovery is notable for producing specimens of crystalline gold.

At Gold Mining Adventures in Liberty, your guide will take you to points of interest in and around Blewitt Pass. Enjoy a gourmet lunch at Liberty's Bed and Breakfast and later pan for gold, while ending a full day with a visit to a modern day gold mine operation.

You can take the gold you find at California Gold Panning home with you!

5. Juneau Gold Panning, AK

In 1880, gold was discovered in Juneau by Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris. The Alaskan capital city was founded as a gold town and two major mines operated in the area, making Juneau one of the more historical and well-known gold panning towns in the state.

You can try gold panning in Juneau during a tour of Gold Creek and Last Chance Basin, which is where gold was found in 1880.

All of these places offer a distinct and fun tour, so get out there and enjoy the adventure in finding some gold!

With Father's Day coming up, it can be difficult planning for fun the weekend before, especially when on a tighter budget. However, there are plenty of fun things you can do when you have the time off to do so, including gold panning. If you're looking to have some fun this weekend, here are 4 reasons why you should go gold panning!

1. Finding Gold!

Easily the most legitimate reason you should get out there this weekend is the chance of striking it rich! Make sure you have all the equipment you need to enjoy a day of prospecting with your friends and family. It's important to know where to find gold and what to look for prior to taking a gold pan to a local river.

2. Exercise

Gold panning is meant to be a lucrative activity for some and it can also serve as a beneficial activity for your body! It requires you to walk, likely hike, and get your hands a little dirty, something every outdoor enthusiast absolutely loves to do!

3. Explore

The love that many people have for prospecting isn't just in finding gold, it's also the journey towards trying to find some. One may have to walk through terrain that isn't meant for city folk. And while you're out there trying to find the perfect spot to start panning, you'll likely see and experience things you hadn't anticipated. Get out there and explore the great outdoors!

Exploration is one of the best reasons to get outside this weekend!

4. Community

Don't go panning alone is what we always say! Beyond just the risk of any outdoor activity on your own, gold prospecting is meant to be an activity to be shared and treasured by all. Ask a friend, ask your parent, or ask your child if they want to join you. Sharing an experience outdoors is a wonderful way to connect with the people you care about.

When gold panning, it takes some strategic thinking and good timing to increase your chances of finding gold! Though a well-planned location does not guarantee you getting some of that shiny stuff, some patience, diligence and planning can sharply increase your chances!

Finding gold can be a difficult, but rewarding, endeavor!

Finding an area that is easily accessible and doesn't require lots of hiking will make the adventure easier, but you may find better rewards traversing to those difficult-to-access spots. Most importantly, always try to go with at least one other person as safety is essential for having a good time!

As mentioned, some of the best time to go gold panning include:

1. After Heavy Rainfall or Flooding - When there's a lot of rainfall or even a flood in local mountain regions, water helps remove some of the top layers of soil, bringing down a lot more material from the mountains. Gems and gold are often accompanied downstream!
   
   
2. Low Water Levels - Low water levels during the summer or in areas where there is a drought makes it easier to get gain access to areas with black sand, thus making it much easier to find gold!
   
   

   When the water is low, it's the perfect time to gold pan!

3. Post-Snow Melt - Snow melts tend to break up the gravel and ore up in the mountains, bringing down the material into the streams and rivers as the weather begins to get a little warmer. 
   
   
4. Extreme Low Tides - If you're prospecting on a beach next to the ocean, the farther out the tide is, the less water you have to deal with. When you have less water to deal with, areas with black sand are more easily found. When black sand is easier to access, the chances of getting to gold-bearing levels of sand increase dramatically!
   
   

   Ocean beaches during low tide are some of the best spots to find some gold.

5. Sunshine and Warm Weather - Since the first day of spring was only yesterday, we can all look forward to a better season.  as long as there is good weather and low tide u can go!
    

Patience and perseverance are the two best words to describe the top qualities required by a gold panner, and most importantly, a beginner. It is tempting to fall into the mindset that you are going to get rich quickly, but that may not always be the case. However, as your skills improve, you will be able to enjoy this hobby and have something to show for the hours spent exploring.

Gold panning does have a great deal of potential in becoming a very profitable pastime, and in order to be good at it, you need to learn skills that will give you the knowledge of where and how to pan for gold. The better you get at these skills, the more likely you will find those hidden treasures.

With this in mind, let’s explore the tips that can get you some gold!

Gold is a hidden treasure, just waiting to be found!

3. If you happen to discover that a river or creek had a small diversion in relation to where it flows now you may wish to explore that. You will also want to learn how to read a flowing stream of water. There are many secrets that a river or creek can hide but a good gold panner can decipher the clues they need to find good spots to pan. Understanding the characteristics of a creek at high water versus low water can prove very useful. Panning sands that get trapped in tree roots during spring runoff and behind boulders where eddies have formed are good places to start. As gold, even the smallest flake, is denser than any other material flowing downstream, they tend to float to the bottom of a creek bed in these locations. Having a small shovel so you can dig up soil and dirt from alongside a creek is very useful and using the creek to "screen" your pan will also help.

4. Once you have picked a potential spot, fill your gold pan with the material you want to go through. Dip it into the creek to add water and put both hands in the pan. You will be filtering the material this way, moving everything around, removing bigger rocks and breaking up sand and soil. Once you remove the bigger items you can get down to the actual panning part which involves a swishing back and forth action. Keep removing material and water from your pan until it is reduced to just fine sand and some water.

Having the right equipment, like this metal folding shovel, is important for moving material.

5. Swirl this collection with one end of the pan lowered if there are flakes or nuggets of gold in your pan you should be able to see them glistening at this stage. If there is nothing showing, fill your pan with more material and repeat these steps. You may find that the location you have chosen is just not producing or you may have to pan sand and dirt from somewhere else in the area you researched.

6. Another great tool for the beginner is a beginners metal detector and pinpointer. They can identify various metals, including gold, and are excellent in helping eliminate bad panning spots and discovering good ones! The Nokta Pointer Metal Detector, for example, can produce accurate readings when used as a precision tool to narrow down sites found with a metal detector. Another handheld pinpointer that is especially accuruate it the Garrett Handheld Metal Detector, which are especially helpful when used with a Gold Rush Nugget Bucket, as they can be used when looking for any gold and other metals in the top two screens. 

The Nokta Handheld Metal Detector is a great tool to use with the Gold Rush Nugget Bucket.

A huge bonus related to gold panning is that you can do it virtually anywhere! By carrying your Gold Rush Nugget Bucket, shovel and metal detector with you on a camping or fishing trip, you will always have something fun to do. It is also a great hobby to share with family and friends. For history buffs who enjoy gold panning, it is a great way to experience the days of old. More than a century ago, miners moved around the country following gold hoping to strike it rich. In many cases, gold panning had everything to do with the development of many regions in not just the United States, but many other places around the world. 

Just scoop in dirt, pour in water, and let gravity do the work!

Ultimately, gold panning is fun and can produce a nice payback. Remember that patience is key and never give up! You will find that gold. 

Some would say that gold panning is a difficult hobby to jump into. It can take time, effort and a lot of frustration before you find any gold. However, with the right instruction and tools, it is possible to save yourself a lot of time to find that shiny stuff!

1. First, it’s essential to have the right tutelage. To find that, however, one must know where to look! There are a number of companies that offer gold panning tours across the U.S. and elsewhere, and one company called Gold Daughters in Fairbanks, Alaska does a great job of introducing anyone to the art of gold panning. Gold Daughters is a family-owned gold panning attraction that strives to share the unique history of their local area with tourists that come from all around the world, and teach anyone interested in gold panning how to do it. 

Jordan and Ilaura Reeves showing visitors how to gold pan in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Jordan and Ilaura Reeves, the co-owners of Gold Daughters, have been panning for the majority of their lives. Their family and their story was even featured on the National Geographic television show, "Goldfathers"! Being as they are experts, they get much enjoyment out of teaching youngsters and grandparents alike the art of gold panning. They also have access to unlimited gravel brought in from local gold-bearing creeks. They will be there every step of the way to teach you how to pan and you may just catch gold fever.

Ilaura demonstrating the proper technique of gold panning. 

2. Secondly, once you know how to pan, it’s important to know where to go find gold! Gold panning locations, either for recreational or professional prospecting, are not necessarily easy to find. Each U.S. state has a list of recreational locations to gold pan that can be obtained by the Bureau of Land Management or Department of Forestry. The Gold Prospector’s Association of America (GPAA) has a list of gold claims they own that members have rights to use. It’s also important to Google search for places to go and contact local prospecting shops: they sometimes know the best places to go!

3. Lastly, it’s essential to have the right equipment. Standard gold pans are enough for someone to find gold, but it can be difficult to understand the process enough to effectively collect any to take home. The most common type of gold, gold dust, is so small and easy to lose that some people may not even realize they have any in their pan before dumping it! It’s very difficult to keep all the gold maintained during the panning process. If only there was a way to concentrate the gold into a bowl to make the gold panning process that much easier

Gold dust is the most difficult form of gold to collect, but is also the most common type of gold to be found.

Well of course there is! The Gold Rush Nugget Bucket is the best and friendliest gold panning kit that concentrates gold dust into a bowl, which you can dump into your gold pan for easier panning. Most of all, knowing that you’ll be saving a lot of time doing it, the Gold Rush Nugget Bucket makes the panning process so much more fun.

No matter what tool you use, however, it’s important to have fun most of all! Gold panning is meant to be a fun hobby and activity, so please get outdoors, smell the fresh air, and enjoy the world around you!