Sometimes the coolest experiences aren't always planned. Panning for gold was never something that really interested me. On this particular evening it happened to be the only tour with space available so I went. A lot of what made this tour one of the best ever was it was done by a local, who loved to just talk about life in Alaska. He and his wife really were the kind of alaskans' that live off the land. Hunting, and fishing for their food, picking edible berries, making birch syrup, and panning for gold.
Left to right: Mt. Foreker, Mt. Hunter, and Mt. Mckinley
Trapper Creek Gold Mining exhibit
This log house is a typical home for the village of Trapper Creek.
This is a Cache; a log structure used to store meat and furs. A cache is usually high above the ground to keep animals out. They still are in use in Alaska. This one was used by trappers in the area.
I really like this view of a river. We stopped so everyone could take their pictures. At the rock. The rock is just a cute story our guide told us. Him and his wife have an agreement never to have heated disscussions anywhere except for the rock. They drive about 20 miles to the rock, air out their differences, and head home. On occassion they have had to go back to the rock again when they were on their way home. Good idea for the married couples on the tour. 
The open field is the Tundra, this is ground which has permafrost underneath. It is very soggy and wet, very much like a muddy quicksand. The permafrost is down about 3 feet. Large trees are unable to grow here, due to the frozen layer and soggy conditions of the ground. Seldom if ever will you see animals on the tundra other than a bear chasing a Moose. The bears will actually chase the moose into the tundra the moose are not able to stay upright and soon becomes the bears dinner. 
When you think of panning for gold you may think you just dip your pan into the rocks, and mud of the river to find the gold; this is not the case. you might find gold that way, but not really that likely.
Gold is found at the far edges of the river in the root systems of trees, and small plants. Sometimes this may be in the river, but also can be found where the river bank has been but has receeded. Get out your shovels and start digging up dirt in the roots. From there you use a sifting technique where you shake the dirt and dig through the dirt for larger nuggets. Gold being the heaviest rock will fall through the sifter and become your material.
From there you use your material for panning. the gold will sink to the bottom of your pan, and after careful inspection you should have a little gold in the bottom of your pan.
I got about $40.00 worth of GOLD!
On the way back home we saw this mixed fox eating a rodent.
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