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Little Susitna Or Crow Creek


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I was curious where to spend my time looking for gold using a sluice box and/or pan.  I am curious if it is worthwhile heading up torwards Hatcher Pass and taking the Gold Mint Trail and working on the Little Susitna or go to Crow creek in Girdwood? What's your opinion?

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you have to pay to go in to Crow Creek.... but it is worth it from a tourist standpoint

Little Su is nice... I went with some locals there.... seems like it there were only certain areas that were open to recreational mining. --- Get the maps that show all recreational gold mining areas for AK-- there was a place out the Matenuska Hwy that i started hiking in to but chickened out halfway when i started hearing something in the brush,,,moose or bear or skunk,,lol

 

Regardless of all that you should visit all these places ==especially if you are living there in Anchorage---- dont forget the Kenai P, Petersville, and Chicken AK either..Have fun,,,,

http://www.alaskacenters.gov/upload/Recreational-Gold-Mining-in-AK.pdf

http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/ak/aktest/brochures.Par.39962.File.dat/gold_panning_bk.pdf

http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/factsht/mine_fs/petersvi.pdf

http://www.chickengold.com/index.html

 

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Crow creek does get a lot of tourist attraction and has for many years so for that reason I would personally avoid it and go to some of the less traveled places in AK like the Petersville rec area or even Chicken.  Fortunately for you, (assuming you live there), you can quickly become the expert as to where to best prospect in AK by trying out different places.  We in the lower 48 don't have that luxury. 

Also, read up on where to best find gold in a creek as it's not evenly distributed. Use your pan and test several places along the creek before deciding on one spot.  Look for the flood gold which will often be in a false bedrock layer that may not go down very deep.  My best advice is to read Chris Ralph's book "Fists Full of Gold".   The combination of you getting out there and also taking the short cut of learning from other's will help you get on and stay on the gold. 

I'm sure Steve could help point you in the right direction as he lived up there for a long time.   

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Crow Creek

Even if it is touristy.it's worth a visit....

Beautiful hike up the creek and lots of neat stuff to read at the museum there.

No need to avoid it...it makes for a good day trip and you can even combine it with Aleyeska.

Steve used to dredge Crow Creek in the winter! 

 

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25 minutes ago, vanursepaul said:

Even if it is touristy.it's worth a visit....

Paul's probably right.  My time up there was limited, even so I stopped by their myself during an event they had going on. They had a local celebrity giving a talk about metal detecting the day I was there, I don't recall who but it may have even been Steve? 

  It's just that as a destination for prospecting I felt like it had to be pretty worked out.  When I was there I think in 05 we had to pay to get in and they greatly limited the area we could prospect. So there was a bunch of people all trying to prospect in a small limited area that looked to be pretty well prospected out.  That was my experience with the place so I wasn't that impressed with it as possible serious prospecting destination. For you Robert, with living near there and not being so limited time-wise, it could be a good educational prospecting experience.    

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Do both. Hatcher Pass you have less chance of finding gold but it is free to look. Crow Creek has the better chance for gold, but you have to pay to get in.

I took many pounds of gold from Crow Creek, and found nuggets personally weighing up to one ounce. Hatchet Pass it will be a challenge to get some fine gold and flake - the biggest gold might go the size of a rice grain.

You can find all the information on Alaska public mining locations (plus other states) at https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/gold-prospecting/public-mining-sites-parks-tours-museums/

Good luck!

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Have you thought about Caribou Creek recreational panning site? Access is a bit of a walk but it dose not get much attention and might be a good choice.

 

 

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Thanks all!  

 

On June 20, 2016 at 4:48 PM, sjmpainter said:

Have you thought about Caribou Creek recreational panning site? Access is a bit of a walk but it dose not get much attention and might be a good choice.

 

 

I have thought about Caribou Creek, as well as going south of Hope on Resurrection Creek, and Bertha Creek.

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