Prospecting, searching for minerals, or panning for gold, can be such a great activity for RVers. We already love adventures, we love being out in nature… and finding gold? How cool is that?
Do you have any interest in prospecting or panning for gold? If so, do you seek out new opportunities to do so? Do you enjoy it and/or learning about it but don’t do it as often as you’d like? Or do you simply have no interest in it at all?
If you are a prospector or are interested in getting started, make sure you read Randall’s most recent article, “RV Prospector—Winter planning for spring prospecting.”
If you find any gold, share it with us, won’t ya?
My husband has found Gold and we love prospecting for gold!
Prospecting for gold you say ? We do pretty well in Wisconsin!!
There is no “YES, but I have nowhere to do it or even be taught HOW to do it” option, and there should be ’cause that is my answer to the poll!
We took a train trip in Alaska. At halfway we were able to pan for gold. We found a small amount; well below an ounce. Just didn’t seem worth all the trouble despite an extremely small amount of success.
Tried it once in Alaska. That was enough for me to realize ” It ain’t easy”. They worked long and hard for what they got.
I am 76 and have prospecting and detecting for gold the last 20 years. I used to dredge for gold until California. Made it illegal . Friends and i try to get out on local rivers every couple weeks looking for gold onshore in crevasses. Good exercise and we do find some most times but not enough to pay for gas !
Giving it a try would be interesting but that is not a choice in your options, so I didn’t pick any of them.
Agreed!
I dive and have found a man’s wedding ring and a lady’s Diamond ring as well as necklaces. I would hate to explain why o lost my wedding ring and can’t imagine how either “fell” off. Just a suggestion, if your rings are loose, don’t swim with them on. Better yet, give me a heads up when Abe where you do. BTW, the diamond was appraised at over $5,000 and now my daughter has the stone mounted in a ring. Happy prospecting!
If I were still physically able.
“I haven’t but would like to try it” should have been a choice.
there are much more effective ways for producing wealth.
I have panned many years ago but at 70 my days of squatting for hours are long past.
I’m a retired geological engineer who spent 42 years doing geological field work. Mineral collecting is of passing interest, but I have absolutely no interest in gold prospecting!
I’ve been a metal detectorist (is there such a word?) since the early 80’s. My friend was a White’s dealer and got me into it. It’s fun finding stuff buried for years. Coins, artifacts, lost jewelry, and even gold if you’re in gold country. I panned once in the American River in CA and actually found some small gold pieces which I proudly display in one of those bug boxes with a magnifier on top.
I will say, my metal detecting friend, who has spent countless years detecting, has found a couple sizable nuggets. But the clincher was a huge nugget he dug up in CA’s gold country and was auctioned off for over $400,000! Since he’s an old codger like me, that one got him into retirement.
Yes I have interest to try just haven’t yet.
We have panned for diamonds in Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. It was a cold November day. I’m glad we did it, but won’t do it again. And no .. none.
We panned for gold in Angels Camp, CA a couple years ago. It was a lot of fun! We found a little bit of dust. Would do it again given the opportunity.
I chose “yes but I don’t do it much” because it was closest to my actual answer of “yes but I have never had the opportunity”. I would like to try it sometime.
In Hope Arkansas you can search for diamonds. It’s a state park.
Unless they make it ADA accessible, I could not do it. Of course even if it was ADA, and in a national park, the park would let the normal people reserve it anyway like Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore campgrounds. Haven’t been able to get an ADA site and when I get a normal site, the ADA sites are occupied by normal family’s. Sucks to be disabled.
Way out of warranty and very few spare parts.