Gold Panning in Skagway

[bugze380]

My husband and I (early 30s) and our 1 year old daughter will be cruising to Alaska in mid June.

 

Given my one year old, we don't really want to do the typical train excursion in Skagway and my husband really wants to do gold panning. I wanted to keep the excursion length on the shorter side and was looking at Klondike Gold Fields but haven't been able to speak to anyone or get an email response. Has anyone ever used them and have feedback or any other suggestions?

 

I've also seen Back Alley Rock Shop has gold panning. Any feedback on them?

 

Thank you!

[rvorcruise]

Having panned many hundreds of pans of gravel on real gold claims, I haven't used either one, but I've had a look at both. The dredge (Klondike Gold Fields) has a covered area with troughs of warmish water at a comfortable height, and has a panning tutor. The Rock Shop has a small trough with no cover, and no tutor. I hear that the dredge yields a bit more gold per pan (both use "salted" gravel - that is, with a few flakes of gold put into it), but don't know that first-hand. If your daughter is in a good mood, the dredge tour will probably be interesting to your husband, and perhaps to you as well.

[bugze380]

Thank you for the details. Do you know if it is easy to grab a cab to the Gold Fields and about what the cost would be?

[rvorcruise]

The Goldfields/dredge has their own shuttle bus cruising around town. I expect you can call for pickup.