Finding gold and striking it rich in Alaska adventures! [S5E31] Lifestyle Overland

Welcome back to our Alaskan Adventure. In the previous episode we began our trek south from Deadhorse and met up with our good friends Craig, Claire, and Milo of Alaska Overlander. These folks have not only lent us the use of their Tacoma, but were now also sharing some of their favorite spots with us as we made our way towards Anchorage again. Today we're headed out to explore another historical gold mining area in hopes to find even more incredible views and maybe even some successful gold panning to top off what has been yet another amazing adventure here in the Last Frontier. So ride along. Our previous night on the trail hadn't exactly been very restful since we were unexpectedly battered by heavy winds for several hours at the exposed Epic campsite. We eventually threw in the towel at 3 a.m. and relocated to a more sheltered location, but honestly after our rude awakening and very little rest after that, we opted to sleep in a bit this morning before sleepily staggering out of the tent in search of copious amounts of caffeine for our final day of travel. So you rent this trailer out too, right? We do, yeah, this is Sue Sittner and she's great for locals and if someone's got another vehicle that they've got rented they can be towed behind. Yeah, so they can drop in, grab a Yukon and get a little bit of everything. Got everything in it, hot water, got the X-Cover 2.0 on it, which is awesome. You can flip it over, there's a hardshell on the top of it and it's got rails so you can carry kayaks on it too. Oh, nice. Yeah, which is a nice little feature. Kind of does everything. It does. This is a cool little trailer. Yeah, she's light too as well, so that's pretty. Probably about 1400 pounds? Mm-hmm, yeah. Wow, nice. How'd you sleep? A lot better. Yeah? Yeah. You rested? You look fresh. Oh, good. Yeah, you look ready for another week of just go, go, go. No. No? You don't want me to extend our flight? No, we're good. Okay. You have to go back to start appreciating it at some point. That is true, that is true. Otherwise, you're just in it. Yeah, exactly. After some hot coffee, delicious pancakes, pure maple syrup, and pre-cooked sausage patties, we were ready to hit the Alaskan bush one last time. I'm not going to lie, even though we were exhausted after three weeks of fast and furious travel, it was so hard to exploring this wild and beautiful country with her constant surprises and ever-present excitement for what's around the next bend. Welcome to Petersville, Alaska. This tiny town of 21 people are all that's left of an all-too-familiar cycle of gold discovery, boom, then bust, leaving behind only a glimmer of its former glory. And we owe our thanks for the existence of this to a gold strike in 1898 when prospectors began pulling color from their pans along Cache Creek, just a few miles west of here. The excitement for the discovery was quickly tempered, though, since these gold fields were very remote, which made moving mining equipment and supplies extremely difficult. Then, in 1917, a miner named Henry Barenberg blazed a trail from Cache Creek to Talkeetna, and soon, a fresh stream of miners began making their way to the finds. The Cache Creek Wagon Road, as it was called, would eventually be widened and renamed the Petersville Road as more formal settlements were developed along its route. To date, an estimated 200,000 ounces of gold have been pulled from these streams. That's about $347 million at gold's current value, which makes it even more impressive when you consider that this was all mostly dug and sluiced by hand. While most of this area has privately held mining claims, the state of Alaska has set aside a few places for recreational panning, and since my first attempt got thoroughly rained out a couple weeks back, it was time for redemption, and maybe a bit of pocket change if I could find some color. Gold panning works on the relative gravity of the material, rocks, and minerals. Since gold weighs 19 times more than water, and about 6 to 8 times more than most rocks and minerals in the riverbed, it will sink to the bottom of your pan. The trick is to get all the material suspended in the water so gravity can do its job as you slough off the lighter material off the top. I like to use my fingers to stir up the muddy mess first to get everything saturated and moving around. Then, I pull the larger rocks out, but just make sure you wash some off over the pan because apparently gold flakes can stick to them. You can also use a screen or qualifier before loading the pan to help keep the bigger stuff out. Next, is just a lot of moving and shaking while keeping fresh water flowing into the pan. It's best to do this in a still part of the stream so the current doesn't accidentally wash material out too fast. When there's very little material in the pan is when I slow down and let the riffles on the edge do the work of keeping those gold particles in place while the rest flows over the edge. It all sounds relaxing and maybe even looks satisfying, but after a couple of hours your back locks into a permanent arch and you start to appreciate how hard the miners of old had to work to make a living in these streams. But when you see a bit of color after a few minutes of work, it's very, very hard to stop and that is why they call it gold fever. That'll work. All right, now set it in the water. Use your fingers and remember to like stir it up without letting any big pieces fall out like this. Help that gold go down to the bottom. Pick it up and just go side to side. Well, front to back really. Shake a little harder and tilt it. Tilt it out a little more so that the bad stuff can go out. There you go. There you go. Now, pause a second. Give it a good smack. No, like this. And then just go back to doing this again. A little smack. A little bit of this. And you want to keep it just moving so that gold can fall to the bottom, okay? There you go. Yeah, so you're going to go. Let's turn those riffles this way. You follow me, okay? There you go. You're doing good. See, I'm back up out of the water now. You got to get a little more of that sand out of there though. A little bitty piece right there. Excuse me. Excuse me. He's hunting the rock. Awesome. That's gorgeous. After a good workout and several pans with a bit of color, it was time to stretch sore limbs and finish out the trail while we soaked up a little bit of that rare Alaskan golden sunshine instead. We certainly didn't pay for the trip with this effort, but the special connection of panning with Caroline alongside a stream where miners worked a hundred years ago keeps us coming back for more. And who knows, maybe one day we'll get lucky and find a small nugget. But for now, we're far richer in our experiences and that is just fine with us. During one of the countless water crossings, Claire spotted a flash of color in a tiny tributary and yelled, Salmon! Honestly, the stream was so small we were a bit stunned when we ran back and indeed saw a beautiful 30 plus inch salmon trying to decide its next move, which was apparently to backtrack to the larger river for now. It's unreal how far these fish travel to spawn and apparently some come from tiny streams one would never suspect held such a big fish. As we were making our way along the trail, my vintage radar went off and I caught a glimpse of what looked like a 40 series land cruiser in the bush. After pulling over to investigate, what we found wasn't a 40, but it turned out to be something even cooler. Snow track, that's what it says. Wow, what a machine. That front end is cool. Dang. Look at, dude, that is the winter Alaska overland edition right there. You need to get one of those and build that out. See, there's your business. There's your roof rack right there. Man, that's so cool. I wonder what year that is. Almost like a citron, isn't it? Sweden. ST4, number 409. Wow, that is amazing. Love the radio on the side too as well. Yeah. Looks like we need a winter adventure in our future with something like this to play around in. I made sure to thoroughly encourage Craig to add one of these to the fleet for next time. With yet another incredible Alaskan trail complete, it was time for the ceremonial airing up. In the distance, Denali continued to tease us with glimpses of her snowy shroud through the sporadic cloud cover and we couldn't help but sigh wistfully knowing that our time in Alaska was up and we would soon be on a jet headed south again. There aren't words to express our special connection to this wild magical land and every time we set foot in this wilderness, the call grows a little louder in our bones to return again. Who knows, maybe one day we'll get the better of us and we'll just stay. But for now, we pointed our trusty rental steed, Nanana, south. Let her gallop for the stable as we reflect on some of the most memorable Alaska moments we'll be carrying home in our hearts. watching waiting patiently from where riches flow my heart is sure to follow over here you can see much clearer what you wanted was always only what we needed won't give up won't give in take everything we have and let the new begin won't give up won't give in take everything we have and let the new After our final burn south, we crash landed at Craig and Brooke's house, where Brooke had been holding down the fort for the incoming and outgoing rentals with her two sons, Corbin and Owen. On our last night, we retreated to some of the best salmon we've ever tasted, which was a fitting ending to the perfect north country adventure as Alaska said goodbye with one last wildlife encounter right in their backyard. Our family would like to extend a very special thanks to the Alaska Overlander family for their friendship and hospitality over these past two years. You guys are truly amazing, and we can't wait to return again for even more adventures, hopefully with the whole family next time around. And if you've enjoyed this series and you're serious about finding an easy way to experience the wilder side of Alaska, then we highly recommend you start booking now for your own adventure at alaskaoverlander.com. Craig and Brooke are already filling up for 2023, so now's the time to lock in your slot before they're gone. Oh, and let them know we sent you. Now, we head south to the lower 48, where a new type of adventure is already brewing. Something exciting, something huge, and maybe even more wild than Alaska itself. You're going to want to stick around for what's next, so stay tuned, stay curious, and remember to leave it better than you found it.