Rog & Jude's 2008 Alaska Adventure travel blog

Got our tickets for the 3:00 PM tour

Here comes our ride

Waiting to board

Demonstration, inside a permafrost tunnel, of drift mining

A miner's cabin replica

More mining techniques

The El Dorado Mine owners the Binkleys

Ready to try our hand at panning

Here goes

Getting the hang of it

There's gold in them thar hills : )

Wish I'd found THIS piece

Waiting on the return train

Someone up here has taste!


We decided today was perfect for taking the tour at the El Dorado Gold Mine, just north of Fairbanks. It was a two hour tour aboard a narrow gauge train, with demonstrations given along the way. The owners then gave a history and demo at the sluice box area, we were given bags of "pay dirt" and turned loose to pan for gold. Our findings were weighed in the gift shop area. We found 8.5 grams, or $17.00 worth - woohoo! Homemade cookies (still warm...mmmm) and coffee were given to all before we boarded the train for the trip back. It was fun.

(We had to get a shot of that road sign on our way back to North Pole)

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