This is my first nugget ever! It weighed in at 4.78 oz and was found at Ganes Creek in August 2006. I found two others on that trip, a .47oz and .24oz. My detector is a White's MXT.
No I haven't tried panning for gold, although it is said that every stream in Alaska has gold in it. I am planning to spend two weeks in the bush detecting for nuggets at Ganes Creek again this year. You can see our group picture (I'm the tall one right center) by going to Clark/Wiltz mining web site, lots more nugget pic's there also.
They say Ganes creek is THE place for nugs like this one! It looks like they are right. It is a goal of mine to get up that way and do some prospecting for sure!
You have a definite beauty there. I have been prospecting for years and never found anything even CLOSE to that!!!
Wonderful job!
~Nash~
No its not difficult, there are several spots open to the public and GPAA has a spot at Mills Creek. However, the access to tailing piles with the potential for large nuggets is very limited. There are 2 pay to mine operations that give this opportunity. I found this one at Ganes Creek (online google Clark/Wiltz mining) The other good spot is Moore Creek (online also). Tailings can be found near the road in the Chicken, Ak area and spots close to Fairbanks. Do your homework as Alaska can bite you in many ways, namely Grizzly, mosquito and your pocketbook, not to mention flooding streams and bad off roads, besides that its a great big adventurous place that is hard to leave.