The most beloved family gold pan in Alaska, a historic hydraulic mine in a gorgeous glacial valley near Girdwood, 40 minutes from Anchorage, that has been open to the public for generations. You pay a fee, they hand you a pan and point you at the creek, and there is real, coarse, keepable gold in the gravel, some of the richest per-pan ground you can legally work in the state. PUBLIC pay-to-pan, open in summer.
Placer gold
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Other places on the map within a couple of hours.