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Pining For Gold Mining: Diamonds Are Arkansas' Best Friend

June 5, 2009 at 12:49 PM | 0 Comments

It's a whole new type of laid-off travel; gold mining is back with a vengeance and oftentimes, the richest veins are closer than you think. All this week we'll be digging deep into the USA's dirt to uncover the best spots for sifting your way into a small fortune, or at least one month's rent. Any suggestions or questions? Let us know.

Gold prices may be hovering around the very tempting $900 an ounce, but diamonds are still very much in demand, and we figured that you'd need something to set into your newly-wrought gold jewelry. Take some business away from DeBeers and go hunting for your own gems outside of Murfreesboro, Arkansas at the Crater of Diamonds State Park.

Armed with a campsite, the Park attracts people from all over the south for days at a time as they try their hand at digging for the rough stuff—keep in mind that they won't be perfectly-cut, clear stones just lying there in wait for you. Nonetheless, the park's website lists daily finds which include a 1-carat find on May 30.

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Pining For Gold Mining: Some Real Peaches in Georgia

June 4, 2009 at 2:22 PM | 0 Comments

It's a whole new type of laid-off travel; gold mining is back with a vengeance and oftentimes, the richest veins are closer than you think. All this week we'll be digging deep into the USA's dirt to uncover the best spots for sifting your way into a small fortune, or at least one month's rent. Any suggestions or questions? Let us know.

As any visitor to Tennessee tourist towns will know, gold mining isn't just an activity left to the Southwest states. In fact, the first major US gold rush happened in Dahlonega, Georgia in 1828— the town's name even means "yellow money" in Cherokee. Although most of the big stakes were cleaned out by the US Treasury back in the day, the rebranding of the area as a wine country has reinvigorated tourist gold mining as a secondary activity.

The king of mining in Dahlonega is undoubtably the Crisson Gold Mine, which offers treasure hunting activities for every level of fortune-seeker. From metal detectors and panning to using a trommel—machines that effectively pan for you, and at a faster pace— Crisson offers some of the most tourist-friendly gold hunting around. The quarry out back even boasts old mine machinery and a quartz stamp mill for the the historically curious.

Gold ore is available in two ways at Crisson: fresh from the earth and ready to be panned or trommelled, or "salted," which is essentially more expensive ore as it has been purposefully peppered with possible finds. And if you can't make it down to Georgia anytime soon but want to try your hand at panning, the mine offers 1 gallon of the "super high grade gold ore concentrates" for $125, shippable to your house. What an idea for a summer backyard BBQ party!

Related Stories:
· Crisson Gold Mine [Official Site]
· Panning For Gold Makes a Comback [Jaunted]
· Gold Mining Coverage [Jaunted]

[Quarry photo: Crisson Mine; Gold photo: aresauburn]

Pining for Gold Mining: Heli Between Prospects in Arizona

June 3, 2009 at 3:02 PM | 0 Comments

It's a whole new type of laid-off travel; gold mining is back with a vengeance and oftentimes, the richest veins are closer than you think. All this week we'll be digging deep into the USA's dirt to uncover the best spots for sifting your way into a small fortune, or at least one month's rent. Any suggestions or questions? Let us know.

We've covered gold mining the old fashioned way, of panning beside a river, and even a more current version involving Hummers out of Las Vegas, but what about the future of prospecting?

If the streams all get picked over during this recession, we may see more and more helicopter tours departing to harder-to-reach areas, ever in search of a record find. For $4,000 per couple, you can hop such a chopper at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport for a 5-day vacation of flying over mesas and setting down for a little private claim digging—after instruction on the best methods, of course.

There are longer and further trips available for the hardcore treasure hunters, but we'd think that 5 days working hard for the money (er, gold) in the hot Arizona sun should be plenty to satisfy your curiosity about heli-gold-digging. -

Related Stories:
· Arizona Gold Adventures [Official Site]
· Panning For Gold Makes a Comback [Jaunted]
· Gold Mining Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: wharman]

Pining for Gold Mining: Take a Hummer Out of Las Vegas

June 2, 2009 at 2:23 PM | 0 Comments

It's a whole new type of laid-off travel; gold mining is back with a vengeance and oftentimes, the richest veins are closer than you think. All this week we'll be digging deep into the USA's dirt to uncover the best spots for sifting your way into a small fortune, or at least one month's rent. Any suggestions or questions? Let us know.

Usually folks don't head to Las Vegas anticipating a weekend of sitting quietly by a stream, panning for bits of gold. So that's why, if you do opt to step away from the slots long enough to indulge fantasies of treasure hunting, an LV-based tour company will take out out for it in sufficiently flashy style.

Smack down $200 and pack your Timberlands for the "Off Road Hummer Gold Rush Adventure Tour" from Grand Canyon Tour Company. They'll pick you up at your Vegas hotel in a rough-and-ready Hummer, before driving you out into the middle of nowhere for a 4x4 experience, a visit to the Eldorado canyon, and some panning of your own outside of Savage Mine.

Keep whatever you find, even though you know that it'll end up on the craps table later that evening. And since this is only a day-long tour, no commitment to pioneer living with outdoor toilets and baked beans cooked over a fire needed.

Related Stories:
· Hummer Gold Rush Adventure Tour [Grand Canyon Tours]
· Panning For Gold Makes a Comback [Jaunted]
· Gold Mining Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: customsnow162]

Pining For Gold Mining: Angeles National Forest

June 1, 2009 at 3:32 PM | 0 Comments

It's a whole new type of laid-off travel; gold mining is back with a vengeance and oftentimes, the richest veins are closer than you think. All this week we'll be digging deep into the USA's dirt to uncover the best spots for sifting your way into a small fortune, or at least one month's rent. Any suggestions or questions? Let us know.

In an effort to perhaps lift the spirits of those with pink slips in the LA-area, USA Today reported in April that the Angeles National Forest was THE place to be for old-school pioneer gold mining. Now that the price of gold is high enough—at nearly $900 an ounce—to convince people to squat next to streams for hours, it seems that the proximity of the Forest's natural (and sparkling) resources to Los Angeles is drawing the crowds.

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Panning for Gold Makes a Comeback

April 15, 2009 at 10:56 AM | 0 Comments

Desperate times call for desperate measures and with more and more people finding themselves out of work, panning for gold is now once again in fashion. USA Today reports:

Gold, which is selling for more than $900 an ounce, has been found all over California, from near the Oregon border to the Mother Lode near Yosemite to the deserts of Arizona and Mexico. Seasonal rains and snowmelt erode minerals, including gold, at higher altitudes and wash them down streams and rivers.

At the Angeles National Forest, about an hour outside of Los Angeles, folks have been panning for gold in larger numbers. California now has 24,583 active gold-mining claims (cost to file a claim: $170) And it's not just old retired people who also skulk around the beaches with metal detectors. No, young and old are hiking up forest trails and sifting through dirt along the rivers.

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Where to Swim with Whale Sharks and Downward Dog with The Fishes

April 9, 2009 at 3:14 PM | 0 Comments

When the Animal Overlords take over, we can rest assured that our own Shira Levine will be safe from persecution.

We're going to try to be more thoughtful the next time we eat sushi and just stick with the faux crabmeat after indulging in peaceful day at the Georgia Aquarium. This the only place in the world where you can swim in a giant fish tank with a couple of 23-foot long whale sharks.

The Atlanta fish farm hosts "Swim with Gentle Giants," swimming and diving tours in their football field-sized, eight-million gallon Ocean Voyager tank. To say the underwater experience is thrilling is an understatement.

These fish (which include massive manta rays and sting rays, guitarfish, zebra sharks, cownose rays and wobbegong sharks) are as friendly as puppies and kitties. They like to swim up really close and skim along your body before darting off into the faux deep blue.

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Get Out Of Your Head -- The Legal Way

April 7, 2009 at 5:28 PM | 0 Comments

Real thrill-seekers will love Jaunted cousin Concierge.com's list of Mind-Altering Vacations. From absinthe in Paris to peyote in Mexico, their suggestions will certainly help you get your mind off your jumpy 401(k) and the security of your job. But if you want to run for President someday -- or if you're Lindsay Lohan -- check out our slightly more licit thrills. Voyages for the killjoy, right here:

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Get a Galapagos Fix With Sensitivity (But No Alex Trebek)

March 26, 2009 at 10:26 AM | 0 Comments

So you agree the gorgeous Galapagos Islands are in danger but you aren't lucky enough to win the Jeapordy! contest which would take you on a weeklong tour to the islands with host Alex Trebek. Then you're going to need to find some other eco-friendly way of getting close to the turtles and all the other Galapagos reasons-to-go, right?

We're considering the possibility that Natural Habitat Adventures might be an okay way to go, given that National Geographic Adventure rated them in the top ten tour operators in the world and they have a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, two organizations that we have a fair bit of trust in.

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Spring is Here But Heli-Skiing Awaits You in New Zealand

March 20, 2009 at 9:41 AM | 2 Comments

Today is the official day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere but we can't seem to shake our powder lust.

While we thought we still weren't quite rich enough for heli-skiing, a recent Age review of heli-skiing down near Queenstown in New Zealand caught our eye, we've discovered you can hit the adventurous slopes for less than we thought.

The whole idea of a helicopter dropping us into a tricky spot in the mountains so we can throw ourselves down some untouched snow is not only decadent, but pretty tempting, although our ski skills probably need some refreshing first.

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Get On Your Horses, Kenyan Style

March 11, 2009 at 2:46 PM | 0 Comments

On those days when we figure we've spent much too long with the Tivo, it's time to dream us up a bit of adventure travel. The crew of Bailey Robinson have a motto of "travel without compromise" which seems to fit our mood, too, and our eye's been caught by a trip through currently-not-too-dangerous Kenya.

We should mention that this gang is obviously obsessed with horses, and riding features in a lot of their trips; this one in the Maasai Mara is no exception.

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The Flooding's Finished at Karijini National Park

March 2, 2009 at 11:11 AM | 0 Comments

While most thoughts of Australia this month have been on the fires burning in Victoria, the opposite kind of natural disaster has been causing chaos in the northern parts of the country, with large areas of Queensland and Western Australia being hit by cyclone-induced floods.

In Western Australia, popular tourist spot Karijini National Park has just been able to reopen all roads, although the gorges are off-limits for a little longer. Once you can get there again, it's worth a visit for so many reasons. There are half a dozen gorges with steep red cliffs, water holes to swim in and waterfalls to hike to, all in the middle of the Australian outback.

Flying up to Karijini from Perth is the most common way to get there; if you self-drive around the park there's just a A$10 ($6.50) entry fee. Lots of visitors join a safari-style camping trip to see all the best bits of the park. Just remember to check first for flood reports--this month's waters aren't exactly a one-off.

Related Stories:
· Karijini National Park [Official Site]
· NW Parks Open Again [ABC]
· Victorian Fires Still Burning, Help Floods In [Jaunted]
· Western Australia Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: Paul Reid]