A Good Day of Gold Panning at Marshall Discovery State Park

My sunburned arms and legs were a reminder that when panning in the water on a sunny day, that you need plenty of sunscreen. The park rules were hands and pans only. No shovels, no trowels, and no scoops. Your hands were the only tool permitted for putting the sand in the pan. The  park ranger that I spoke with last night said she would be looking for me on the beach, I think that I left before she started. After 5 hours of digging my fingers in the packed sand, I was fortunate enough to find about $6 of bright and shiny gold. The picture below is the actual gold found. It didn’t cover the $10 park admittance, but i did visit the museum. The museum has 3 short movies that explain the finding of gold and how it affected this part of California. If you’re not into panning, there’s the movies, tours, demonstrations, and plenty of exhibits. The wildlife is also an attraction of it’s own, as the ground hog stand tall, the geese in large number are wondering on their own tour, and the 20 or so deer enjoy the park before the sun sets. There’s more to the park than hands and pans.