In August 1896. Gold was struck in Dawson City. This caused a stampede of people coming to the area, the gold rush! 100,000 attempted, but only 4,000 made it here, staked a claim, and found gold. Only a couple hundred found enough to be wealthy.

We had the opportunity to go gold planning. It was a bit stressful, but I bet after a few pans, I might be pretty good at it.

Gold is heavier than any of the other sediments. A chunk of pure gold is about 7 times heavier than a piece of rock that is the same size.

The gold we panned was from Dawson City and each pan was guaranteed at least a little gold. We were all very timid and afraid to accidentally dump out the gold, so we moved very slowly, but once you got used to the idea that gold is so much heavier, dumping out a bit of sediment with each movement of the pan, and gentle tipping of the sand was more comforting.

Rising to the top was fools gold that looked like gold at first glance but was more black and lost its shine when out of the water.

Our guide valued my panned amount of gold to be probably $4. Mom’s was less. One guy in our group had an amount that was likely valued at $15.

We also visited a mushers camp to learn more about the sled dog experience. The dogs are Alaskan Huskies and are mixes of mutt so they don’t have very many genetic issues. They are bred to have favorable characteristics like speed, nice coat, good size, and sharp thinking. They absolutely love to run and they love the cold weather.

We met retired dogs, around age 11, who don’t race anymore but still live fulfilling lives. One of the retired dogs, Diesel, was actually dognapped 11 years ago by a tourist woman when he was a puppy, but she was caught and had to return him.

We met the teenage dogs who aren’t on teams yet but are about a year old and becoming more comfortable with humans and running. During training, they will be paired next to a more seasoned dog to show them the ropes.

We also got to cuddle the baby pups. They were 4 weeks old and so sweet. They were so soft and sleepy.

Mom was saying to her dog in a gentle tone as he slept cozy in her arms, “You are a winner. Don’t you ever forget it.”

My dog was so cozy in my arms too.

We met the racing age dogs and rode on a wheeled dog sled run by a team of racing sled dogs aged from 2-11.

Alex Pai was our musher and the dogs on the sled were the dogs he races. He is an aspiring Iditarod champion, and has had success in some of the other sled dog races.

The order of dogs doesn’t matter as much as how the dogs are paired together. Compatible pairings are important. The order in the lineup is slightly important with good listeners and good leaders at the front, smaller dogs and good turners at the middle, and stronger bigger dogs towards the back. Girl dogs make better lead dogs than boy dogs do.

Caring for the dogs is an expensive labor of love, but full of so much love.

We also enjoyed s’mores. Mom loves marshmallows! I love s’mores!

Here’s another puppy picture because they are so cute!