Custer State Park, SD, July 2025
We spent the morning completing chores around the trailer, making calls, etc. In the afternoon, we went gold rushing.
The park naturalists offer a wide variety of free programs that anyone can attend – animals talks, nature walks, archery, gold panning, etc. The 2 pm event at the Gordon Stockade was gold panning.
The first thing we passed upon arriving was information about the area, the Gordon Party, and the Stockade.
We passed a rock structure with flowing water that was used for the gold panning. It was a mock gold panning sluice box.
The stockade is not the original structure. According to the naturalist the buildings have been rebuilt multiple times over the years.
Finally, the main event – Gold Panning. The Naturalist told us upon starting that if gold was found that we could not keep it. Also, that the stories about the amount of gold within the area was greatly exaggerated. Needless to say, John did not find gold.
