My twin 11 year old sons & I visited in Oct. 09. We each paid the $15.00 to do all 3 activities. We really enjoyed the creeking - spent over 2 hours playing/hunting in the creek. Yes, there is an area roped off but that is because there is a pump in that section & yes, they do seem to seed the creek but my kids didn't know that so we all had fun finding plenty of gems.

We arrived early - just after opening but there were a ton of kids there already - field trips from schools. That group included 99 kids, 38 parents & I don't know how many teachers & more kept coming. We were told that had been happening since school started this fall. They handle it well & have a separate area for them to go creeking so you don't have to fight for space.

We did the sluicing & were given a free bucket of dirt. Did find a few stones & yes, those were probably seeded too but it was still fun. We even bought a couple more $5.00 buckets.
Of course we did get dirty but had planned for that in advance by wearing old clothes & older sneakers. Bring a change of clothes & you can change in the bathrooms.

The only thing we didn't like was the mining. We paid $5.00 each plus a dollar or two to rent a large bucket & shovel, walked forever down a path in the woods expecting to eventually see a real mine entrance but there was no mine! You just dig up a bucket of dirt from the ground (mostly clay like) then carry the heavy bucket alllll the long way back to sift it. My son said "We paid $5.00 for this bucket of dirt." I informed him that no, we paid $16.00. Should have just bought a big bucket of dirt that the employees had dug & saved ourselves the trouble.
We passed an employee on the way back from that activity & when he asked me what we thought about the mining, I told him in no uncertain terms!
Overall though, we enjoyed the visit & spent about 5 hours there. The total cost was around $60.00 for the 3 of us. The employees were helpful & friendly & it was easy to get to. I enjoyed watching the ducks in the pond.

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