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Overview
Gold n Gem Grubbin' is located near Cleveland, Georgia in the North Georgia mountains. The history of this destination, both long and short-term, is very interesting.

Long term history - The property at Gold n Gem Grubbin' was originally part of the Loud Mine. Prior to the Civil War, the Loud Mine produced 2 of the 7 million dollars worth of Gold bullion coins produced at the nearby Dahlonega Mint. In those days, miners used hydraulics to erode the loose earth, dislodging gold that was eventually separated. Unfortunately, the war between the states put an end to most mining in Georgia. Some small mining operations attempted to continue, but most of the "easy" gold had been swept-up in the gold rush, and the gold that was left, while plentiful, was just too hard to mine to be profitable. In addition, gold finds in other parts of the world where labor costs were/are almost non-existent rendered US gold mines bankrupt. Keep in mind, the gold's still there, the Dahlonega gold rush just scratched the surface. Fast forward 150 years...

Short-term history
If the long term history weren't interesting enough, the short-term should be a book. Visit the Gold n Gem Grubbing website for the awesome story of how this place came to be.

Obviously, the whole idea of Gold n Gem Grubbin is panning for gold and grubbin' for gems. The Gem Shack provides a very nice covered slough where treasure hunters can search through "enriched" buckets of sand for semi-precious gemstones, or pan for gold using processed ore dug from the facility's on-site pit mine. The creek also provides a place to pan and rockhound in a bit more realistic manner. Read the PB&J Adventure Journals below for more information on the creek.

Gold n Gem Grubbin' has its own small RV campground with full hookups (water, electric, sewer, but no cable or antenna reception).  Additionally, there are several creek-side primitive campsites that are awesome if you prefer tent camping. I wanted to pull the motorhome down there, but we needed air conditioning in this warm weather. The RV campground is pretty rustic by most standards, but it will do. The campground is secondary to the other business of treasure hunting.

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Adventure Journal
Entry Date: September 2011
For this long Labor Day weekend holiday, we decided to re-visit Gold n Gem Grubbin' in Cleveland, Georgia for a rockhounding adventure. In addition to providing an awesome place to pan for gold, grub for gems, and generally rockhound, the campground provides a great home-base while exploring this part of Georgia. Some friends joined us on this trip, so the kids had friends to play with at the campground. And play they did. We were so happy they were getting exercise.

Our first full day was a Saturday, and we decided to spend it exploring the area. Blairsville was hosting a Mountain Heritage Festival, so that was our first destination. We had a hankerin' for some funnel cake, home-made ice cream, folk music, and farm animals. We swung into Vogel State Park on the way. We've stayed at Vogel just once, but we loved it. We're coming back Thanksgiving! The festival in Blairsville was a lot of fun, and we saw many works of art, and lots of folks working at it. All our expectations were filled before having a picnic lunch and heading for Helton Creek Falls to play in the water.

Eventually, we concluded our day back at the Gold n Gem Grubbin' campground by a nice fire. We knew tomorrow would be filled with treasure hunting and discovery, not to mention a little playing in the creek.

Sunday morning, we loaded-up our prospecting gear and headed for the creek. At Gold n Gem Grubbin', treasure seekers pay a fee which covers all the pans, screens, buckets, and shovels you need to dig from the pile of processed material they dump next to the creek. You simply carry your bucket up to the pile, fill it with the shovel, strain the rocks out with the screens, then sit or stand in the creek and pan away the dirt and sand. Sounds easy. Unfortunately on this day, we had no luck. I think I found two flakes, and that was about it. We did find some garnet, amethyst, nicely formed quartz crystals, and lots of pyrite (fools gold).

When we'd had enough of the creek and panning, we headed for the "Gem Shack" for some gem grubbin' from "enriched" buckets of rock and sand. Sure, it's cheating, but the kids (and adults) sure have a lot more fun when they find stuff. We've done this in a number of places, and I have to say, gold n Gem Grubbin' is pretty liberal with their gemstones. Of course, they hope you'll let them cut the stones for jewelry. If you decide to use this service, you'll end-up with a very nice piece of jewelry made from a gem you found.  It's a lot of fun, and good for the kids too.

The last two pictures in this adventure show how dirty the Jeep got this weekend and how well my tires are wearing. The BF Goodrich TA Radials have almost 60,000 miles on them, and should last another 10,000 with no problem. I think I may buy the same thing next time.

The Richardson Tribe

Scroll Down for more pictures and another Adventure Journal entry.

Features	Rating (1-10)	Description
Official website	9	The site has a lot of information about their primary business, gold panning and gem grubbing. It has little information about the campground. Just two pictures, and one is of our Jeep and our first Homer (RV).
Campground - Reserve You'll need to call.	8	8  full hookup RV Campsites ($28) - No Cable. Fairly rustic campground with rocky inner roads (not a place for bike riding). This is a great place to camp when visiting the area.
Geocaching	*	Geocaching is available, but we didn't have a chance.
Rockhounding, Gold Panning, Gem Grubbing, Custom Jewelry.	10	Rock Hounding is what Gold n Gem Grubbin' is all about. In addition, Dahlonega is also nearby.
Local Attractions	10	Smithgall Woods, Helen, Tallulah Gorge State Park, Unicoi State Park, Vogel State Park, and much much more.
*Note: We rate only the amenities we have personally reviewed. **Accommodation pricing is based on 2010  Gold n Gem Grubbin' website pricing. No financial consideration or favor has been received for listing in PB&J Adventures' website. We are in no way affiliated with this facility or any other facility we review. Any paid advertising seen on this site was arranged after the destination was reviewed. You can trust the reviews to be unbiased.

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