garnet mine tours

We drive and drive down this long road. When we get to the gift shop, we pay a good fee. We follow a teen on an atv to the "mine" in our own cars. The mine is 2 small pools of water surrounded by small hills with lines down them where the dynamite was place. We got a 2 minutes history of the place and then spent the next 40 minutes bent over looking for garnets. Needless to say, all there were were tiny slivers--nothing of gem quality. I found an interesting piece surrounded by rock that I plan on making into a necklace with wire I bought from Michaels...I wouldn't spend much money for it that's for sure! The only saving grace is the gift shop which is quit good. My sister and I ended up buying rings that were reasonably priced (although garnets are only sem-precious and we brought silver).

My spouse and I decided to take the Garnet Mine Tour in North Bend based on the good reviews. We had to travel up a steep 5 mile high mountain to get to the spot were you look for garnets on the ground. No digging, axes, picks, or shovels were allowed. For $13.95 per person they give you a bucket to put your rocks in. Everyone has to follow your guide (who I believe was no older than 14 yrs. old) up to the top of the mountain with your own car to a small area were there are two ponds. The group leaves every hour on the hour. When everyone is parked, we all gather around the guide and he proceeds to give a 15 minute speel about the history of the garnets and what to look for. There were millions of very tiny shards of garnets on the ground. We spent 40 minutes looking for anything bigger than a "mini" chocolate chip and didn't find a one. So, for $24.00 we came away with nothing. From what we could tell, neither did anyone else in our group of 25 adults and children. The kids seemed to have fun looking though. If you want to go mine longer, you can go back down the hill and wait for the next group to leave and you can join them for however many times you want all for the same price of $13.95.

This was more than I expected. I don't want to spoil it, but the garnets are everywhere. It looks like you are in a glittering field. If you want to take any rocks home you have to pay by the pound, just fyi.

This place is a a hidden gem! No pun intended. We drove up to this location in the middle of no where and it was a beautiful ride. I took my 11, 7 and 4 year old with me and we had a blast. When you come to the main building you go in and pay for your tickets. Btw: you ticket gets you into the mine for the entire season! Look on their website for coupons. Every hour they leave for the mine. You drive your own vehicle into the mine and listen to an informative talk about the mine. Of course, the entire time my kiddos and I are eyeing up the shiny garnets covering the ground. Then you are let loose with buckets and plastic bags to keep your treasures in! My 11 year old came up with the ingenious technique of taking bucketfuls of water and duping them on the dry ground. It pushed a lot of the dirt away and we could see the larger garnets sparkling on the ground. It was a blast!There were a few people who brought their own screens And they were finding larger pieces. Note: every hour everyone must pack up and head back to the main house and then come back with the next tour. When you are done for the day they weigh your treasures and you pay $1 a pound. We had an amazing time and it is something my kiddos will remember forever. Everyone we tell about this place are soo impressed and interested in doing it. We will def be back someday!

Everything and everyone is nice around the Garnet Mine. The tour is one you make in your own car to go down the open sky mine to hear its story and try and find some garnets for yourself to buy cheap. Its quite captivating to be gold digging for garnets, much more than I imagined in the first place. Don't plan to spend a whole day there though, you'll be in and out in about an hour.

Kids had a blast searching for garnet at the mine. The tour guides were friendly, and the mine store takes you back to another day. The only drawback was that the fee to mine was high, and you were only able to mine for 45 minutes.

I brought my son and two grandsons ages 7 and 9. We had a blast with the strainers and pail provided. The history of the mine was just enough to capture their attention it was worth the drive. Some roads are closed near the mine so it took a little longer but well worth the wait

We were traveling with 27 people ages 6-55 staying in lake George. The add says it is 35 minutes from lake George but it was more like an hour through winding rocky back roads. But worth the trip. Beautiful and fun. The place actually sparkles in the sunlight. Kids had fun looking for the biggest piece of garnet. Only $1 a pound for what you find. Wish we new tours are every hour on the hour because we got their at 12:10 and had to wait until 1:00. They do have a small picnic area but we couldn't find garbage cans and ended up taking our garbage with us.

It did take a pretty long drive to get there, but the staff was very nice and the information we got was well-presented. I would have liked to do more "mining" but we had other things to do that day. I would recommend going early in the day in case you decide you want to spend more time ... the "tour" part takes about half of the hour and then you only have a short period to "mine". It was fun, though, and we picked up some nice gifts in the gift shop as well. If we were to do this again, I'd bring sandwiches and drinks in a cooler, do one "tour" and then go back for a second one after a snack break. The kids had as much fun as the adults, especially catching (and releasing) frogs and the biggest tadpoles I've ever seen.

I went to the Barton Mines on Garnet Hill, NY with a friend and had a good day. I didn't expect to find the big bling bling and I didn't. But it was a fun day to just be mucking around the dirt and try to find bigger pieces of garnet. We paid after we were done with our mining which I found very trusting by the employees. You drive up t the actual mine and get a short introduction of the mine and it's history. If people are not very interested in the tour they just start looking for gems immediately. The ground is covered in little red garnets and it just looks great. Just follow the rules when digging, not complicated. The tour takes on hour altogether, digging included. If you want to stay longer, you just leave with your group and return with the next group at no additional charges. You can do it all day long if you wish. Whatever you take out of the mine, you have to pay for, big or small. You pay per pound and the little handful of garnets I collected will look nice at the bottom of a vase or so. AAA members get a discount!

The garnet mine was really neat. It was in the middle of no where, so it's a long drive from anywhere, no matter what it says on their website; you have to drive around Gore mountain to get there. My young kids enjoyed it, but under 6 years old are going to need some help sifting the garnets. It was a little silly that they make you leave on the hour. For my little kids an hour was perfect, but some people were just driving in and out of the mine all day; they won't let you stay until the next tour.

This was very interesting. It was really out of the way but worth the trip. Definately need nice weather though since it's outside. You get to find your own stones. The tour guide was well informed.

I went here years ago with my parents and came back with my kids. Well priced and definatly different then the normal attractions for kids. The kids loved being able to dig and sift for garnets and its great you get to take what you find. Your admittance also gets you a season's pass. Keep in mind these garnets were used for sandpaper so the chances are super low you'll find anything gem quality but its still cool leaving with a bag of garnets you pulled from the earth.

Kids loved this. Went out to mine area- which is actually some cliffs that were previously blasted for mining with 2 ponds below. Area is beautiful, with so much garnet everywhere that you actually walk on bits of jewels. Kids loved sifting for the garnet so much we went back 3 times- 3 hrs (for the price of admission you can go back as much as you want.) People were really nice and helpful. Kids each got a small bag of garnet gems which they thought was amazing.... Would go back.

My husband and I took our son and his family to the garnet mine and we had a great time. The kids especially enjoyed digging and splashing the water to fine the garnets, but I think they were more interested in the frogs that were plentiful in the ponds. We were pleasantly surprised at the amount of garnet shards everywhere and managed to collect two nice vials of garnet without any work at all. It was a lovely way to spend the morning, but don't plan on striking it rich from garnets.