Gold panning in California
Where to pan for gold in California, the official public panning areas, and the rules for each kind of land. Our map of California draws on 117,520 gold records: old mines, prospects, placer claims and lab-tested stream samples.
Official public panning areas in California
These places are set aside or managed for recreational panning, from the managing agency's own pages. Rules change: check the source before you go.
Auburn State Recreation Area
What's allowed: Hands and gold pans only, on lake shorelines and on beaches and gravel bars of streams and rivers, not at swim beaches or boat launches; 15 lb per day, no selling; suction dredging prohibited.
Clear Creek Greenway
What's allowed: Low-impact collection with hand tools only (shovel, pick, pan, sluice); no motorized or mechanized equipment.
Fee: No fee
Dave Moore Nature Area (South Fork American River)
What's allowed: Gold panning is a listed activity; the page states no tool or method rules.
Forks of Butte Creek Recreation Area
What's allowed: Area is withdrawn from the mining law (no claims); hand tools only, panning and sluicing allowed but no high banking and no pumps or motorized equipment; dredging is illegal in California.
Season: Collection season May - October in the 2014 packet; road access may close in bad weather
Fee: 2014 packet: BLM permit required, $5 per site per day (marked sites about 100 yards long); the 2022 guideline sheet says panning needs no permit on public land, so confirm
Greenwood Creek River Access (South Fork American River)
What's allowed: Gold panning is a listed activity; the page states no tool or method rules.
Fee: No fee
Junction City Campground (Trinity River)
What's allowed: Gold panning is named as an activity with river access; no tool or method rules stated.
Keysville Special Recreation Management Area
What's allowed: Recreational gold panning is a listed activity; the page states no tool or method rules.
Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park (American River, east side)
What's allowed: Hands and pans only, on the east side of the river across Mount Murphy Bridge, during park hours; no other mining equipment.
Season: During park hours
Merced River Recreation Management Area
What's allowed: Recreational gold panning/prospecting is a listed activity; the page states no tool rules and links an existing mining claims map.
North Fork American River (BLM, Giant Gap / Iowa Hill area)
What's allowed: Recreational gold panning is named among the most popular activities; the page states no tool or method rules.
Pipi Campground area (Middle Fork Cosumnes River)
What's allowed: Panning needs no permit; work only within the wetted stream channel; no digging into banks or removing streamside plants; no dredging without a state permit.
Season: May - October (campground)
Fee: No permit for panning; campground $36/night single, day use $10
Plumas-Eureka State Park (Jamison Creek)
What's allowed: Gold pans only (no other tools); only on beaches and gravel bars of Jamison Creek that flood each year; no high-banking; all other park waters closed to panning.
South Yuba Recreation Area (South Yuba Wild and Scenic River)
What's allowed: Hands and pans only; no sluice boxes or tools.
South Yuba River State Park
What's allowed: Gold pans only (no other tools); panning only on beaches and gravel bars of the South Yuba River that flood each year; rocks may not be moved or taken; no high-banking.
Trinity River BLM campgrounds near Douglas City (Steiner Flat, Steel Bridge)
What's allowed: Gold panning at the river's edge is mentioned as an activity; the pages state no tool or method rules.
Season: Steiner Flat is closed this season for maintenance (BLM page, Nov 2026); check before you go
Fee: Steiner Flat page lists no fee; Steel Bridge, Douglas City and Junction City campgrounds charge a fee
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area (Tower House / Clear Creek Picnic Area)
What's allowed: Metal or plastic pan plus a small hand tool (blade no larger than 4 x 8 in); no metal detectors, sluices, rockers, dredges, suction devices or diving gear; no selling.
Fee: $1 panning permit (valid one year, age 17+) plus a vehicle entrance pass
Gold areas in California
PlacerPro covers California's known gold country:
- Colorado Desert and Julian (Picacho, Cargo Muchacho, Potholes, Julian)
- Colusa, Glenn, Tehama and Mendocino counties
- Eastern Mojave (Mojave Preserve edges, Vidal, Chuckwalla, Whipple Mountains)
- Eastern Sierra and Inyo (Bodie, Masonic, Alpine, Panamint, Owens Valley)
- Modoc and Lassen counties
- Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties
- Mother Lode (Mariposa, Sonora, Columbia, Angels Camp, Jackson, Placerville)
- Napa County
- Northern Mines (Grass Valley, Nevada City, Downieville, Auburn, Feather River)
- Orange County
- San Mateo County
- Siskiyou and Shasta (Scott River, Klamath River, Yreka, French Gulch, Igo)
- Southern Sierra and Kern (Kern River, Havilah, Keysville, Randsburg, Coarsegold)
- Trinity, Humboldt and Del Norte (Trinity River, Salmon River, Orleans, Gold Bluffs)
- Ventura County
- Western Mojave and San Gabriels (San Gabriel River, Holcomb Valley, Calico, Barstow)
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Gold panning rules in California
- National Forest and BLM land: recreational panning with a pan and small hand tools is generally allowed unless the ground is claimed, withdrawn or posted. Digging into banks, or more than light digging in the gravel, can need a Notice of Intent. Check with the ranger district or BLM field office.
- Active mining claims belong to the claimant: don't prospect on them without permission. BLM maps claims to survey sections, so outlines are approximate; check claim posts on the ground.
- Suction dredging is banned in California, and the state issues no dredge permits. State law counts any motorized or mechanized system that removes or processes gravel from a stream's bed, bank or channel as suction dredging (Fish and Game Code 5653), so pumps, highbankers and power sluices working stream gravel are out too.
- Even without a motor, digging in a stream's bed or bank, or diverting water to a sluice, can need a Lake or Streambed Alteration notice to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Light hand panning is fine; for anything more, ask CDFW first.
- State parks: collecting is generally prohibited. A few allow panning with only your hands and a pan, on gravel bars in set areas (for example Auburn State Recreation Area and South Yuba River State Park): ask the park. National parks are closed to prospecting.
- Wilderness: closed to new claims and to motorized or mechanized equipment. Wild and Scenic rivers: federal land within a quarter mile of a stretch classed "wild" is closed to new claims.
Common questions
Where can I pan for gold in California for free?
California has 16 official public panning areas listed below, from agency sources. Beyond those, panning is usually allowed on open public land (national forest and BLM) that isn't covered by a mining claim, and on private land with the owner's permission.
Do I need a permit to pan for gold in California?
Hand panning usually needs no permit on open public land, but the rules depend on who manages the land and what tools you use. Sluices, highbankers and dredges often need permits. The rules for California are below.
How do I find gold-bearing creeks in California?
Gold washes downstream from where it eroded out of the rock, so the best creeks drain old mining districts and gold-bearing rock. PlacerPro rates every creek in California's gold country from old mine records, USGS lab samples and geologic maps, and shows public land and active claims.
Other states
- Gold panning in Alabama
- Gold panning in Alaska
- Gold panning in Arizona
- Gold panning in Colorado
- Gold panning in Georgia
- Gold panning in Idaho
- Gold panning in Maine
- Gold panning in Montana
- Gold panning in Nevada
- Gold panning in New Hampshire
- Gold panning in New Mexico
- Gold panning in North Carolina
- Gold panning in Oregon
- Gold panning in South Carolina
- Gold panning in South Dakota
- Gold panning in Tennessee
- Gold panning in Utah
- Gold panning in Vermont
- Gold panning in Virginia
- Gold panning in Washington
- Gold panning in Wyoming