Gold panning in Colorado
Where to pan for gold in Colorado, the official public panning areas, and the rules for each kind of land. Our map of Colorado draws on 36,989 gold records: old mines, prospects, placer claims and lab-tested stream samples.
Official public panning areas in Colorado
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.
Arapahoe Bar (Clear Creek, Wheat Ridge Greenbelt)
What's allowed: Panning and sluicing in the creek bed only at the Arapahoe Bar area; digging allowed on bare ground on the north side if holes are filled; no digging on the south side or around trees; battery equipment only in a battery box, no gas-powered equipment.
Cache Creek Placer Area
What's allowed: Recreational panning and sluicing only inside the marked area; digging prohibited elsewhere; no motorized or mechanical equipment.
Season: Motorized access Memorial Day weekend through November 30
Clear Creek Canyon Park
What's allowed: Prospecting only in Clear Creek inside the park where signs allow; stay in the disturbed stream channel; no digging into banks or vegetation; fill holes; dredges nozzle 4 in or less, not left overnight; nothing within 100 ft of bridges, steps or fish structures.
Clear Creek County Open Space (Clear Creek)
What's allowed: Gold pan only (no sluice box, no dredge or suction pump) on county Open Space land.
Fairplay town panning area (Middle Fork South Platte River)
What's allowed: Gold panning with a town permit, valid only within town limits on the Middle Fork of the South Platte River.
Fee: Town gold panning permit required (price not stated on the town pages read)
Norwood Bridge Recreational Placer Mining Area (San Miguel River)
What's allowed: Non-motorized panning and sluicing only in the marked part of the main river channel (not within 2 ft of vegetated banks); no motorized mining or suction dredging; fill holes; a BLM recreational placer mining notification form is required.
Fee: No fee stated (notification form)
Pinon Bridge Recreational Placer Mining Area (San Miguel River, Ledges campgrounds)
What's allowed: Non-motorized panning and sluicing in the marked river channel with a BLM recreational placer mining notification; no motorized mining or dredging; no placer activity upstream of Pinon Bridge in T46N R14W secs 14 and 24.
Fee: No fee stated (notification form); campground fees not stated
Point Barr (Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area)
What's allowed: Gold panning allowed (in the Salida-Vallie section only here); motorized or mechanized mining needs a Point Barr Placer Area Permit, April 1 - September 30.
Season: Motorized/mechanized mining April 1 - September 30
Fee: $30 per device per season for motorized/mechanized mining (no fee stated for a hand pan)
Railroad Bridge (Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area)
What's allowed: Recreational gold mining is allowed in the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area except where posted signs prohibit it.
Gold areas in Colorado
PlacerPro covers Colorado's known gold country:
- Alamosa County
- Baca County
- Central placer belt (Fairplay, Breckenridge, Leadville, Idaho Springs)
- Front Range and Denver placers (Cherry Creek, South Platte, Clear Creek, Larimer)
- Garfield County
- Gunnison, Saguache and Sangre de Cristo (Tincup, Bonanza, Summitville, Westcliffe)
- Moffat County
- Montezuma County
- Montrose and Delta counties
- Northwest mountains (Hahns Peak, Grand, Eagle, Pitkin, North Park)
- San Juan Mountains (Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Lake City, Creede)
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Gold panning rules in Colorado
- National Forest and BLM land: recreational panning with hand tools is generally allowed unless the ground is claimed, withdrawn or posted. 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.
- 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.
- State trust land (State Land Board) is not open to the public: every use needs a lease or permit, and the hunting and fishing access leased to Parks and Wildlife doesn't cover prospecting. Ask the State Land Board.
- Colorado: the state mining division (DRMS) doesn't regulate gold panning and hobby prospecting that disturb less than 1,600 square feet. Suction dredges, pumps and highbankers can still need approval from the land manager, the Water Quality Control Division (CDPHE), the Army Corps of Engineers and Colorado Parks and Wildlife: ask them before running one.
Common questions
Where can I pan for gold in Colorado for free?
Colorado has 9 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 Colorado?
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 Colorado are below.
How do I find gold-bearing creeks in Colorado?
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 Colorado'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 California
- 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