Free Panning/Sluicing Areas, Colorado Options

[CP]

Hello everyone,

Many folks inquire about free places to pan or sluice, so we thought we would post some free areas around Colorado that anyone can go to anytime they wish.
These are places where you are either "allowed", or given permission to pan/sluice on private (patented) land or it's public land withdrawn from mineral entry (unclaimable) which we can all still prospect with our pans and sluices.
All 3 are historically known as gold bearing areas and chances are very good you WILL FIND GOLD at all of them.

*Added March 2014-These areas DO NOT INCLUDE ANY CITY PARKS EAST OF TUNNEL #1 ON CLEAR CREEK OR ANY CITY PARKS ON THE SOUTH PLATTE RIVER.

CLEAR CREEK - WEST OF GOLDEN
JEFFERSON COUNTY OPEN SPACE
First we will talk about the Clear Creek/Hwy 6 area just west of Golden begining just above tunnel #1.
This area is all private land which has been donated or traded to Jefferson County open space and they "allow" panning and sluicing on the open space......they do not want motors on open space.
The only place not included in the open space is a private claim on BLM land the extends 1 mile upstream from Elk creek on Clear creek.......Steer clear of this private claim unless you have permission to be there.
WARNING-This area is all very steep and parking is limited. Traffic can also be very heavy at times, use extreme caution when in this area!!

FAIRPLAY'S TOWN BEACH - PARK COUNTY - $10.00 FEE
Second is a wonderful spot up a bit higher in elevation but the scenery is just awesome on the ride.........The Fairplay Beach.
Town of Fairplay website Click on "forms and permits".
You will need to aquire the $5 permit from the town office on front street or use the online printable form and send it in prior to your adventure. Once you have this permit you must have it with you while you pan/sluice at the beach.
Again this is privately owned by the town of Fairplay and they "allow" panning and sluicing here. Follow their rules and you will not have any problems. Gold here historically was just amazing and the beach is very close to what the old timers used to call the "GOLD SLIDE".


ARKANSAS RIVER RECREATIONAL AREA-CHAFFEE COUNTYiNCLUDING CACHE CREEK AND POINT BAR
Third we will be heading further south and across the divide to the arkansas river area.
There is alot of public land here that is withdrawn from mineral entry. This area is also a "recreational area" which has addtional rules for some activities. Panning or sluicing fortunately is not one of those....no permits needed here.
Even though this area has been withdrawn there are still a few claims to watch out for as well as many private parcels.
To know where these many private parcels are and claims in this area, you will need to have some info/maps to help you out on the sites to assure yourself of being on the open areas you are looking for. A good map to start with would be the BLM series of "Surface/Mineral Management Status-Gunnison map" from there you can then progress to more detailed maps and pinpointing.
There are many areas intertwined along the river heading upstream (northerly) from Hwy 24 along the next 10 miles of river or so.
Then further on down south on hwy 285 from the Hwy 24 intersection, at Helca Junction (11 miles or so), there is a large stretch of public land on the river extending approximately 1.5 miles downstream from the campground and approximately 4.5 miles upstream. Again use the above mentioned map to get started and pinpoint with more detailed info from there.

If you are interested in finding out how those "details" are obtained........You may wish to check over the CP club memberships at www.coloradoprospector.com and click "membership" to the left in green.
Our main goal is to learn as a collective so we all know as much as we can......We would love to have your families participation too.
Thank you to all CP club members as their participation has brought you these free panning and sluicing areas to explore!!

Enjoy your adventures!
The CP club


This post has been edited by CP: Jul 6 2017, 06:40 AM

Reason for edit: FAIRPLAY BEACH NO LONGER FREE - 2010 / fee increase 2017

[CP]

Hi Dave,

Welcome to the ColoradoProspector forums, make yourself right at home browsing around.

In Googleing Route 6, I see there are what appear to be some widened areas without guardrails along the road.
Is it permissible to park your car at these locations?
If so, do all or some of these have trails down to the Creek?
I will have my waders with me, In late August are there areas near the parking pull offs where the creek might be reasonalbly traversable with high waders on?
Is there more color upstream toward the 119 intersection or lower toward tunnel 1?
I see notes on the site about a claim around Elk creek, I have not found this creek intersection on Google, the BLM map site keeps saying maps are curently unavailable for the past week or so. The Jefferson county open space map does not identify this claim site either. Could someone locate it relative to the tunnels for me. Is it marked in some way?

Yep you should be able to park your car on the side as long as it's wide enough to safely be off the roadway, hwy 6 is an extremely busy road because of casino traffic. Be cautious at all times entering or exiting that road.

Trails to the creek probably won't be but in a few spots but it's not all that far in most places of the canyon from road to creek level. You will be traversing over larger boulders along the creek and road side usually.
A few spots (especially a bit further up) have some slow spots where you might be able to traverse the creek but the main current will be very strong anytime of year.

Blackhawk and Central City are known as the "richest square mile on earth" from historical production days as well as Idaho springs rich gold hisory. Both of these areas and all their drainages contribute to Clear creek, that's literally hundreds of old mines that did very very well included in the drainage.
Gold upstream will be better normally but the entire drainage system below those old mines still has good flood gold distrubution especially closer to those towns.
Jefferson county open spaces ends at the county line though (traffic light in the canyon) where the hwyways split. Above that point upstream on either Clear creek or North Clear creek both go to private lands immediately.

Elk creek dumps into Clear creek just above tunnel 3 about 1/4 mile or so, that claim then goes upstream on Clear creek from there. Last time I was through there the claim was marked but that was a few years ago.

Have a great time on your visit and good luck on all your prospecting. We'll all be looking forward to your future participation as well.

CP-Dan