Gold Panning in Colorado

The Arkansas River: A Great Place to Try Your Luck

The Arkansas River starts in Leadville Colorado about 30 miles north of Buena Vista Colorado and offers up some very challenging Class IV & V rapids for the whitewater enthusiast. For the rock hounds of the world it also offers up a unique form of recreation called gold panning. I know it may sound antique to some of you, conjuring up visions of old-timers with a floppy old hat with a foot long gray beard kneeling over a stream and an old mule standing behind him. Yeah, I must admit, I sometimes feel kind of corny bending over a stream or river with a gold pan in my hand but panning for gold is a very fun and relaxing hobby to many rock hounds in the world. I wouldn't say it is a hobby for me, more like an addition to the repertoire of outdoor activities I enjoy. But judging by the number of people I see using sluice boxes and panning machines it is definitely an enjoyable hobby to many people.

Panning for gold is really much easier than you might think. To pick up a gold pan, just stop at any rock shop you find and they should have gold pans for sale for $10-$15 or so. Finding the gold is actually pretty easy but you are probably not going to find a nugget on your first time out, or your second, third or fourth, but it is very rewarding to start filling a vial with the fine flakes of gold that are very abundant in the Arkansas.

A great place to start on your gold panning adventure is on BLM land right along the river just a few miles north of Buena Vista. There are many pull-offs along the banks, some of which might require you to hike down the hill to get to the river but there are many pull-offs that will allow you to simply walk 20 feet to the riverbank. My family has been here many times and on every occasion we have found gold. Not always in abundance though but enough to add to that little vial of gold I have started. The river is a main attraction for the kids; the fishing is good too I understand. As a fun thing to do for the kids, have them bring along a magnet and "fish" for hematite and magnetite either in the river or along the banks. The river is full of black nuggets of hematite.

A quick lesson on gold panning