Couple questions from a new panner

[lokiie1984]

Hello, I'm new to these forums but i have come across it a number of times through Google and i figured i would ask my questions here rather then trying to find them on Google (and never actually find it.)

My first question, i have no idea if anyone here can really answer as it has to do with panning in Wyoming and where good places might be. I tried googling it but i have yet to really find any real information, other then the Laramie mountains area. Google Centennial Wyoming and you can get an idea of the location. Its pretty remote and at the foot hills of the Snowy Mountains. Unfortunately i don't live near enough to the area to be able to just go and see how it yields. So i was hoping someone with more experience in the area or just panning in general could give me an idea if it would be worthwhile. Or if you guys have tips for finding that information out online.

My second question has to do with a creek that is dry or very little flow most of the year. It's name is Crow Creek and it flows from the Laramie mountain range down through Cheyenne WY and then ends in Colorado somewhere. The issue is that where i would have access to the creek is around 145 miles (road miles, this doesn't count all the twists and turns of the creek) from its source. Plus it's been dammed twice and flows through at least one reservoir. So i assume any gold to be found would be in the old creek bed before it was dammed, however i don't know deep that is, i cant even find any information as to when it was dammed. My question for this part is if you guys think it would be worth trying. All the equipment i would have is a pan and some water, nothing else. A small shovel probably. But no large sluices or anything like that.

On the bright side, I'm pretty sure it has been dammed for a fairly long time, and we have been in a drought or drought like for a fairly long time so the old bed may not be that deep.

Anyway, any info you guys have would be helpful.

Also sorry if i broke any forum rules by posting this so fast after to joining, i was just getting annoyed with google giving me stuff that has nothing to do with what i asked it.

Thanks

Links: Google map showing the area around centennial wy. https://www.google.com/maps/place/C...2!3m1!1s0x8768730245bcecf9:0x51f7911773a1667c

Google map showing the area around where i would access Crow Creek: https://www.google.com/maps/place/C...2!3m1!1s0x876f1ba956f44395:0x2da9be9b8ac0e436

Both have satellite photo view, however i don't know how old the pictures are.

Edit: I wanted to add a couple pictures of my first panning attempt. The following came from a 10 ounce bag of "paydirt" that i bought with my pan so i could learn how to do it.

 

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[Wyo Outdoorsman]

I was thinking of doing a little panning myself last fall while hunting on the next mountain range west (Sierra Madre's) they are both in the Medicine Bow Ranger District, I don't know if Pole Mountain is too, and this is what I found out.

Contact:

USDA Forest Service
Medicine Bow-Routt
National Forests,
Thunder Basin
National Grassland
2468 Jackson Street
Laramie, WY 82070
307-745-2300

If they have not changed it, you need a permit to Pan in the Snowy Range (Centennial) , I don't know if that is also the Pole Mountain area (Crow Creek) (or if there is gold there either?), the season is around 1 July - 1 Sep.

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests & Thunder Basin National Grassland - Recreation Passes & Permits

go down to Dredging and Panning info and click it (of course the web site was down right now when I clicked it. Lol)

I don't know where you live, but there is a GPAA Chapter in Cheyenne, I've seen them up on their Douglas Creek claim (Snowy Range) in the summer.

I hope that helps!

 

[lokiie1984]

I was thinking of doing a little panning myself last fall while hunting on the next mountain range west (Sierra Madre's) they are both in the Medicine Bow Ranger District, I don't know if Pole Mountain is too, and this is what I found out.

Contact:

USDA Forest Service
Medicine Bow-Routt
National Forests,
Thunder Basin
National Grassland
2468 Jackson Street
Laramie, WY 82070
307-745-2300

If they have not changed it, you need a permit to Pan in the Snowy Range (Centennial) , I don't know if that is also the Pole Mountain area (Crow Creek) (or if there is gold there either?), the season is around 1 July - 1 Sep.

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests & Thunder Basin National Grassland - Recreation Passes & Permits

go down to Dredging and Panning info and click it (of course the web site was down right now when I clicked it. Lol)

I don't know where you live, but there is a GPAA Chapter in Cheyenne, I've seen them up on their Douglas Creek claim (Snowy Range) in the summer.

I hope that helps!

Yep the website is down for me too. I didn't think about needing a permit or anything, would kinda kill the fun if we had to but i suppose the area is on public forest reserve type land. I will have to give them a call, if nothing else maybe they can direct me to some better spots even if we do have to pick up some kind of permit, or maybe some areas where that's not needed. We live in and around Cheyenne WY, so we could go into Colorado too, but we didn't want to go too far or the whole day would be taken up by travel leaving little time to do the panning.

We would be going with my girl friends dad and he grew up around the centennial area so at least if we go there, he knows all the ins and outs of the streams and what not. Even still he hasn't gone panning in ever, or if he has it was as a kid and he is now in his 60s. So he knows the area, just not the rules lol.

 

[Duckwalk]

Not sure if this is the answer you are looking for or not but here we go.
Deep or shallow, fast or calm, water changes with every rainy day. Any gold in the dirt will have washed at some point in history even if it was dammed up. If you dont have a lot of water flow just look around the bigger rocks, behind and underneath. Gold is heavy and will sink whenever it gets the chance to settle. if you need more water to allow you to pan, i always dig out a hole near the creek big enough to allow water to accumulate and pan from that rather than the shallow creek.

 

[Wyo Outdoorsman]

Contact the Cheyenne GPAA, I think you would all have a blast and learn a lot on one of their Douglas Creek outings. It would be under a 2 hr drive from Cheyenne up there. And at least 3/4 of it on pavement. If I still lived over on that side of the state I would be doing it.

 

[TerryC]

The gold has been in that creek for THOUSANDS of years. Dams be damned! They are not a concern. Gold moves during high water and flood stages.... heavy storms. Look in the areas common to ANY areas that hold gold. A few gold books should help you out. Last, go where gold has been found before. That is the most important advice I can give right now. TTC

 

[lokiie1984]

I called the local GPAA club and talked with them about where to pan in the medicine bow national forest area, they told me about a small creek that is "unclaimable" now and to his knowledge no one has really worked in years (due to everyone thinking its been claimed when in fact it hasn't be for some time.) So we are going to take a trip up there this weekend and take a look at it. It's actually not to far from some the local GPAA claim on Douglas creek.

Unfortunately most of the area around there has been claimed but i kinda figure if everyone is claiming everything in the area maybe its a good sign that there is something worth finding around there. The creek should make for a fun day though and if someone shows up saying its their claim, we can always go somewhere else.

 

[Wyo Outdoorsman]

Did they say anything about the season on USFS being 1 Jul - 1 Sep for panning in creeks? If you haven't seen claim post before, drive along Douglas creek a mile or so. It is well marked. That will give you an idea what to look out for. I would still call the Laramie office and double check with the USFS. Good luck, and hope you have fun!

 

[lokiie1984]

Did they say anything about the season on USFS being 1 Jul - 1 Sep for panning in creeks? If you haven't seen claim post before, drive along Douglas creek a mile or so. It is well marked. That will give you an idea what to look out for. I would still call the Laramie office and double check with the USFS. Good luck, and hope you have fun!

I did talk to the forest service for Medicine Bow, and they said the same, that the time frame was only at July 1st to September first. However, i talked to the local GPAA guy (the one that told me about that creek,) and he said you can pan all year round, dredging on the other hand was July first. I also talked to our only prospector shop owner here and he said the same. He even said he has been fighting with the forest service about telling people that, there is no part of the law that says you cant pan year round, just the law about dredging. He pretty much said that the old ladies that answer the phone for that area never really know what they are talking about when it comes to panning. They all just kinda assume panning equals dredging.

Either way we decided to wait a little longer anyway. I guess there is still snow on the ground up there and we wouldn't really want to be in ice cold water all day, plus its moving pretty fast still. That creek may not be but we plan to use a town car type of vehicle for the better gas mileage and it just wouldn't do to get it stuck out there on a muddy road. On the bright side, that gives me time to look into making my own sluice box.

As much as i would like to buy one, i don't have the 50 to 100 dollars on hand to do it. I live a ways outside cheyenne and we have quite a bit of scrap metal laying around. It does however, make me wish i had saved some of my old computer cases, i dont know how well that would have worked but i bet it could be "modified" to fit the job.

 

[Wyo Outdoorsman]

Better safe than sorry, there are a lot of USFS law enforcements driving around up there.

Check out u-tube for cheap sluice's. I saw one of a collapsible plastic like dryer tube cut in half length wise.

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

if you wanna cheap sluice heres one I found that looks pretty solid
Sluice Master® Production Sluices » Angus MacKirk

 

[goldog]

I don't know much about Wyo but I'd stay away from those crop circles on crow creek. Probably Aliens!

 

[lokiie1984]

Lol i actually just on the other side of those crop circles (north of the larger one.) Pretty sure there are no aliens in those fields, just a lot of coyotes and the random fox.