Is Colorado a good metal detecting/panning friendly state?

[kyleeskastles]

I have wanted to move by the rockies or mountains type area, head up north up that general area for as long as i can remember. Looks like that dream may finally materialize in the next year or two.

My concern is basically land availability to the public. Can a fellow and kids if they come take a hike out find a nice creek coming in off the mountains and metal detect/pan for gold, something like that? or is it all pretty much off limits to have a good time there? Maybe a pay a day thing or something? Lot of good panning creeks type area, no unreasonable expectations and busting at the seams with gold kinda deal, but yet nice to find a lil sliver or two here and there. If i am pipe dreaming and there is no chance at enjoying a daily or even a few day a week escape to nature scenario i am thinking of to have a good time enjoying this hobby tell me, man you are pipe dreaming! lol

Also another location i was keen to is placerville california. Closer to the mountains, you know the whole tranquil nature scenery has to be there for me. Possible good place and hobbyist friendly?

My goal is to find something close to (-/+20 miles) or in an area that has a gold rush history and all the relics, camps, gear and things to find that come along with this history not to make a living at or anything like that but to have a good time, access to be able to have a good time, and just enjoy getting out of the house and do something we all enjoy doing while connecting with what is in my opinion some of the best countryside and nature america has to offer. Course making a lil would help!

This is a image i found while looking up best areas in colorado for gold. Thing is i have no idea how to read it. I see it has multi colored squares. But what do they mean? I see there is a good sized splotch of squares over in the western side of the maps that appears to be in the general grand junction area. Also where i personally considered moving to, idaho springs there appears to be a fair amount of squares. Im not tied down to any one particular area, so long as it has a good job market, natural scenery, and good gold panning opportunities.

or any place like the above that you guys with experience could recommend. The nature scenery is the most important part. Anything else would be a bonus. My wife is fairly set on colorado and as of now california is out of the question(all she sees in cali is LA and trouble lol)

 

[ProspectorALEX]

Hi. I don't know about panning because i started prospecting here but my dad is in the army and we were in Colorado Springs. I have the maps and the red is active placer claims and the yellow is active load
(Ps I'm 11 years old)

Alex

 

[ProspectorALEX]

I live in california

 

[Rob in KS]

I'll bet it will be harder to find work than it will be to find a place to prospect. It'll be different than it is in TX. There you only have 2 kinds of land public and private. When you get in the west, you have BLM, Forest Service, city, state, private. Each has their own rules. It makes it a little harder to navigate. But the guys here will set you straight.

Give it a day or so and I'm sure some of the CO guys will tell you where to go LOL.

 

[kyleeskastles]

Hi. I don't know about panning because i started prospecting here but my dad is in the army and we were in Colorado Springs. I have the maps and the red is active placer claims and the yellow is active load
(Ps I'm 11 years old)

Alex

Thanks alex! Was wondering what the different colors meant. Maybe you can talk her into seeing california isnt so bad in certain areas, but probably not I got a while to research this, till march when we add the taxes to the savings to get up there. I found a good bit of the obvious things to do like cache creek and those pay to pan places. Still haven't a clue as to which town area etc will have a good amount of opportunity to get out with the family or without and enjoy the hobby, the nature, serenity, tranquility all that without getting trampled by other folks would be ideal! This map seems to be a pretty good indicator of where gold is, but for all i know not me or anyone will get a chance to check it out. Honestly im the kinda guy where if i didn't have kids, i would probably go full mountain man if i could get away with it after way too much city life in houston, then here in brenham for a few we are just ready to get away from it all.

So yup prospecting location location location and got some time to.

 

[RvPrepper]

I was told use your computer to search out what you seek, works well. People here are tight lipped, The guy next door to me in the rv park won't even talk about where he goes and he has turned down my attempts to go together so good luck, I am in South Fork which there is a ton of BLM land, I looked up the laws for MDing but not panning, there are tons of creeks here but my bounty hunter lonestar is not made for that. Next year I plan on coming back with a gold machine.Creede, Co has a load of old gold mines, so hit the computer you''ll find your place you seek.

 

[kyleeskastles]

I was told use your computer to search out what you seek, works well. People here are tight lipped, The guy next door to me in the rv park won't even talk about where he goes and he has turned down my attempts to go together so good luck, I am in South Fork which there is a ton of BLM land, I looked up the laws for MDing but not panning, there are tons of creeks here but my bounty hunter lonestar is not made for that. Next year I plan on coming back with a gold machine.Creede, Co has a load of old gold mines, so hit the computer you''ll find your place you seek.

Imma looking , and watching some youtube vids. Looks like i may just go with my original location and stick to idaho springs since is on clear creek, it is right close to the fork of clear creek in central city also and looks to yield some good spots. If a fella on a video can find some serious color under a what appears to be a public access underpass somewhere in the area of idaho springs and central city, then heck that is a good start. So for now unless someone can generously bestow some wisdom and experience on a new fellow, i will be focus on that area, the claims and the clear creek.

 

[KevinInColorado]

There's lots of places you can go for fun/gold on clear creek so Idaho springs or central city would be cool.

There is also open claimable land out there if you're willing to do the research and field work. Or you can join a club with claims such as Gold Prospectors of Colorado or Colorado Gold Camp. Not much gold out near Grand Junction...it's out of the Colorado Mineral Belt.

There's a great community of prospectors out here, lots of jobs theses days (what would you be looking to do?) and pretty low taxes too.

 

[kyleeskastles]

My wife is the man of the house, she has had management experience at walmart, cartaking experience, just a lil bit of everything you would find just about any town needing and is currently working and has better educational credentials then i. I can humbly say that she would kick my butt in the bread winning department lol. I stay at home with the kids home schooling the pre k kiddo so far because the one and only time we had them a babysitter in 5 years, our oldest came home with a very bad black bruise on her back. We had to deal with the police and it is not something we will risk again. She starts her first official school year this year and if it dont work out i will be homeschooling her for the remainder of the year till we move. We wont have our kids bullied or beat up into depression and suicidal tendencies you are starting to see even in the young ones these days.

So whatever i do it involves them for the most part. But if we are in colorado, i might get lucky and challenge the ol lady once or twice in a blue moon, with the kids and have a good time doing it! Texas is great, it just dont have nothing for me i can do to help out around the house financial wise once in a while, with the kids and something they would enjoy. What country kid wouldn't like playing around a creek with dad finding treasure and whatnot, know what i mean?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Cool! Take pride in your role brother! Gender certainly does not define who has the temperament to do well either at work or raising the next generation and both are very important! I see more and more couples balancing things the way you two have and I think it's good we can make the choices that work for us these days!

And I agree, what country kid wouldn't love getting to play in the creek and find cool rocks, crayfish and stuff with dad?!!

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

Envy is the right word! Id do anything to be a full time dad! Get to colorado and get yourself a dredge! Get thoes kids in the water "for fun" not child labor haha

 

[kyleeskastles]

Cool! Take pride in your role brother! Gender certainly does not define who has the temperament to do well either at work or raising the next generation and both are very important! I see more and more couples balancing things the way you two have and I think it's good we can make the choices that work for us these days!

And I agree, what country kid wouldn't love getting to play in the creek and find cool rocks, crayfish and stuff with dad?!!

Envy is the right word! Id do anything to be a full time dad! Get to colorado and get yourself a dredge! Get thoes kids in the water "for fun" not child labor haha

Thanks guys, its fun gives me some time to raise these kids the way i think they should be raised(not on video games all day kinda deal) and weirdly she prefers to be the working one. I have been tweaking around with some map thingymajigger i found today on BLM's website called the LR200 or geocommunicator. It is a heck of alot more complicated then google earth but i will figure it out. Looks like i can also request copies of active mines, open mines, from the field offices and researching whatever else i can learn. Open claimable land is a new term im not familiar with at all, reminds me of the old western movies where everyone raced out on horses after buying a claim stake and staking a claim on the land. Well have to check this out, sounds alot better on paper then risking my hide accidentally crossing into someones territory from public areas. As for a dredge i will probably end up getting one at some point or another once im not so green around the gills , but to start out i will be (if allowed) using a lil ol sluice box in the running creeks itself.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Sounds like you're learning a lot fast! Smart to start with a sluice and work your way up as makes sense