Sure, there are several areas on the way. First is Brice creek, which has three different free areas. Lund park, Cedar creek, and Hobo camp campgrounds. I have done the best at Cedar creek. Exit I-5 at Cottage grove and follow Row River road to the south and east for about 30 miles, they are all on any good map. Delormes atlas of Oregon is pretty good. Brice creek has good little nuggets in it, and not much fines.
Sharp's creek is right next door, to the west, and hasn't got much for nuggets, but fines a plenty. On Sharp's creek, any of the Weyerhauser land is open for panning, but no campfires or engines for dredges or highbankers.
Further south, just the other side of Roseburg between Roseburg and Myrtle creek is a good area. I have personally seen about a pound of gold taken from this stretch of the South Umpqua river, and its all free. There is a RV campground at exit 112 off I-5. My favorite areas are the campground, and the stretch on the east side of the river just north of Myrtle creek. Nice little tinker nuggies here, just a stone's throw from the freeway.
At exit 102 is Lawson's bar, on South Umpqua just below where Cow Creek dumps in. I've dredged nice gold from there, but not much off the bank if you're just panning. Who knows, maybe I just didn't hit the right crack? Scratch around in the brush anywhere you see bedrock poking up, no matter how far from the river, gold is all through the bar. It is deep, so don't waste your time unless you see bedrock...
At exit 76, Wolf Creek, you can pan from the I-5 bridge down to the town on the west side of I-5. These are known as the "Firehouse digs" -used to be a firehouse there. If you continue on under the I-5 bridge and south and east on Coyote Creek road, you will come to the quaint little ghost town of Golden about 12 miles east of the freeway. The church and store are still standing, last time I was there. On the way back to I-5, there are some free digs in the tailing piles from the old bucketline dredge that used to run at Golden. They're not well marked, but there aren't a whole lot of roads to check that head south, and they are right next to the Coyote creek road.
A little off the beaten path, there are great diggins at Galice on the Rogue River, about 20 miles North of Grants Pass. You can get there from Wolf creek, but the road is pretty windy and one way in spots. Usually closed in foul weather. Best road in to to go on down to Grants Pass and backtrack north on the Rogue.
Check the mouth of Galice creek at the Rogue on the east side of the road. Bedrock is the key here, lots of broken bedrock cracks to check, all of which hold color. Bring a prybar and a pan. Also check Rich Gulch and Rocky gulch, just downstream. Graves creek is just a little north of here, and the first 1/4 mile from the Rogue is open. Nice fines and little tinker nuggets here.
We haven't even hit Medford yet, but there's good digs at Gold Ray dam near there. Look east from Medford for it, and pan the bedrock below the dam. I think its 1/4 or 1/2 mile below the dam is open.
The campgrounds up Brice creek are free, I think, or 5 or 6 bucks if they changed it. The RV park at Rivers west, exit 112, is 12 bucks for camping and 20 bucks for an RV with full hookups. You can also camp on Graves creek pretty much anywhere alongside the creek for free as well, no hookups and pretty remote, so be careful out there. Most of these sites are near towns too, if you are looking for motels, etc.
Thats a good weeks worth of poking around right there, hope you hit a good one! Please pay me back by letting me know if you did any good, I don't need much else but to know you got a little color.
While in Wolf creek, take a look at the old Wolf Creek inn
