Finding Gold in Colorado Historic Sites & Modern Prospecting Honey Holes

Clear Creek Canyon Open Space Park Prospecting Tips

Feeding a Gold Cube & Trammel in Clear Creek on a winter day.

Here I am standing in Clear Creek feeding a Gold Cube with an attached trommel (photo credit: Jefferson County Open Space). It’s a great tool for this area. It’s up to the challenge of capturing fine gold!

Clear Creek Canyon Open Space Park provides almost 10 miles of access to gold bearing waterway for visitors. The park is owned and operated by Jefferson County Open Space. It’s just west of Golden Colorado at the edge of metro-Denver.

You can see their map and the delightfully simple gold prospecting rules here: https://www.jeffco.us/1196/Clear-Creek-Canyon-Park

Much of the gold here is -100 mesh so you have to know your equipment to do well. That said, with so much waterway to prospect, you can find spots with larger gold if you get away from the spots with easy access that everyone hits. Just today (as I write this), an acquaintance pulled 2-3 grams out with a 4-inch dredge (brr, ice dredging in December!) and with a sluice I’ve found a 12-mesh piece. So, both good amounts of gold and some bigger pieces are out there. One tip: the county recently opened up more recreational path through the canyon. This provides easy prospecting access to some areas that were very difficult to get to in the past so there are some new opportunities for good gold now! (Just be sure to avoid digging in any way that would undermine or damage the new rec path…that’s a good way to get fined). Oh, and yes, its ok to climb over the rec path fence to get to the spot you want to dig.

Water levels in the canyon vary quite a bit through the year. When the water is high, it drastically limits prospecting access for most people. On the other hand, in late summer when the weather is dry, the water levels drop dramatically, and you can safely walk right across the creek getting to lots of great spots. Winter access can also be good although often the ice blocks access to the best spots near the banks. Go for the great gold in the center of the creek which no one can safely dig when the water is higher and faster.

I was in the park prospecting today (Nov 24, 2015); here’s what it looked like:

Of course, summer in the canyon is beautiful and so is autumn. Parking can be a challenge on sunny summer weekends but otherwise it isn’t too bad. Parts of spring are quite dangerous here due to high water so be careful in May and June!

This site costs money to keep up. The only way it pays for itself is shopping referrals. If you appreciate the info here, please click thru one of my Amazon links the next time you want to shop online. It won’t cost you anything extra and it keeps the site going!

If this sounds like fun but you need gold panning or sluicing lessons first, head a little further up US-6 to CO-119. Take the turn onto 119 at the light and drive 5 miles to Vic’s Gold Panning. https://findinggoldincolorado.com/vics-gold-panning/

Already know how to pan and just looking for a guidebook with over 180 public access dig sites across Colorado Gold Country? Then check this out!

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