Arapahoe Bar is a Prospecting Park in west metro Denver (in Wheat Ridge specifically…thanks Wheat Ridge and Jefferson County!) which welcomes prospectors for free on a gold bearing stretch of Clear Creek. As you can see in the photo, this site has an important part in the history of Colorado. To find it, go to 40th St and Youngsfield, then drive north to the creek to find a developed city park with bathrooms (on the east side of the road). You can’t dig the creek right here but, if you just walk under the highway bridge upstream on the recreational path, you come to this:
From this point upstream for about 1/4 mile you are in a little urban prospector’s nirvana. In my experience, the gold here is often better than up in Clear Creek Canyon (see that article at https://findinggoldincolorado.com/clear-creek-canyon-tips/). Large flakes are almost unknown but there are multiple layers of good paydirt as you dig down. Additionally, although the creek bed can get pretty heavily dug up by casual prospectors, big floods in the spring both wipe out evidence of digging AND refresh the gold from upstream deposits that are off limits to us. Why off limits you ask? Well, the big Coors plant is just upstream so that’s private property up there. One bonus of having Coors upstream (setting aside the free beer on the tours!) is this section of creek is always full of warm water due to Coors using the creek water to cool the freshly brewed beer! All winter long you can find prospectors here enjoying the ice-free conditions 🙂
Where to dig? I’ve found the best gold to be in the center of the waterway in areas where there are decent sized rocks just sitting on top of the creek bed. Toss those rocks aside and dig, dig, dig! A number of times I’ve also seen people digging up on the land on the north side of the creek …after ignoring that option for years, I gave it a try a couple times this year. The gold is good there too. The other in-river tip is to dig down a foot or so to find a layer of gray/black material; if you find it, I promise you’ll be happy with what you see in your pan. Definitely bigger flakes in that layer too …but let’s keep that our little secret, ok? 😉
This picture shows the creek at its winter low. In summer it is higher, during spring runoff it is up several feet and can be dangerous. Be careful out there! The upside of spring runoff is after the runoff the creek looks untouched and indeed the gold is replenished from upstream.
Cautions: Don’t dig the sloping bank that comes down from the rec path toward the south side of the creek. The county spent a lot of $$$ building that path and they do patrol it. I’ve chatted with the rangers here and they will enforce the rule about not digging up what the county built. Besides, we are guests here, let’s respect the rules, appreciate the easy access and enjoy our heritage. People have been digging here for 150 years, join the tradition!
After mining tip: Try the frozen custard at the Good Times burger stand just west of the Youngsfield freeway exit. (Basically, due south of the panning area) It’s like soft serve ice cream only better…yum 😀
Links to Jefferson County Openspace info about this site are included in a prior post… https://findinggoldincolorado.com/where-to-start-if-you-want-to-dig-in-colorado/
Here’s another map for those less GPS inclined 🙂 Note: the only parking is just north of my “park here” circle on the east side of Youngfield Rd. There used to be parking on the other side of the interstate but it is gone now due to construction.
Want info on lots more dig sites? Check out my gold prospecting guidebooks here.
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Finally, just for historical fun, here’s the county resolution that created the prospecting Park in 2013: https://www.jeffco.us/documentcenter/view/4413
36 thoughts on “Arapahoe Bar prospecting tips”
Is it paining only? Or can I bring my River sluice box? recirculating highbanker running off a car battery?
Hi Sara, yes, you can bring a sluice along and also anything battery operated is fine…just no gasoline engines. I’ve run my electric battery powered high banker down there and done quite well! Enjoy!
Woo Hoo!
Panning and Sluicing only, no power equipment,
Way to go
>
Thanks Dave 🙂 Nice of you to stop in and comment!
I was there yesterday to help teach 50 4th graders about Colorado history and to teach them to gold pan too of course. Good times!
Fun facts: in the 1860’s the town of Arapahoe City was built here. The miners would come down from the mountains in the winter months and live here because there was enough gold in the creek bed to feed themselves while they waited for spring to come. It was the first city in Jefferson County. The city was destroyed 1906-8 when a mining company bought up the whole place so they could process the 40 foot thick deposit of gold bearing gravel under the town but there’s still a bronze plaque to mark the spot on 44th ave.
Looks good . Thanks for posting. We have good luck farther downstream . We will sure check out this area, thanks for the tips .
Thanks for the comment Rob and yes there’s quite a few spots all e way from Arapahoe Bar to the confluence with the South Platte
…just make sure you stay out of Wheat Ridge (other than Arapahoe Bar of course) as there’s an ordinance against prospecting thru the rest of the city. It seems like I find larger flakes at Arapahoe Bar which makes sense since that’s the beginning of the wider flatter part of the Cherry Creek drainage so it’s where the river slows down…especially true back in the day before the banks were narrowed by development.
Anyway, good luck and heavy pans!
Oops I meant Clear Creek, not Cherry Creek…sorry.
Went there last week and some kind of big construction project is going on. There is no access as indicated in this article. Does anybody know if it is still possible to get to this location?
If you read the article, you’ll see the instructions on where to park. Try that. The whole recreational trail is open, you just went to the wrong parking area. Again, the correct parking lot instructions are in the article.
You can park off of Youngfield (between 44th and 38th). There is a large parking lot that gives you access to the trail system.
https://rootedinfun.com/Facilities/Facility/Details/Clear-Creek-Trail-5
From what I can tell (based on activity) the best gold is at the far end of the park s claim (a 5 minute walk along the sidewalk from the parking lot). Hang a left from the parking lot look for the well worn use trails down to the creek where most of the prospectors hang out. You should not dig on the south side of the creek shore (it will eventually erode the recreation path which could get the prospecting piece taken away from everyone) the gold also happens to be better on the north side anyway.
I’ve always wanted to try panning. I will join your FB page for sure, but I am curious, when you say you did well what does that mean? Or am I overstepping by asking?
It just means I was happy with the amount and size of the gold I found!
-Thanks for all the info. Would love to visit this area. Possibly bring my grandchildren for a fun outing..
That’s a great idea! I’d suggest avoiding May and June. The creek gets very high and a bit dangerous during peak snowmelt.
I am looking for someone to go with. No luck. Is it safe to go alone?
Yes, I think so. You won’t run into homeless encampments or anything like that.
I do think you can find a prospecting buddy if you join my Facebook group and ask! The group is (no surprise) called Finding Gold In Colorado!
Kevin, I am not on Facebook. I just subscribed by email maybe we could arrange a time to meet up there? The email starts with wolf…
Hi Teresa, I’m sorry to hear you aren’t on Facebook since we have an amazing, helpful community of over 9,000 prospectors there. Unfortunately I’m not able to arrange meetups with individuals due to the large scale of the community. If you decide to join Facebook, you’ll learn where I’m going to be for meetups and digs. You’ll also find lots of other helpful folks who are happy to meet you at the creek for some show-and-tell or just companionship while you dig!
Have you made it up to Arapahoe Bar yet. My name Matt DeVries I have been going there for about 15 yrs now. A lot has changed in the recent yrs but you can still find decent gold there. You cannot dig on the south side but you can on the North side. Due to erosion concerns on the bike path.
Hi! It was nice meeting you at A-Bar today. I appreciate the tips and once I clean out my cons I will let you know how that all panned out!
Kevin,
I found the layer of black/grey…but nobody mentioned it is sewer sediment!! I panned there yesterday and my wife and I were disgusted to find the culvert upstream at the bridge dumping raw sewage into the creek. Why haven’t they posted a warning for this?? We spent over 4 hours mid-stream just below the shoring damn (the waterfall), to get half a 5 gal bucket of cons before realizing we were in a sewage runoff!! Why isn’t this mentioned by anyone?!!
I’m sorry you had that experience. I’ve been going there occasionally for over a decade and haven’t ever seen raw sewage. That said, when I dig in town I always use sanitizer before touching stuff with my hands.
I think the black layer is not sewage since it has lots of sticks and twigs in it. It’s from a major flooding event well over a decade ago.
Meanwhile, do be careful to read the boundary signs. That waterfall dam is well west of the public park. It’s on Coors property which is off limits to anyone off of the rec path.
Wr need more mentors like Kevin out there helping guide (Want-to-be-prospectors) find their way in the venture of Gold Prospecting! His books are full of wonderful ideas and helpful in finding prospecting areas to enjoy!
Oh gosh Tony, thanks!
Hi I’m new at this stuff… But can I use metal detector there?… And does anyone know where exactly I can use the metal detector without being disturbed….Thanks
You are allowed to metal detect but I’ve never heard of anyone finding anything good that way. Just trash.
You can’t access the site from the south; there is a large hospital being built there. Youngfield St. runs parallel to I-70. Go north on Youngfield St. passed W. 38th Ave. Turn right into the Wheat Ridge Greenbelt Youngfield Trailhead Entrance parking lot. It is just north of the RV dealership. If you get to W. 44th Ave you have gone too far north. Once in the trailhead parking lot there is a very well maintained paved sidewalk/bike trail. Go West on the trail 1/3 mile and you should see the sign for the panning area. This sign is the east boundary. The west boundary is about 1/4 west. There are several spots along the sidewalk where you can walk down to the river. I was there during the last week of Sept 2023 and the water was warm and able to run a couple of sluice boxes. Huge pile of rock tailings (editors note: these aren’t tailings, it’s leftover dirt from digging for road construction near there) on the north side you can dig through. We ran into a few people on the weekend, and one or two guys during the week. Everyone was very nice and we have a good time. Our first time panning and sluicing so we didn’t find anything,….well some really really fine gold dust at the bottom of the pan. Watch out for people riding bikes on the trail; they are moving pretty fast.
Exactly right. The “park here” circle on my little map is where you turn east into the parking.