Lions Park is about as challenging a place to pan as you may ever find. Well, that may be overstating it a little bit. The Cache la Poudre River runs through the park bringing small amounts of very fine gold downstream to collect here where the river is flatter and slower than upstream. There are a couple of nice, cobbled bends here to explore. Just be prepared for gold so small you can barely see it. When I visited, I did ten test pans and saw a few specks in my pans. Careful processing of my concentrates later produced a grand total of six specks of gold.
So, is it worth visiting? Well, if you are in the Laporte/Fort Collins area it might be. It’s a pretty spot and there’s gold. I certainly wouldn’t plan a trip around this dig site, but if you are there anyway and would like a sample of Poudre River gold for your collection, then go for it!
One thought- if you want to sluice here, I’d recommend a drop riffle sluice like an Angus Mackirk (see and buy them at your local Cabella’s in the US at least or go to Amazon.). The gold I saw here was -150 mesh so small that a drop riffle sluice has a better chance of catching it than a Hungarian riffle sluice would. A Gold Cube would be another good gold catcher at this site (go here to see and buy).
In Google Maps the site is called Lions Open Space. The parking lot is at 2425 N. Overland Trail, Laporte, CO, 80535. It’s just a short drive northerly from Fort Collins. The property is owned and managed by Larimer County Open Space.
If you go, please be a good guest: no gas-powered gear in the park and fill your holes…in fact don’t leave a tailing pile or a hole. Share the park respectfully with other visitors.
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One thought on “Lions Open Space Park in Laporte – Prospecting Tips”
Well it’s mostly blocked off now. I talked to a biker and he said they had bad floods last year and they are trying to restore it.