The BLM reacquired the land and river south of Norwood Bridge after it had been in private ownership. This unclaimable land along the San Miguel River is now available for your non-motorized prospecting.
The gold here is pretty good! You get to this area by taking highway 145 easterly and southerly from the town of Norwood in western Colorado.
If you haven’t gotten your permit from the Montrose BLM, you should only pan and sluice within 100 feet of the bridge. To get the permit, either stop in the office in Montrose during regular business hours at 2505 South Townsend, Montrose …or you can print off the form from their website, sign it and send it in via email (call for current email address) for their signature. Do this WELL in advance of your visit! Here’s the form but DON’T use the email address shown, it’s out of date:
The recreational area is well over a mile long, closer to two miles I’d say. The challenge is the lack of parking along it. I was able to park at 38.1202 -108.1899 and hike down a steep hill to the river. This spot gives easy access to an inside bend with a cobble bar and decent gold. I quickly found +50 mesh gold and down to -100 mesh here. There are other spots to park along the edge of the road along here but it’s all very informal parking.
Realistically, this area has a limited season. It is a wild undammed river so during spring/summer snowmelt the river can be very high. Timing varies by year, but later summer and fall have lower water flows and better river access for prospecting.
You can camp just south of here at the BLM managed Lower Beaver Campground. This campground has pit toilets, shady sites, mosquitos 🙁 also a boat ramp and it’s free. Yup, free camping! Smaller RVs will do fine here as well as tents. There’s also good gold in the river at the campground but it’s currently claimed so stay out! The campground is at 38.1113, -108.1884
Want lots more public access dig sites in this part of the state? Then you’ll love my guidebook, get it here. Want to convince your family this is a pretty area, and they would enjoy a visit? Then use our full color photo book to help convince them, get it here.
Note: I don’t approve of the term “recreational mining” but that is the formal name of this area, given to it by the BLM.
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Here’s another spot nearby to check out!
3 thoughts on “Norwood Bridge Recreational Placer Mining Area – Prospecting Tips”
Dude! Ok, I am an old guy that still likes to use that term for people I feel are kickin ass and taking names with their websites. In other words, yours is probably my favorite. Its simply the best Colorado casual mining site available. PLEASE keep up the great work. I will click your ads and eventually kick a little coin to you via Paypal. I live south of Cotopaxi so not far from Pointe Bar -been there several times but not going back -gold just not good enough.
Do you happen to know of any other spots to try this far south? I guess you might say I live between Westcliffe and Cotopaxi.
Hope to meet up with you some day and dig some gold together. -ScottC
Thanks for your enthusiasm and support, this comment really makes my day!
There’s gold in the Arkansas alll the way downstream. The challenge, as you’ve learned from your prospecting already, is to find the hot spots. The good news is the CO Fish & Wildlife folks say you can do non-motorized prospecting at all the public access areas along the Arkansas River! Try the one next to the Texas Creek confluence (almost due north of your home!) for decent color. Then branch out prospecting along the river to find YOUR honey hole 🙂
This is an awesome site! I’m in Colorado, too! I think my daughter and I will start having to go on gold hunts!