Stay at Middle Fork RV Resort in FairPlay, Colorado and you’ll get to park your RV on dredge tailings. Most importantly, the resort allows those staying there to dig virgin dirt and pan or sluice it.
The virgin dirt comes from the east side of the property at the edge of the historic large-scale dredging area. You want to dig the hillside dirt with lots of river cobble in it. The resort has set up a comfortable panning area near the dig zone. To sluice, you’ll have to haul dirt to the west side of the resort where the South Platte River runs by. It’s not that far to walk but bring a hand cart or even an ATV…those buckets get heavy at 10,000 feet elevation where the air is thinner! As the water levels in the river drop through the summer, you also have the option of digging in the river. Doing so means digging dredge tailings since all of this was dredged decades ago. When I dug dredge tailings just upstream at the Fairplay Prospecting Park I found some fine gold but not the bigger stuff I found in the virgin dirt here at the RV Park. Of course, your results may vary!
If you’re lucky, while you are there, you’ll get to meet Jane “the gold lady”. She spends most of the summer staying at the resort as a guest and helps lots of folks learn to pan out of the kindness of her heart. She was a lot of fun to sluice with when I was there 🙂
The location of the resort is very convenient. It’s right off of the intersection of US-285 and CO-9, on the south edge of Fairplay, within walking distance of the local National Forest Service Ranger Station, grocery store and auto parts store as well as several restaurants. I can recommend the beer and live music at the microbrewery next door, no need to drink and drive, just walk “home”! To learn more about the resort, check out their website at:
http://www.middleforkrvresort.com
Be sure to ask for your AAA or AARP discount by the way! Want to learn about lots of other spots to dig, as well as the history and gold related sightseeing? Check out my books here.
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Also check out this site right upstream on the other side of highway 285:
4 thoughts on “Prospecting at Middle Fork RV Resort”
Kevin
Thanks for the post about our Gold Panning at the Middlefork RV Park in Fairplay, Colorado. We hope to see you back this summer. I just put a link to your excellent site on our webpage. I came across a post on a gold forum about a fellow saying He had found nuggets near the park with a White GMT metal detector.
Thanks for the kind words and support Rick…I’m a big fan of what you are doing there!
PS exciting to hear of anyone finding nuggets anywhere in Colorado. It’s a rare thing in this day!
Hi my name is William Martin. I would like too come out your way and do some prospecting. Panning, and medal detecting if this is aloud ?. Colorado is a beautiful state. Could you please send me some information on your camping sights?. Thank you for your time.
Hi Bill, to get camping info for the Middle Fork RV Park, please contact them directly via the info on their website. For information on many other dig/camp sites, please refer to my book. I include over 180 public, unclaimable prospecting sites and consistently mention where to stay nearby. Quite a few of the dig sites have camping on-site! http://www.findinggoldincolorado.com/fgic-the-book/ to learn more.