Most people stop at Vic’s Gold Panning to learn to gold pan. No shock right? But, honestly, there are lots of places to learn to gold pan…although some are less picturesque or less convenient (“Vic’s” is on the way from Denver to Blackhawk/Central City so its an easy stop when you headed up for some gambling fun). However, the real reason to learn here is the expertise and the great stories you’ll hear. It’s worth your ten bucks just to get to hang out with Jesse (the owner since he bought the place from Vic about 40 years ago!!) or one of his small staff to hear their mining stories. Even seasoned prospectors will be amazed and amused when they spend some time with these guys 🙂 Feel free to also ask about any of the old machinery sitting around that may catch your eye…the site is loaded with mining equipment and other odds & ends. It’s been an active mine site for decades. The tourist panning operation has been running since 1957 and was highlighted in National Geographic magazine in August 1969. In fact, when I was just a kid, my dad read that article to me and that is what started my gold fever!
Both the placer mining and lode mining here go back centuries as Jesse can share with you. Lots of stories, expertise and history to be had here!
You can also rent a sluice or powered equipment to run for a while on-site. Regardless of how much gold you happen to find, it would be worth doing for the value of the lesson on how to sluice well. This would be especially good if you want to get into sluicing to up your prospecting game. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did and come away with a nugget of your own!
Jesse also sells my guidebooks, buckets and some basic prospecting supplies but there’s no fancy store here. If you learn to sluice here and he doesn’t have any sluices for sale, you can get one back down canyon at Arvada Army Navy Surplus on Olde Wadsworth St in Arvada. The auto parts store in Idaho Springs also sells my books and some sluices if you are headed west.
Jesse and his crew have worked hard improving and stabilizing the on-site underground mine to allow public tours. It’s usually open during tourist season so be sure to ask. Based on the tours I’ve had (yes, I’ve been through it with him a few times as he worked to improve it…lucky me!), I can say the history and geology make this a tour worth doing. Here’s a cool preview of the mine: https://youtu.be/Oh5OCProE8I
and here’s a longer documentary style piece, about 30 minutes! https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=EduvOndT3Fk
Getting There: To get to Vic’s Gold Panning, drive up CO Highway 119 from US Highway 6 toward Blackhawk. This is all just a bit west of Golden, CO. The drive up Clear Creek and then North Clear Creek, goes through canyons and is a beautiful experience on its own. Enjoy the ride! The turnoff usually has a sandwich board sign to mark the spot but either way, it’s a left turn at 5023 Highway 119 at mile marker 5, or Lat 39.7833 Long -105.4635 if you prefer GPS navigation. You turn off the highway, then drop down the hill away from the road to a T intersection. Take the right as the sign in the picture above indicates and drive 50 feet to the dirt parking area.
Schedule & Contact Info: Open every day, call (303)582-0710 to confirm your plans. 2017 pricing: $10/adult, kids 12 and under are free with a paying adult.
If you go, be sure to tell him “Hi” from me. Jesse and his team are great guys and a real pleasure to hang out with on a sunny Colorado day!
This site costs money to keep up. The only way it makes money is shopping referrals. If you appreciate the info I’m sharing, please click thru one of my Amazon or Gold Cube links the next time you want to shop online. It won’t cost you anything extra and it keeps the site going.
Got your gear all sorted out and your panning skills tuned up at Vic’s? Then you can head downstream from Vic’s along 119 to US-6. Take a left on 6 and you’ll quickly enter the Clear Creek Canyon Open Space Park. A fun place to prospect with miles of creek open for you to visit: https://findinggoldincolorado.com/clear-creek-canyon-tips/
8 thoughts on “Vic’s Gold Panning”
Great article – it looks like a great place to visit!
I also understand veterans get a discount.
Thanks for this article on Jesse and Vic’s Gold Panning. In all my life, I never met a man more at home than Jesse at Vic’s, working his marvelous mine as he helps everyday people discover the magic and mystery of GOLD! Going to Vic’s Gold Panning for a day of exploring Gold is one of the best and most unusual family outing values in the USA. It really and truly is, and I thank you for writing the article to help lead other select people there to enjoy meeting a real life gold miner named Jesse Petersen and having a time they will never forget.
This is a very good example of a working mine. I have seen numerous small mines in North Georgia back in the mid 80’s. Most people don’t realize how small most mines are and not like the one in cowboy movies where you could drive in a jeep. The miners economized their efforts and just followed the veins and did not make large tunnels since that was a waste of time and effort. Some mines were simple vertical holes in the ground (you have to be careful of these since I have encountered more than a few of these and were surrounded by brush and it would be easy to stumble into an open vertical mine.) and some were at different angles down in the ground. Some were in the side of hills. A lot of them around Dalonega, Ga and areas to the SW were in the crumbly rock like dirt and very unstable and dangerous. I advise anyone finding any mine in that area of GA to NOT GO IN THE MINE FOR ANY REASON. Unlike hard rock mines, they are boring but very dangerous due to possible cave ins, scorpians and spiders and maybe snakes and other critters making the mine a den.
can we use a 50 inch sluices boxs at vic’s
Sure. Just call to ask what the daily fee is.
Is that place still open?
Yes, of course.