Colorado Gold Rush Adventure Tour - Fairplay

Celebrate the 150th anniversary of Colorado’s 1859 Gold Rush with discount rates for our all inclusive Colorado Gold Rush Tour! Gold Prospecting has always been the best excuse to go explore the Rocky Mountains!

Get the most out of your vacation adventure in the Rocky Mountain Gold Fields. Go to LearnGoldProspecting.com for information on the “how to’s” of prospecting. Learn the methods and techniques of Gold recovery with our tips and tricks! Rocky Mountain Tourism’s lectures and your hands on training will give you all of the “basics” of Gold and Gem prospecting. Start enhancing your knowledge AND your chance of success in the gold fields! With a little luck and by applying your new found knowledge you may actually find enough Colorado Gold to pay for the whole trip! It is possible!

Make your reservations for the Colorado Gold Rush Adventure Tour today! Space is limited, only 3 Gold Rush Adventure Tours will be offered this season!

Phoenix Gold Mine, Idaho Springs
Admission Includes: A Mine Tour, Gold Panning and Hiking Trails
Adults $15 (12 & over), Children $5 (5 – 11), Seniors (over 65) – $8, 4 & Under Free, Panning Only – $5
Very friendly folks, outstanding mine tour, No Camping but they will loan you a pan and show you how to use it.

Jesse over at Vic’s Gold Panning near Blackhawk charges $8 for a full bucket you can pan out in a trough. He keeps what you miss and there is no camping. A good panner might be able to work through 4 or 5 buckets in a day thus $32 – $40 per day.

The Country Boy Mine in Breckenridge charges Adults $18.95, Children $12.95 (4-12), Children 3 and under are free. Gold Panning: $9.95 this includes a pan of dirt and lessons on how to find your Gold. Open from 10am to 4pm from May 23rd to August 15th, and from 11am to 2pm from August 16th to October 15th.

Gold Prospectors Association of America, (GPAA) charges $2350 plus your $50 yearly membership to fly from Seattle to their 2300 acre Cripple River Camp in Nome, Alaska. One of the most splended adventures ever offered to gold seekers.

Lost Dutchman Mining Association, (LDMA) charges $175 ($35/day) to come camp out for 5 days in your tent or RV on the mine claims, some improved camping is available. LDMA charges $950 for a lifetime membership plus monthly maintenance dues; $8 individual, $10 family. Among the many benefits, members can camp for up to 6 months.

Wild West Mining Tours in California:
Their all inclusive 6 nite package includes food, tents with cot, outdoor style showers. Prices : $1,500/week for dredgers, $ 500/week for friends and family of dredgers (non-dredgers). Custom pricing is available for parties without dredgers. Very limited number of reservations accepted. Season from June through August, possibly into September.

Very Important Gold Prospecting Information… Please read the letter below…

Michael Borkoski
Realty Specialist
Arapaho National Forest – Clear Creek Ranger District

Gold panning can be a difficult thing to do in Colorado. Due to the mining history of the area and the continued interest, most areas suitable for panning are private land as a result of patenting claims from the turn of the century. If a map does not show an area as private there is most likely already an unpatented claim on that area. The only way to know for sure is to figure out where exactly you might like to pan then look to see if it is private land (please note that the USGS maps commonly used are not always exactly correct. Since most claims are only 150 feet wide a small error in the map can unexpectedly place you on private land. If the area is on public land then you can go to the BLM public room in Lakewood with the Section Township and Range from your map to compare against all the filed claims in that area. If there are some, then you can get the maps for the specific claims to see if your prospective area is a part of the filed claims. If you find an area that is available to claim you can file a Notice of Intent to conduct mining operations with the Forest Service district office in the area of your potential claim. This document will be used to determine the potential environmental impacts your operation may have and determine if you need to file a plan of operations and post a bond. Additionally, if you find an unclaimed area, you would most likely want to go back to the BLM and place a claim on it to protect it against someone else claiming it so you don’t have to go through the trouble of finding a new area. I am sorry for the long-winded answer but unfortunately this is the procedure for panning on the National Forest in this area. There is no “recreational” panning where you can just go out and pick an area and start panning. If you have any other questions feel free to email us again.