Cant really help you as for Colorado
I do know Colorado is not a waste of time gold wise

If your so inclined, jump over to golddredger . com, a site that is run by a fellow that lives in Colorado and has a section just for Colorado
Not trying to chase you off of GPAA, just another place to gather info


Bill

Thanks William I will check it out, Colorado is just first choice mainly because I have not been there. I am trying to find a good site to camp and prospect for myself and an old friend, we mainly just want to have fun and get away from crowds and craziness. I am open to any suggestions from you or anyone else on good claims or public land most anywhere that allows metal detecting and panning.

Here is an other site to try.As randy does know Colorado well.http://c17a.forumotion.co...ld-adventures-forums

Bob, I agree with Joseph Loyd. You should definitely get a hold of Randy. He should be able to help you out a great deal. He is one of my prospecting buddies and will point you in the right direction. Check out his videos on YouTube. Look up Randy's Gold Adventures. His YouTube name is CO117A.

A lot of things are changing out West and not for the better. At our recent club meeting we had to discuss a new policy that everybody that wants to dig has to have their prospecting permit filled out ahead of time even though it costs no money. But this policy seems to be specific to one BLM interpretation to the law and is not being done elsewhere. If a person is to use a dredge that dredge must now be registered with the BLM office for every individual that wishes to use it, once again at no charge and this seems to be specific to one regional office.

There is no shortage of Gold in Colorado, so Colorado is no waste of time. I do believe my state ranks number #2 on gold production nation wide.

There were further discussions about re-establishing mining districts because their laws superseded the EPA and BLM, I can only hope we can do something to stop the Washington Beauricrats from stealing every bit of our American land.

RandyC17 is a regular poster on golddredger . com with trip pics and great stories of his adventures, as well as here I believe.


Bill

Thanks for the input guys any help is appreciated, I still want to visit Colorado and only just today received the GPAA mining guide. So now I have to decide where is the best spot for us to go, we will have a gooseneck trailer for supply's, our 4 wheeler and camping quarters. Driving 2 wheel drives so roads and camping spots on the claims are a factor, But if any of you know I good claim with good access for trailer/camping and hopefully not a lot of people around that would be perfect. We are just two ole timers wanting to have some fun away from it all, and if lucky maybe find some color...Thanks, Bob

The are a couple factors to be considered in Colorado this El Nino year. I live in the high country, and we continue to get pounded by significant snowstorms with more coming this week. Many areas that would be accessible by mid to late April in most years still have significant snow load and being a local, I am challenged to get out in usual places. Additionally, many streams and rivers will have late high water dates as snowpack is still very high across the state. Therefore, you may want to consider later in June through August to plan a trip to CO this year. If you are looking in the mining guide, I would advise against considering the Homack claims 1-3 for staying. This immediate area where the claims are located was under BLM occupancy restriction for the past few years as a homeless population impacted the environment. I have not been in the past month, as the restriction ended 12/31/15, but expect the area to be monitored excessively. While not directly involved, it also appears the Delores river groups are facing challenges this year by looking at other forum posts, so the Leadville area seems to be the best bet, but also suggest connecting directly with Randy as others have mentioned.

Great info John I appreciate it, I wasn't planning on heading out until toward the end of May anyway but that isn't a solid date. The way my work schedule goes makes it pretty limited to when i can get away, I actually had considered Arizona as my first choice but was afraid it would pretty hot by the end of May, so I started looking at states I thought might be a happy medium as far as temperatures were concerned. Obviously I need to do more thorough research before making a final decision. But again there are other places that I may be able to go to at this time of year without roasting or freezing..lol I was born and raised in the south so I would like to go west or north to have that experience. I have done some prospecting in north Georgia and found a little gold, but it is so dog gone crowded you might as well be in a city. Don't get me wrong they are good people, and would give you the shirt off their back if you needed one. But you just don't get much elbow room like I'm hoping I could in some of these more remote locations. And it might be wishful thinking on my part, and it might be just the same way pretty much anywhere I go. But I will keep looking and asking and I'm sure something good will turn up, and I will get in touch with Randy as you have suggested if I still decide on Colorado. Thank you very much for your help, I hope I get a chance to meet you one day.. Bob

Having been here in Colorado last year and a few years ago, there are many claims to choose from depending on which part of the state you want to go to, my advise is to join a couple local prospecting clubs for they have many more claims than what is listed in our mining guide. I have been to the claim in Idaho Springs and that was currently being used by back-packers and campers, there is a small stream of running water but not suitable for a sluice or highbanker. The claim in Buena Vista is quite large along the Arkansas river and is running very fast, No highbankers or dredging here, at the end of the claim is an area run by the forest service and has rangers stationed there and for a fee you can camp there and yes, it is on the claim, I personally think the fee should be waived if a GPAA/LDMA member. Did some sampling a couple years back in the cripple creek area that BLM has and found some flakes. In Denver in the south platt river south of the city has an area you can pan in.