Big Bend
One of my favorite places is called “Big Bend” and is located in Adams County Colorado. This is a great place with good parking and a short walk to the “sweet spots”. When we filmed “The Gold Men” we used a railroad bridge located here for the final scene and luck was on our side when a beautiful full rainbow presented itself during the final scenes of the film.
There are two areas that have good gold:
The easy spot: From the parking lot, walk to the pedestrian path and go east past the railroad bridge and past the trees on the right. You should see a very large sand and gravel bar located next to the Platte River. The interesting part is after spring runoff or flooding, the gold moves around so spend some time test panning before you set up your equipment.
The hard spot: Located on the opposite side of the Platte is the real Big Bend which is obvious on a map. The problem here is there is no good way to get there except to cross the river. I would not suggest this area unless it’s winter and the river is low.
During the spring time starting in April, there is a portable toilet located in a fenced fishing pond just North of the ped path otherwise you are on your own. (hint, there is quite a bit of construction going on around this area with porta-johns.)
The flow of the Platte River is not strong enough to run a typical sluice box in most places so I would suggest you use a 12 volt pump with a header or a Gold Cube. This is a great area to bring your family during the spring and summer months. Bring plenty of fluids and sunscreen.