The best luck that I have had panning in AZ is in the Patagonia Mtns south of Tucson. There is a road running from the small town of Patagonia down to the border at Lochiel. There are many old mines and ghost towns in the area (mostly silver-lead mines), but they produced a fair amount of gold too, some of which can be found in the creeks and washes around the mines especially in the Mowry-Harshaw area and below the Trench and Worlds Fair mines.

On the east side of the Santa Rita Mtns between Sonoita and Vail is the Greaterville mining district which was a major placer area that saw a lot of activity well into the Depression. There are still a lot of posted and semi-active claims in the area (always get permission first if you are on somebody’s claim – there are a few wildwest sorts out there). This is still one of the state’s richer placer areas, but your biggest challenge (aside from access/permissions) – even this time of year – will be finding running water.

The area along Lynx Creek below Lynx Lake was also a famous historic gold area (you can still see the rock piles from dredge operations) and has been set aside by the Forest Service specifically for recreational gold panners. I’ve gone there a couple of times and had to work hard for the one or two small flakes that I found.

Other areas that still have a lot of semi-active claims and decent remaining deposits (but often no water and few spots open to the general public) are the area around Stanton north of Wickenburg, the Dos Cabeza area in the SE, much of the area around Quartzsite and the Kofa Mtns and some of the washes in the Cleator-Turkey Creek area of the Bradshaws below Crown King. There are others as well.

Mind you… you are not going to get rich (or likely even pay for the gas) at any of these spots and of course, you have to know what you are doing. But it can make a fun outing and there is a bit of a thrill to finding your own bit of wild color when you do get lucky.