Family trip to Port Angeles, WA....Gold panning possible?

[IowaRiverWalker]

I have a trip scheduled for this summer to Port Angeles, Washington area. I believe I will be staying at Blyn, WA and visiting local natural attractions: Dungeness Spit, Crescent Lake, and other misc hikes.

I live in Iowa and have no experience or knowledge of the WA area. I also have no knowledge of any laws/regulations for gold panning.

I was wondering if anybody has input on regulations for panning and if it would be worth it.....beach sand panning or some small creek in the area. From looking at a map there seem to be creeks in the area and much of it is Olympic National Park.

Since I will be flying I have pan/classifier I can pretty easily pack and if needed I could throw my Angus Mackirk Recon II sluice (small sluice) in my checked luggage.

I heard there is more gold on the West Coast compared to Iowa.

Thank You,
Dillon

 

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[Gold4Mike]

From what I understand, there's not a whole lot of gold on the peninsula although there is some on the beach near Cape Disappointment. This link may have some spots for you to try, Gold Prospecting on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington - RareGoldNuggets.com. If you have the time, you'd do better on many of the streams along the east side of Puget Sound. You'll also need a Washington Gold and Fish pamphlet and can get that here https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01992/. Your trip must be for next summer since we are now in October. Whether you find gold or not, you will enjoy the scenery!