There's not much gold in "them thar hills" in the state of Pennsylvania. While you'll find a few deposits in the southeastern part of the state, most of the state's placer deposits resulted from ice age glaciers rolling down from Canada. You're unlikely to strike it rich, but with patience and dogged determination, you just might wind up with some shine in your pan.
In the northern part of the state, look for gold in sand or gravel areas that lie on top of dense gray clay from Lake Erie to the Delaware border. Be careful not to get the clay in your pan; it will engulf the gold and whisk it away. In the southeastern part of the state, York County is one of the most reliable places to look for gold. Nuggets and flakes up to half an inch in size have shown up in mining pans in the county. Look in bends of creeks and where you find deposits of quartz or magnetic black sand. You'll also find gold in streams throughout Adams and Lancaster counties.
You won't need permits to pan for gold in Pennsylvania. Use a pan, shovel or non-motorized sluice on public lands. Pan on public lands that include national forest land, state forests, state and municipal parks and state game lands. Muddy Run Park in Lancaster County has potentially promising panning spots along the Susquehanna River at the Normanwood Bridge and south of the Holtwood Dam. At Codorus State Park, you'll find gold in its namesake creek. Both parks have campgrounds where you can stay for days while you perfect your panning technique.
While all navigable streams in the state are open to public boating and fishing, permitted activities do not include taking gold or minerals from the bottom of the waterway. The riverbed beneath the water belongs to the owner of the land next to the river, and you'll need that owner's permission to pan. The exception is at public rights of way -- such as bridges and river crossings -- where you can use a shovel and pan. You can also pan in nine of the state's major rivers that are entirely public property. These include the Delaware, Susquehanna, Ohio, Monongahela, Allegheny, Youghiogheny, Schuylkill, Lehigh and Juniata rivers.
Head to Spring Valley County Park in North Hopewell Township for a summertime gold panning seminar, and don't forget to wear shoes that you don't mind getting wet -- closed toes required. Professional prospectors and staff members will show you how to swish and swirl to wind up with a little shine in the bottom of your pan. If you don't have a gold pan, don't worry -- you can bring a pie pan or even a frying pan to do the job. Be sure to listen to the presentation of York County's gold history that is given twice during the event. The day of the panning seminar is the only day of the year when you can enjoy panning in York County parks; it's prohibited the rest of the year.
