Cayoosh Creek Recreational Panning Reserve

Cayoosh Creek Recreational Panning Reserve covers approximately 500 m of land where Cayoosh Creek meets the Fraser River in the town of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada.

The panning reserve is mostly confined to the tributary mouth bar on the northwest bank of Cayoosh Creek though it does stretch to include a small portion of the Fraser River’s west bank. This bar is very rocky with small to large boulders draped in sand and mud. Cayoosh Creek is dammed upstream but still flows quite swiftly as it enters the Fraser.

The panning reserve is easy to access via Cayoosh Creek Campground which it borders. There are parking spots for day users in the campground or you can choose to spend a night camping. Lillooet and the surrounding area is quite gorgeous, so you won’t regret spending some time there.

The gold is spotty at best at Cayoosh Creek Recreational Panning Reserve. The creek has a gold rush past and there are plenty of claims upstream of the dam. Internet evidence reveals ony sparse flour gold from this reserve. We spent a couple of hours panning it ourselves in 2024 and came up dry, but I wouldn’t characterize our efforts as persistent.