Crescent Creek Panning Area (Quartz Creek Road)
Cooper Landing, Alaska
placer gold
Forest Service collecting area · Free
Crescent Creek Panning Area (Quartz Creek Road)
The panning reach here is short and civilized: Crescent Creek from the Quartz Creek Road bridge down to its junction with Quartz Creek, beside the Forest Service campground near Cooper Landing, with the productive 600 feet lying just below the bridge. Turn onto Quartz Creek Road 7.4 miles from the Seward-Sterling Highway junction and bear left for 2.7 miles. Fine gold sits in clay-rich gravel where the creek spills out of the mountains, in flat to slightly crystalline flakes up to roughly 2 mm. Note the jurisdictional oddity - the campground is federal but the streambed is state land, and there are mining claims on the south side and above the bridge, so stay below it.
The card catalog
| What you can find | placer gold |
|---|---|
| Access | Forest Service collecting area — Free |
| Fees | Free to pan. The adjacent Forest Service campground has a day-use parking area; camping and any day-use fees there are separate. |
| Season & hours | Open-water season, roughly late May through September. Suction dredging only May 15 - July 15 with a free ADF&G permit, because of king salmon spawning. Because the streambed is state land, the Forest Service points you to Alaska DNR's Mining Division for current information. |
| Kids | Family-friendly — Short walk from a developed campground with a day-use lot, and the productive stretch is only 600 feet of creek - about the right scale for a first panning lesson. |
| Official source | USDA Forest Service, Chugach National Forest - Gold Panning: A Guide to Recreational Gold Panning on the Kenai Peninsula |
| Last checked | Checked against its source August 16, 2026 |
Hours, fees, and access rules change. Verify with the operator or land agency before you go.
More drawers in Alaska
-
Bertha Creek Panning Area (Chugach National Forest)
Girdwood / Moose Pass, AK
placer gold, pyrite, quartz
-
Caribou Creek Recreational Mining Area
Sutton / Chickaloon, AK
placer gold
-
Chicken, AK
placer gold
-
Girdwood, AK
placer gold
Before you go
What does Crescent Creek Panning Area (Quartz Creek Road) cost?
Free to pan. The adjacent Forest Service campground has a day-use parking area; camping and any day-use fees there are separate. Hours, fees, and access rules change. Verify with the operator or land agency before you go.
When is Crescent Creek Panning Area (Quartz Creek Road) open?
Open-water season, roughly late May through September. Suction dredging only May 15 - July 15 with a free ADF&G permit, because of king salmon spawning. Because the streambed is state land, the Forest Service points you to Alaska DNR's Mining Division for current information. Hours, fees, and access rules change. Verify with the operator or land agency before you go.
Is Crescent Creek Panning Area (Quartz Creek Road) good for kids?
Yes — Crescent Creek Panning Area (Quartz Creek Road) works for families. Short walk from a developed campground with a day-use lot, and the productive stretch is only 600 feet of creek - about the right scale for a first panning lesson.