Gold prospecting in Puerto Rico dates back to at least the Spanish in the early to mid-1600’s, so it’s no surprise there’s still gold to be found today!! On a recent visit, my wife and I were able to spend some time gold panning the Mameyes River in the USFS El Yunque National Forest. As the only tropical rainforest in the United States Forest Service (USFS) system, it’s a special place: jungle greenery, waterfalls and gold – all less than an hour east of San Juan!
As you can see in the map above, two highways give access to the rivers in the forest. We split this up into two different visits since it was so close to where we stayed in Fajardo. We had a great time playing in the 75F+ degree water and yes, I was able to find a little gold as a souvenir of our visit. Much better than a post card or t-shirt right?!?
Day One: Highway 191
The first day we went up a main highway (191) through the park to the point where the highway crosses the La Mina River (at Baño Grande/Baño de Oro historic site). It’s really a modest stream at this point. From the decent sized parking lot, we hiked upstream past the old bath house and then into the water to our dig site. Our total hiking distance was just a couple hundred yards from the road but it felt like we’d found seclusion in the dense jungle! As usual, densely packed material with a little clay in it on an inside bend was productive for gold panning. At this site I only used a hand trowel and did about 10 pans, finding 3 colors. I was still thrilled since I had ”officially found gold” in Puerto Rico! As you can see from the pictures, I also found a gold chain which turned out to be 14k and with about 3 grams of actual gold in it. That’s a first for this prospector! Here’s a fun video Laura made of our first trip:
http://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTd71STTp/?k=1
Day Two: Highway 988
The second day we went up a different highway (988) that provides access to the Mameyes River a little downstream of its confluence with the La Mina. First we hiked the short, well-maintained Angelito Trail about 1/2 mile to a popular swimming hole in the river called Charco Los Angelitos. To avoid bothering the swimmers, we chose a spot downstream of them on a nice inside bend to dig.
After some lunch at the first site, we hiked back out to the road and drove less than a mile to our second site at Puente Roto. No hiking required here, the access is right at a bridge over the river. Despite visiting at mid-day on a holiday weekend, it was easy to find parking in a legal spot along the road. Like the last site, this is a popular swimming and picnic area, so we moved just downstream of most of the people. This site produced gold on the big inside bend near the bank (as usual anywhere). Here too, look for dense, muddy paydirt; that’s what holds onto the gold. My first couple shovelfuls were barren but then I got past the overburden and into the stickier material that can hold onto the gold until I get to it!
There’s also a lot of exposed bedrock with cracks about 100 yards or so downstream of the highway. I didn’t get to work that area but if you bring crevicing tools give it a go!
Despite how it may look in the photos, the river was running low enough that it was easy to cross but do be careful of course.
Here’s a link to the tiktok video Laura made of our second day. Thanks Laura!
http://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTd71xqvh/?k=1
Overall, this was just a small adventure as part of our visit to Puerto Rico but it was a fun way to spend time in a beautiful place. I know you want to see the gold so:
Know before you go:
- If rain is forecast, think twice about your plans because of the risk of flash floods.
- Even on a sunny day, dress to get wet, its a great way to cool off!
- Wear river sandals with good traction for hiking, river scrambling, etc.
- This is a federally designated ”wild and scenic” river, so pans only.
- Bring your own pan and snuffer bottle but buy a shovel when you get to PR.
- It’s the tropics, bring the sunblock and reapply.
- We didn’t experience any bugs, I was amazed, but no need for bug spray.
- Due to severely limited parking, to drive up 191 we had to pay $2 in advance at recreation.gov, which books up quickly so check weeks before your planned trip. The rangers had a list of names to confirm our reservation. There were no reservations needed on highway 988.
- There are stiff fines for parking outside of designated areas in the forest, we saw two cars with tickets the first day!
What’s Next?
There’s one other area in the forest to prospect: the La Mina River between the Big Tree Trailhead and the La Mina Waterfall. Other modern prospectors have reported success panning there on YouTube. I wasn’t able to go because the trail is currently closed (as of 2022) due to extensive trail infrastructure damage from a hurricane several years ago. If that area is open when you visit, other prospectors were successful gold panning downstream a bit from the waterfall. Enjoy!
I also wish I had time to do some crevicing in the bedrock which you can see in the picture above at our third dig site. I ran out of time, but I bet that’s where the big nuggets are!!
If you look back up at the map, you will see a Visitor Center on the north end of the park. We didn’t make time for a visit but it might be interesting to learn more about the history and ecology of this forest if you have time. There is a fee for entry.
My real specialty is finding gold in Colorado of course. Here’s the home page of the website so you can learn more about Colorado gold prospecting and here’s info about our books.
If you use this article to make a visit to these areas, I’d love a comment back to tell me about it!
To say thanks, share this website with others or do your Amazon shopping through my Amazon Affiliate link. It won’t cost you a penny extra, but I get a small percentage of every sale…even for stuff that has nothing to do with prospecting. In fact, if you need prospecting gear, instead of buying on Amazon, save a few bucks and support a prospecting business by shopping at the Gold Cube store here where I also get a referral fee: win-win-win!
