Right in my home town runs the best river I have ever panned in. Mission Creek running right through Kelowna, BC has the best public panning I have ever seen. The gravels have gotten worse over the last 10 years as more and more people discover this gem of a placer river. However Great gold panning can still be had with some really nice flakes of gold. we used to be able to get 10-30 big flakes in every pan, nowadays the bigger gold flakes are harder to find, but still there. It is not as great