Another new thing I'd never done. Gold prospecting. No, I didn't have to have any teeth pulled nor did I need to wear oversized cowboy boots and say things like "By crackey" or other such nonsense. This is gold digging for a new millennium.

And only about 20 minutes from my house. I met up with Mark and Mathew for a drive into the San Gabriel mountains up near Foothill and Azusa Blvds meet. Mark had done his internet research and knew a few places along the San Gabriel river that were popular with modern prospectors. So we drove the winding mountain roads, parked at the end of the road, and made the half-mile hike into the woods. I won't lie - it was hard work. This old body hasn't done any real hiking in ages. Add to that the fact that I was carrying what I packed - my cameras - and a few buckets, mining pans, and a shovel. Not easy.

But totally worth it. This was beautiful. Here it was, a January morning, and I'm hiking along a river in shorts and a T-shirt. Silence. The sound of the rushing river. No traffic, no cars, hardly any people at all. Awesome. I will be doing this again... camping perhaps this time. It's just 20 minutes away, did I mention that?

So Mark gave me a lesson on panning. This is not easy. This is work. I swear I thought you just threw some sand into a pan, shook it around a bit, and found nuggets. I had no idea. How wrong was I? Well, you have to shovel bucketsful of sand and gravel and rocks. You sift them all while hunched over in the river, trying to keep your feet dry, forcing you into odd angles while you stoop. Shake, shake, sift. Rocks and other bits fall out of the pan, leaving black sand and gold flakes behind, if there are any, that is. Over and over I did this, and found no gold. Not that I'd know what I was looking for, really. Unless it was shaped like a ring or holding a diamond, what does gold look like in a river of sand?

Then Mark broke out the big guns - the sluice. After a brief demo, Mathew and I went off to explore and take pictures. We met some other prospector from South Dakota who shared with us some of his findings. Real gold. While we were hiking, Mark must have sifted through 50 pounds of sand that afternoon. But by the end, he found gold. GOLD! Kind of amazing, really! How awesome to know that out there, in them thar hills, gold is just flowing down the river...?