Kellen and Keith went looking for gold in the hills North of home. Despite the grizzled prospectors' best efforts, the most interesting things found in the pans were, in no particular order: a helgramite, some pyrite, and a small leech. Kellen collected a pile of very pretty rocks. Both collected some scrapes and bruises. The real treasure they brought home was pan of wild blackberries, which made an excellent topping for ice cream that evening.
Grandpa Church's gold pan and a an undated pamphlet on gold prospecting
There's gold in them thar smog-obscured hills!
Working the pan
Blackberries
San Antonio Canyon
Rattlesnake on the trail at dusk
In the end, the gold is where you find it. Seeing as the large pan was painted gold it was unlikely that we would see any gold that might remain in it after panning. But spending a day in the mountains with Kellen and remembering the day I helped to place that dented pan on the high, built-in, shelf at Grandma and Grandpa Churches' Jackson home (the one they bought before they moved to Yuma) along with all sorts of other "treasures" was truly priceless.
2 comments:
Hey bro,
How cool. I bet those pans are antiques by now. Neat history.
It's great to see how active you and the fam are out there in So Cal. I need to take a page from your book. Activity for us is a weekend at the Sheraton beach in Abu Dhabi. We ought to take up camping. Keep all those great pix coming!
Cullen
Sure do love the new blog, Keith! Keep those photos comin'.
Dad
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