After burning more than 350 square miles, the Carr Fire near Redding, California, was finally out. Luckily our home was spared, and I had the opportunity to go metal detecting in burned areas previously too overgrown to access.

The first time I found gold in the creek here is when I decided to try a new place to drywash on a hill not far from the dirt path I was on.

When I teach people about finding gold, I often explain that it is helpful to think of any river or stream that carries gold as being something like a sluice box.

Selecting the wrong coil can potentially cause you to miss nuggets, so you want to be sure to select the best option for the situation at hand.

This same concept is true of many of our modern-day rivers, and we have to find out where their gold originated if we can.