As I arrived at my detecting location, I got all my gear and headed up the trail. I had to stop and take in the devastation all around me.

There are both hard rock and beach sand types of titanium deposits, but the hard rock deposits need to be at least 10 percent titanium while the beach sands often are economic with only two or three percent titanium.

Due to the lockdown, I spent lots of time indoors this spring and I decided to add a drone as a faithful mate in my research.

There were iron stains all over and even a few places where I could see iron trash sticking out of the bedrock. These would be ideal spots to start with as the gold travels with the iron and lead.

There are many other locations in the area where gold has been found, but Woods Creek is the most famous of the creeks and gulches in the area where the 49ers searched for that elusive yellow metal.