"The first gold nugget I ever found was in the belly of a trout."
And so begins this 20th century saga about a regular guy who did something highly irregularÑhe turned a two-week vacation into an eight-year adventure in the heart of Gold Rush country of Northern California. He made his own shelters, stayed in cabins, lived in caves, or slept under the stars as he prospected in the legendary Sierra Nevada Mountains.
His story is part how-to manual and part introspective, a tale that makes us envy his audacity and love of life.