“Let’s go panning for gold!” When I was in elementary school, I was really excited to learn that it was possible to find gold in mountain creeks! I imagined walking alongside a creek, seeing gold nuggets glimmering in the water and lining my windowsill with these little bundles of wealth and beauty. Then someone told me that the way to find gold was to learn how to pan for gold. They also told me to watch out for fool’s gold, which was abundant in mountain creeks.