The Great Rattlesnake Hunt and the Crystal Cache

A flooded valley. A lightning storm at their heels. A boat full of crystals.

After a season of heavy spring rain, Northern California's Lake Berryessa swallowed its own hills and turned them into islands. It also drove every rattlesnake in the valley onto whatever high ground was left.

Thomas Burnett and three friends load picks and shovels into an aluminum boat and motor out across the drowned landscape to prospect the new islands. Following an old prospector's rule, they dig straight up a hillside along a milky quartz vein. Inside plain mud clods they find breathtaking quartz crystal clusters. Then the sky turns black, and the storm chases them back across open water in a metal boat.

That night the real education begins. Armed with flashlights, a catching pole and burlap sacks, the crew goes hunting for rattlesnakes in the dark. One even turns up swimming in the lake. Along the way you'll learn how prospectors spot crystals by flashlight, and how a rattlesnake is caught, handled and skinned.

A true-to-life adventure full of lightning, crystals, campfire and close calls. Fans of outdoor adventure, rockhounding, camping and wilderness stories will love this one.

Based on a true story.