Desert Gold

In Southern California, due north of Palm Springs, there is an unspoiled stretch of wild desert lands known today as Joshua Tree National Park. Here between boulderous mountains lay endless seas of sand, dotted everywhere by treacherous cacti and the twisted joshua trees that give the place its name. The natural setting is largely undisturbed except for the lone park road and just a few well-placed campgrounds. The sites here do not have water or electricity - only a view of creation.

In the summer of 1987, I was drawn into this storybook landscape on a daring quest for lost riches. I was transfixed by the desolate beauty here and ultimately transformed by an uncanny series of events that altered my life’s journey forever. Where logic finally broke down another instinct took hold, leading me up a mountainside less travelled. In a remote area of jumbled rocks I discovered the long-abandoned mining camp of one man and then, in a stroke of fortune almost beyond belief, I found his secreted treasure!

Kyle Samper

Kyle Samper was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 20th of 1963 and brought home four nights later on Christmas Eve to join a nation in transition. President Kennedy had been shot just a month earlier and The Beatles would be arriving in a few weeks. Kyle’s parents, William and Kathryn Samper, had been high school sweethearts and they built a loving home out of a weathered farmhouse in the small auto town of Utica, but little Kyle would be the last of three children. more...