Just as our photography group was about to leave Bodie, we spotted lights, golden lights, shining into the dusk, seemingly from the interior of a row of old buildings. It was as if the spirits in this ghost town were preparing to settle in for a long autumn night.

In reality - is there such a thing as reality? - the golden light was coming from the top of the mountain opposite the homes, the last light of the day that was, for a few minutes, reflecting off the old window glass.

Perhaps most of the gold in the ground at Bodie has been extracted. Yet gold can still be found in the old town, transitory, insubstantial, but replenishable, capable of being mined by an observant visitor.