Like the four preceding books in this series, Coronado's Gold delves into friendships, adventure, and meeting the challenges of growing to adulthood. The setting is the southwestern corner of Colorado, specifically the LaPlata Mountain Range. The time is the mid 1950s. Four boys, Bruce, Carl, Tim and Cliff set out on a weeklong fishing/camping trip in the La Plata Mountain Range of Southwestern Colorado. Bruce and Carl have just graduated from high school. It is a last opportunity for the four to bond before the Bruce and Carl leave for college. Although Cliff is the youngest he has the most outdoor experience and is the leader. Although Cliff tries to prepare them for every emergency contingency, they are well aware that the high mountain wilderness will place them into a remote area where they must survive by their own wits and skill. It is an area that has drawn adventurers and treasure seekers over the centuries dating back to the days of the Spaniards who had owned Southwestern Colorado and explored it long before it had been re-explored by the 1859 gold rush. Waiting for them at a high mountain valley final camp are unforseen dangers human, preditor, and supernatural. It is a much changed foursome who walk begin their walk out of Little Cougar Creek a week later with a story to tell and a secret to keep. The follow up week is even more mysterious and dangerous yet, as Cliff makes a return visit up Bear Creek with his neighbor friend Angelina Martinez. There is a bit of a ghost story as interacting with the boys when they reach their final destination is the guardian spirit of Kokopelli.
About the Author: About the Author: Kenneth Fenter lived on a farm in southwestern Colorado during the 1940s and '50s, roamed the canyons of Summit Ridge, searched for bee trees and Indian ruins, fished Lost Canyon and attended Montezuma County High School where the novels The Ruin, The Bee Tree, and their sequel Pivotal Times, Gifted and Coronado's Gold are set. The geography and history of Montezuma County is rich. It is larger than several states. It includes desert, canyon lands, and mountains over 14,000 feet in elevation. A hundred years before the stories in the series takes place it belonged to Mexico and thus was ruled and explored by Spain. Fenter is the author of a series of three non-fiction books under the heading An American Family in Japan-Gaijin! Gaijin!; Mo Ichido: Once More; and Suteindo Gurasu: Stained Glass. All of his books, fiction and non-fiction deal with cross-cultural situations. Fenter is retired and lives in Bend, Oregon with Lora, his wife of over fifty years.