A Stormy Bering Sea

Crossing the Penny River

Here is a picture of the trucks we rode back to Nome to catch our flight. Remember it just stormed the night before and we had to get to Nome. I heard stories of the storm in 2005. The Penny River was up so high, there was a foot of water inside the cab. The women had to put their feet on the seat. The back of the truck was loaded with luggage. They said the water came up to the bottom of the bed but the luggage did not get wet. They had to guess where the road was in the river. Their markers were under water. Well, we weren't far from that day. There were 3 trucks in our envoy, hauling everyone into the airport. The waves had pushed all the logs and wood debri close to the tundra. The waves were still about 3-4 foot and washing on shore. It took about an hour and 45 minutes to make this trip. We were literally driving over logs. Some that were 10"-12" in diameter. Sometimes our driver would time the waves and drive closer to the waters edge. The Penny River was up to our door. This meant the Penny was about 4 1/2 feet deep. 4 wheelers were going through this same spot the day before. If you were an adrenalin junkie then this was a good ride for you. It was amazing and very memorable.

Fun in the Saloon

We ended the night in their saloon for a night of entertainment. Karoke, popcorn and beer. Our favorite driver, Little John sang and we all whooped and hollared. We loved little John. His wife Betty might not have been there, but he spoke of her so endearingly. What a guy. The weather changed so quick. It turned misty and cold.
The waves were up about 10 foot on the beach and the guys had to go down and move all the equipment clear back to the tundra about midnight. We were supposed to fly out the next morning and I was getting concerned about the weather. We had to cross the Penny River. This was on the way to Nome on the beach and empied into the very very cold Bering Sea.

Chow Hall Gold Divide

Gold Divide

We made it back in time for the highlight of the week. That would be the spagetti dinner and gold draw for all the miners. This is where they divide all the gold they find at the commercial site. The Outdoor Channel was still there filming and it was a fun night for everyone. We drew a number. Numbers 1 through 9 are for the biggest nuggets. #1 was close to 1/2 ounce. The rest of the gold is divided as equal as possible according to weight. A miner might get a bigger nugget and the next will get a smaller nugget, but some fine stuff in a vial to make up the difference. We also got a bag of black sand... Alaska tea. We haven't panned ours yet but we are counting on a hugh nugget of course. I drew number 33 and George 60. Mine was a good draw. George got an extra bonus of a polished and cut piece of jade mix stone. Very pretty. Guess who will get a necklace out of that? So it appears I came out pretty good. A nugget, a vial, a bag of black sand and a necklace.

Fort Knox

Here's where it all happens. The commercial site brings the gold down from the trommel to the camp's Fort Knox. A little building with workers separating the gold on this shaker table. You can see George in the blue shirt checking it out and watching the gold come down the line and dumped into a little cup. We felt pretty special getting the tour, but the whole time I was taking pictures, everyone was cautioning me "Don't touch the table." "Don't get too close." "Watch out, you're too close." and on and on. A bunch of nervous guys with me moving around trying to get the perfect shot.

Pics on Trip Home

More beach front property

Ride in the big truck

This is a picture of us riding back to our camp from Nome in the back of the truck. Beautiful day and wonderful ride. We were bounced around riding on the beach over the wood debri and down the gullies and washouts.

George's favorite part of the museum

We went to the museum in Nome and there was Fritz, the famous husky, that lead the way for
I asked George what else he remembered about the museum and he said Gold. They had hugh nuggets that were 9, 14 and 20 ounces. He was obviously very impressed with the museum. It was a very small museum, but packed and worth the time. It is just amazing to think of all these tough people back then who worked hard just to survive.

Museum pics

Fritz

Nome museum

We went to the museum in Nome and there was Fritz, the famous husky, that ran with Balto to deliver the life saving diptheria vaccine delivered to the children of Nome back in the 1925... STUFFED! Everyone thinks Balto is the most famous lead dog and rightfully so. He supposedly was the lead dog. I read about another lead dogs sometimes run free from the pack. The lead is very valuable and can apparently sniff out water and find cracks in the snow and ice to kept his fellow dogs and owner safe. Lead dogs could find the trail when no longer visible to the musher. Togo was another famous sled dog in the race and 1/2 brother to Fritz and was really Sepp's favorite. Most good sled dogs are under 60 lbs and can pull 800 lbs. Amazing to read and see all of this.
I

Some gossip about Nome

We heard the natives get $35,000- $40,00- a year. I fear the govenment has taken their incentive away. I have asked more than once why are there no roads in or out of Nome. It's just an observation on my part. Doesn't mean it's so, but I believe they could connect and improve their quality of existing if they would get busy and work on their tranportation system. Maybe they could get the cost of papertowels down from $8.00 a roll. I would keep the cost of beer up though. A case of beer was $50.00. That's 24 cans at 50 bucks. Nome seemed to have their share of drinkers. We passed a guy with a whiskey bottle hanging out of his pocket. Dave and Marlene ran into some highly enebriated locals at 10:00AM the day before. That was a Thursday! Who knows what it is like on the weekends. We were told that Nome was the only place close to buy liquor. People had to fly from Kutzabue, which was only about 220 miles away at a cost of $350.00 average cost. Kutzabue is above the arctic circle so that is one of our 'firsts' George and I can put on our life's resume even though we didn't get the card to prove it.

Trip to Nome

We went to Nome on Friday to just stomp around the town and check things out. We hitched a ride with one of the drivers, Little John. He had some errands to do for the camp. Dave and Marlene had made the trip to Nome per 4 wheeler the day before and were not anxious to repeat the experience. It was a nice ride in seeing the Bering Sea and all those beach homes. Nome doesn't seem to be a thriving sea town.

Linda with the gold

Move over George and let me help you with that. If this is gold mining. I'm in!

George Finds the gold

I'm all about the memories. I think the pictures speak for themselves. We did come home with gold. I found that gold miners never really reveal how much though.

Digging yourself in a hole

I don't know what we were thinking but I wound up back at the beach with George mining for gold again. I always said, George can outwork guys half his age and you know what, I'm right. I was, on the other hand, moving a little slower. Our hooch mates, Heather and Sean had gold fever as bad as George. I think they spent every day on that beach. George probably would have but we had to have the total experience of the trip. I would have been DRT if we didn't. Our neighbor was going for the gold... digging himself in a hole.

More mining on the beach

I don't know what we were thinking but I wound up back at the beach with George mining for gold again. I always said, George can outwork guys half his age and you know what, I'm right. I was, on the other hand, moving a little slower. Our hootch mates, Heather and Sean had gold fever as bad as George. I think they spent every day on that beach. George probably would have but we had to have the total experience of the trip. I would have been DRT if we didn't.

End of the Iditarod

Little John pointed out that we were at the very spot where the Iditerod Ends. We watch this stuff on the History and Discovery channel and here I am right at the very spot this historic race ends. Yes, we shopped in our boots, Marlene in her hip waders and I was the envy of everyone in my pink boots.

Beach Glass

While George and Dave were high banking, Marlene and I went to the beaches of Nome in search of beach glass. This is apparently the best hunting spot in the world for beach glass. We were not disappointed. My back ached from bending over so many times. It was fun timing the waves to get the goods. I didn't really understand that beach glass is just broken glass from bottles that were tossed out years ago. The glass is rolled around so many times it becomes smooth and is then used to make jewelry. The town of Nome has burn 3 times and I guess everything was just shoved into the sea. Red and orange and blue were the most valuable. Someone told me this was more valuable than gold. I certainly had more fun doing this. I found 1 piece of cobalt blue. I was proud. I found the cracker jack prize of all prizes. My gold. There was lots and lots of brown. Nome certainly has more than their share of drinkers. I'm putting 2 and 2 together here. Brown = beer bottles. I'm thinking if they wouldn't drink so much they could have some roads out of Nome. One thing I couldn't get over. No roads in or out of Nome. You have to fly in. After several hours on the beach, our driver, Little John, took us on a few of his errands and let us stop at a gift shop.

High Bankers

On Wednesday, George and Dave went to the high bankers. Nothing was ready to go at this point so they took the bull by the horns and pitched in and helped set everything up. There were 7 guys and 1 one gal and In about 25 minutes they had the place ready to go. The staff worker was amazed at their quickness and told them to turn the pumps on and away they all went. Looking for gold in all that dirt. George shoveled for hours and came back with very little gold in my opinion. This is back breaking work and I would rather earn my money as a WalMart greeter and just go buy the stuff than to wake up with an aching back. There is 'gold in them thar hills' though. It's just very hard work.

Mama and baby moose

As we kept coming down the trail we got another prize shot. A moose and her baby. You can just see the tip of the baby's ears. We literally stopped our vehicles and snapped numerous shots all the while trusting she wouldn't charge. We were that close to them.

Mountain views

On our way back down the mountain Dave and Marlene were in the lead. We didn't see any more bears, but they were attacked by some Grouse. Looked somewhat like a chicken to me. She ran back and forth in front of their four wheeler over a dozen times. She kept following them down the trail. We had come too close to her nest apparently. George and I were watching from behind and at one point the bird flew in the air and was making an air assult. I saw Marlene ducking more than once.

Rough Riding on the trails

I took a lot of pictures of the trail, but they just don't do it justice. It doesn't look roughas it really was. I felt like I had run the gauntlet of bumps, mud and streams and I won. We did not get stuck once. George may have been a novice but he drove that four wheeler as good as any Harley Dude and I hung on.

Diver and dredge

Even if you have no desire to mine for gold, it is still very educational and interesting to learn about. We felt like we were watching the Discovery Channel four wheeling in the mountains. This is a picture of a diver that takes a suction hose out to the middle of the stream to hopefully pull some gold out from around rocks; or he might move some rocks to get to the gold. I think it could be a little dangerous moving rocks and a person should have some diving experience before doing that. They also wear a dry suit but you can bet they are still cold in those mountain streams.

Dredge from 1800's

This is what was used in the 1800's. We figured there had to be gold here so we stopped and hiked down. A patch of snow and ice hung over the little stream so it was a little easier to get to the site. Without the ice and snow bridging the banks of the stream we couldn't have gotten there without getting wet. George and Dave got their pans out and George said he did get some color. We thought we would definitely come back to this spot but the week just went by too fast.

The Trommel

This is a picture of the GPA's commercial site about 9 miles from the camp by fourwheeler and 36 miles by vehicle.

Ask Yourself, "Do I feel lucky?"

I have thought of I don't know how many captions for this picture. One option is the obvious: Don't even think about biting my finger. The other is: It's either you or me little buddy...or as Dirty Harry would say, "Ask yourself, do I feel lucky today."

Feeding the Squirrel

We had not planned on a whole day outing so all we had packed was trail mix and beef jerkey and peanut M & M's. We each had an apple but I refused to eat it. I was saving it to use like a granade in case we saw a bear. I thought I would throw the apple and the bear would chose the apple over me.
We made it to some outpost up by the trommel, which is the commercial operation. I called it a quick trip because it had an outhouse. We ate our snacks and noticed a little squirrel and offered him some of our snacks. Not my apple though. We threw him a blue Peanut M & M. We laughed and laughed watching him. This little squirrel would eat out of my hand. I felt like a regular Ellie Mae. Then Dave decided he would feed the squirrel and I got the funniest shot of the year. I'll give you a little description of Dave. He is one of those guys that can tell a story and keep you laughing. Dave and Marlene definitely contributed to our positive camp experience. They are the greatest.

Pictures on the snow

We stopped and took some pictures on the snow and ice.
I asked Dave and Marlene to make snow angles and they indulged me.

Arctic Ice on the trail

We traveled up over a trail that would make any dirt biker drool. I thought I was going to be bouced right off the back and we almost tipped over once. No exageration. They warned us ahead of time that more than a few had tipped over and that we would get stuck. They assured us there was no maybe, but a for sure thing. We went though knee deep mud, through streams and just plain ol' rough trails and tundra. We crossed mountain ranges up 1500-2000 feet and back down. Again the views were breathtaking. God's beautiful handiwork. Something George and I will cherish and remember forever. We could somehow understand for a moment how those old miners settled there. Only for a moment though. They had to be tougher than boot leather, dirty and very smelly. No running water except for the freezing streams. They would have had to bring everything in by mule. The tundra is rather spongy and would have taken a long time traveling in those days.

Grizzly Bear

As we were standing on the point looking out over the river basin a grizzley bear showed up. I snapped 2 shots before he was in the bushes and running up the side of mountain. It is amazing how fast they are. We were told they could run 35 miles per hour for 7 miles. Joke around camp was that you didn't have to outrun the bear, just whoever you were with.
Thank goodness he was heading away from us, because with George's long legs I wouldn't have stood a chance. Our guide, Mike, chased him on up the mountain before heading back to camp.
Dave and Marlene, George and I decided to extend our fourwheeling adventure and headed off into the mountains. The views we witnessed were spectacular and everything you imagine about Alaska. We went up about 9 miles.

Buzzard's Point

We were worn out from our first day working the gravel on the beach and decided to take the four wheeler for a drive to Buzzard's Point. The founder of the GPA and his wife are buried up there litterally in the middle of the wilderness of Alaska. It was about 1 mile from the camp and one of the staff, Mike Bohannon, decided he would lead the way since we were novices. Dave and Marlene Ryan, from Florida, went with us. Our guide, Mike, informed us they had spotted 4 other bears. 2 were blondish and the other brown. There are no trees on the tundra but there are lots of bushes but being on the trail gave us a false sense of security. George did not find a need to bring a gun to camp because, as he put it, "We'll be fine." Thank goodness our guide and Florida companions were packing heat.

First Day on the Beach

Our first day on the beach was cold and misty starting out. We were assigned to our beach claim for the week. Our partners were Nancy and Brian from Ohio. We were given our instructions and set everything up and then started our engine. That's when the real work began. I learned pretty quickly that earning my money in nursing was a whole lot easier than shoveling and digging in sand and gravel. I have to admit that leaning over that sluice and seeing "color" was exciting. That yellow gold color is exciting to see though. The gold was just so fine on the beach. I wanted to see nuggets the size of rocks, not work my butt of for some fine "specks". You have to admire those old and modern day gold miners. They are all excited over those specks. That gold fever must be something. I don't think the AMA (American Medical Association) has ever found a cure for that. I did enjoy myself and think everyone should have the experience. I came home without any gold fever symptoms. George however was bitten a long... long time ago and will always have those symptoms.

Outhouses

This is probably the crudest part of the whole stay. Outhouses. They do smell... well stink is a better word. The Camp did keep them very clean and disinfected them every day. We were the first group and my thoughts actually wondered on one visit and I was feeling sorry for the last group of the season. I still wouldn't change my experience. They were always stocked and had some Purell hand wash on the wall should you forget your handiwipes.

This is a picture of the hooches that we stayed in. In Kansas terms, these would be called shacks. I'm thinking this is where the term "Hoochie Mama" comes from. The gold miners in the old days had to have met some women along the way. Although I haven't heard the term "Shackie Mama" here in Kansas. They are equipped with a small wood burning stove that just keeps the chill off in the morning. The one who wakes up first or gets cold in the middle of the daylight starts the fire. Our hooch mates had the fire ready to go most mornings so all we had to do was light it. George's Boy Scout instincts kicked in and he built a few nice fires and had some good tips on starting fires by the end of the week.

Chow Hall

This is the chow hall where everyone meets 2-3 times a day. The food was great. Our main cook was Chip. We had a meeting every morning going over all the rules and the day’s agenda. Our first night was a late one. We went to bed the first night about 11:00 PM which was 2AM our time. We really didn't feel it because we were so excited to be there. It was beautiful. Our camp was located right on the Bering Sea. We put some cardboard over our window and went to sleep without much problem. I did get a little cold by morning. I learned by the second night how to arrange my sleeping bag and blanket. George of course said, "Everything is fine." He was asleep in minutes which is the norm for him.

More for your viewing pleasure. Just think of this as the Christmas "Tour of Homes" in July.

Our first shock were the
The other very noticeable anomaly is there are no trees on the tundra and yet you can see the beach is littered with huge logs that apparently are from Russia and Siberia. We found out that we were only about 50 miles from Russia and about 150 miles from Siberia. The drift wood is beautiful but with all the wood debris the trip from Nome to camp took about an hour and 20 minutes. These pictures are taken about 9:00PM and you can see it is very light out. Land of the midnight sun. What a vacation we were in for

More beach front property. I think we were all surprised. After shack after shack we all looked at this one and said, "wow, this is a nice one."

We started our trip from Nome and I am very thankful we didn't have to ride in the back of the truck as we thought we would have to do. We had enough room for everyone in the cab. It was very cold and one of the participants did ride in the back. I saw him later thawing out in the chow hall. It was quite a trip seeing all the beach shacks. Apparently locals set up their operation for the summer. I would welcome anyone to give more information on this.

View over Anchorage

This first picture is from the plane window coming into Nome. George and I came from Clearwater, KS and had gotten up at 3:30 Sunday morning and we were finally there. The outdoor channel was outside the airport and after we interviewed, we talked about how we would live to regret our impromptu responses. I doubt we helped Kansas's standing. At least my name wasn't Dorothy. Chances of George and I making our television debut are pretty slim.
Pic of shacks on beach
We started our trip from Nome and I am very thankful we didn't have to ride in the back of the truck as we thought we would have to do. We had enough room for everyone in the cab. It was very cold and one of the participants did ride in the back. I saw him later thawing out in the chow hall. It was quite a trip seeing all the beach shacks. Apparently locals set up their operation for the summer. I would welcome anyone to give more information on this.