Jul 3

Written by: alaska
7/3/2008 12:00 AM 

Greetings from the Cripple River Gold Camp, situated where the Bering Sea meets the Cripple River, north of Nome Alaska! Camp is fully open and prospecting officially started this week for the 2008 season. To all the crew and participant prospectors who have new to our camp, (cheechakos in Alaskan prospector parlance), a warm, warm welcome! To all our crew and participant prospectors who are returning to our camp again, (sourdoughs) a special welcome back!

The early crew---some of who come up here nearly a month in advance, were greeted by Mother Nature with snow, snow, and more snow. “Chip” Yorde, our camp cook extraordinaire from Merrill Wi, has been coming to Cripple River for twelve years, and she reports, “I thought I’d seen it all, weather wise. I come in with my husband Laverne (nicknamed ‘Yorde’) and I’ve come in through rain, and snow. I’ve had to ride over pack ice on the beach, once across the tundra as the beach was impassable, one year they had to shovel snow higher than the chow hall roof to get into the chow hall, and then there was six feet of snow INSIDE the chow hall that had to be shoveled out! But this year was strange. The camp was shrouded in fog, and was eight days before I could see the water (the Bering Sea). Then it snowed! It was really a strange feeling to be in camp and not to be able to see anything!” Other members of the early crew report that it snowed eight days in a row, including two blizzards, (and not the Dairy Queen kind). Then Mother Nature had a spring cleaning, I was told. In one day the camp experienced short bursts of rain, sleet, snow, some hail, fog, cold wind, and by late afternoon the ground was clear and the sun was shining brightly.

The early crew this year built a new trading post, where sodas, candy, postcards, t-shirts, and various and sundry items can be purchased including fishing licenses. Now this is not a large fancy store, but it does try to carry the necessities. Our early crew also does a lot of repairs to other buildings, as Alaska winters are hard on everything: people, animals, and man made objects. They clean, fix, upgrade, sanitize, install, checkout, service, organize, plan, you name it, they are one of the main reasons this camp is ready to open each year. So give our early crew a hand! Thank you one and all. I personally feel the ladies on the early crew deserve special thanks.

Tom Massie, from Temecula Ca, would like to say a few words,”This year looks like it is going to be a great year! The weather looks like it is improving, the gold on the beach is looking good, and the dredge and trommel are running in good areas for gold. I plan to do some prospecting this year and see if I can find some new hot areas our claim. I want to welcome everyone to camp, I’m glad you came to share this adventure with me and Cindy.”

Fishing is absolutely excellent for both Pink Salmon and Dolly Varden, an unusual member of the trout family that can live in both salt and sea water. It is not unusual for an angler to reel in 25 good sized fish out of 26 casts. Most are catch and release. Our rumor mill worked over time when Camp Manager Ken Rucker was rumored to have snuck a nice “dolly” home and into his hooch the other night, especially as his wife was home at the time! This time the rumor was true, but the ‘would be ‘trouble makers forgot to explain that the “dolly” was, of course, of the fishy variety. He had invited the tasty entree to dinner with his family, where it was enjoyed by all. Grilled Salmon will soon be appearing on the grill, and on fisherman’s plates all over camp. This may sound like a fish tale but I have been hearing fishermen and women complaining that they are catching so many fish that they get tired and have to take a break!

Our camp manager for the first three weeks, Ken Rucker, from Temecula California, welcomes all and is looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends and meeting a bunch of new ones. When asked about the weather, Ken said, It is amazing to be standing here in seventy degree weather knowing last week it was raining here and the week before the camp was buried in snow. There are pictures in the chow hall of the snow scenes for the people that doubted the statement. Ken went on to say we are looking forward to a good season, and hopes the good weather lasts, but it is the arctic and rain is inevitable.

The weather this year has been quite changeable, cool and cloudy one day, damp and colder the next, warmer and sunny, sometimes all three in one twenty four hour period. Yesterday and today (so far) it has been warm and sunny. Nome, and our camp lie just a short distance under the Arctic Circle, so we are where the weather the people in the ‘lower 48’ enjoy is ‘made’. As you already know occasionally we have really odd weather ‘thingies’ happen here. This week we had an episode of speed fog. I was down where the Cripple River meets the Bering Sea for a kiss and as it was only lightly over cast. I was beach combing. Lost in my thoughts, reality returns and I notice a sudden silence. All the birds had left at once in a big hurry, and even the Sea Sounds are muted! I looked around to see what’s happening. There, out on the water was a huge fog bank rolling in like a freight train! It boiled and roiled, and rolled across the Bering Sea and I watched Sledge Island in the distance ‘white out’ in about two minutes flat! Wow, I’ve never seen such fast fog in my life! Mesmerized I watched fly towards the shore. All at once it dawned on me that if it hit the beach before I got back to camp I might not find camp easily in the thick wet fog, so I turn to high tail it back to Cripple River Gold Camp and the fog catches me. Visibility immediately narrows to a few feet; I walk faster in the deep sand as the fog thickens around me. I am now getting cold and I am being encased in fog, only about one step in front of the thickest part of the fog monster. I can see about two or three feet ahead, when I find the upgrade by the panning tubs. I know where I am. Chilled to the bone, I go into the chow hall for a cup of hot peppermint tea (if you have ever been in a fog bank up here you know fog can be very cold and very damp). Several people ask “Annie did you see how fast that fog came up?” “I sure did!” I shiver back, “Almost scary wasn’t it?” they say. “You have no idea.” I shiver again and sip more hot sweet herbal tea.

Speaking of fog, Kathy Boucher was looking at a bright fog bank last week before camp opened and pointed out a fog rainbow. At first everyone thought she was pulling their leg, but, no she wasn’t. There are fog rainbows. There was so much water in that fog bank on the Bering Sea, and with the brightness caused by the sun shine; you could see small perfectly formed rainbows some as big as 8 or 10 feet across in the white wispy edges of the coalescing fog. (Now this was normal fog, that speed fog stuff would have out run any rainbow hands down.) The rainbows seemed to wink in and out of existence as the fog curled and coiled, like a magician’s magic trick, now you see them, now you don’t. Quite a challenge for the picture takers in the area, thank goodness for the delete button on the camera.

Gary Thomey from Poulsbo Wa, is here for 2 weeks, and is having a great time. He has been prospecting for gold, and fishing. He admits he came to Cripple River to learn to use different kinds of gold ‘getting’ equipment, and to learn new prospecting techniques, as well as gain experience. Gary was surprised that the camp is as big as it is. Mr. Tomey has been fishing and says he has caught over sixty fish, mostly Pink Salmon, with a few Dolly Varden, the biggest fish was about six pounds and he has been using Pixies and spinners. Way to go Gary.

In the animal sighting area we have good news and bad news. The good news is there is a red fox being seen in and around our camp this year, and who has been named Foxy Lady by Phyllis Raymond from Green Bay Wi. She has a den not too far away, with four cubs in it. Foxy Lady or Foxy for short seems to be very fat, sassy, and healthy. As with all foxes she is quite intelligent and very curious about us, she will occasionally walk through camp on her way back home to her family to show off a fish or bird she has caught. If you see her feel free to take her picture from a safe distance, but do not get too close and DO NOT try to pet or touch her, feed her, or find her den. She is a wild animal, she will bite and scratch, and while she seems to be extremely healthy if she bites or scratches you the Game and Fish Department will KILL her! The bad news in camp is Foxy is fat and happy as she has eaten all our cute little sisiliks (Arctic Ground Squirrels-also known locally by the Eskimos as Parka Squirrels). She is also eating all the mice and voles in the area which is very good! Today we had a cow and a calf moose sighting across from camp at the Cripple River. Two days ago there were several families of seals feeding on salmon just below camp. Then a small pod of Beluga Whales came up to feed on the seals and the seals scattered and moved on to safer territory. Once the whales move on the seals will return. This cycle plays out every year we have a good salmon run.

Gold on the beach is really good this year; many people have reported having very nice claims. Several nice pickers have been found, and the fine beach gold seems to be easier to mine than in some past years. A current report of beach nuggets being found is circulating, and some of the gold from the beach is coarser gold, not just the finer flour gold that usually is plentiful. It is hard work to mine on the beach, but it can be very profitable. We have crew assigned to the beach to assist you in learning to run the beach boxes and help you find a good area on your claim to mine. So good luck, and may you find a rich spot on your beach claim.

I have been sitting here tooooo long, and the trail is calling, so before this gussuck (native word meaning white person) goes gaa gaa (psychiatric term for crazy) I’m out here. So until next time, may your life and the bottom of you pan turn golden

Your Friend, Arctic Annie

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