Jul 12

Written by:
7/12/2006 12:00 AM 

Greetings from the Cripple River Gold Camp! The weather is beyond gorgeous, almost perfect! Hot and sunny, bright turquoise blue skies (even at midnight) with a few white fluffy sheep type clouds lazzz-illly floating around waiting for a tired angel or two who need a quick place to rest; before going off again on their errands. Birds are happily flying in this sea of sky blue, looking for mates, building nests, or fishing to feed the family. This place is so beautiful that even the fish in the Bering Sea were jumping up into the air hoping to catch a quick glimpse of the world above their watery home. All this fish jumping delights the hunting birds, the fish eating seals and the angler folks to no end! All this day needs to be totally perfect is a slight breeze to chase those pesky ‘skeeters’ away. (And maybe a giant hot fudge sundae or two!)

Camp is in full swing, with prospectors everywhere! Metal detectors are out of their boxes, beach boxes are running full tilt, and gold pans and small hand sluices are everywhere. Yesterday, I saw several prospectors on the beach working with their shirts off. Today, as I sit here in the chow hall writing, I notice quite a few red faces and sunburned necks! A quick word of advice, when you are out and about, don’t forget your bug dope or your sunscreen! Sunburned mosquito bites are not much fun!

Gold on the beach is good, and quite a few of the people who worked the high bankers at the trommel did excellent! Coarse gold, pickers, and a nice selection of small nuggets were found. There are currently two trips to the trommel each week, weather permitting. There is an ATV trip lead by Sandy and Perry Massie, that follows the river, crosses several large hills, winds through the valley past the dredge camp and onward to the trommel. This scenic cross country jaunt is lots of fun, and there are photo opportunities everywhere. The flowers along the trail are stunning, and even the mud bogs add a hint of excitement to the trip. (Just for the record there are more than 2000 varieties flowers in Alaska, and all of them are stunning!) The second trommel trip is a truck trip through town, and up the Old Teller Highway, past Anvil Mountain where you can still see, in the distance, the remains of an old military early warning defense system from the 1940’s. Many’s the time that reindeer or caribou, musk ox, and moose are seen on this trip. The truck goes past several small native villages, then turns down an off road trail that leads to the trommel camp. While the trip is a little long, you can learn a lot talking to the other folks riding in the truck with you.

Speaking of fun trips, today Sandy and Perry left camp guiding thirty seven ATV’s, most carrying two riders, on a fishing trip/cookout to the Sinuk (pronounced Sen nick) for the favorite trip of the week. These people ride to the point where Sinuk River empties into the Bering Sea. There on the warm sandy beach they have a fishing party and cookout with Perry doing the cooking! Non fisher people beach comb, sea shell hunt, or just rest and relax letting muscles tired and cranky from prospecting take a much deserved rest. This trip with the Massies has been and continues to be a real camp pleaser and rates four stars! Don’t forget your bug goop, sunscreen or camera and spare card, batteries, or film. A large zip lock type baggie can be used to keep your camera dry if it happens to rain.

Now everyone knows this camp is a great place to enjoy a summer vacation, and that this is a primitive gold mining camp. Primitive does not mean that people with a disability can not have a wonderful time here. They can and do! This year Jeff Cull and his father Rob from Bellevue Ohio spent a week at Cripple River. Jeff received this trip as a high school graduation gift from his family this year, and brought his father with him. Jeff, who will be starting college soon to study Pastoral Ministry, enjoys coin collecting, prospecting and gold panning. Jeff has been a member of G.P.A.A. for five years, while his father Rob is a recent convert who joined the G.P.A.A. a short time ago. When I interviewed Jeff, he was very happy to talk about his experiences in camp and related,” I love being here. This place is nicely primitive, and everyone seems to be very active and into prospecting. I enjoy gold panning, fishing, and just anticipating what is going to happen next. I hope to come back at a future date and stay longer.” I personally had a good time talking to Jeff, a bright, polite and in tune with life young man. Jeff is also physically and visually challenged/disabled, but he doesn’t let that stop him from living life to its fullest! Way to go JEFF!!! The Cripple River Gold Camp wishes you all the best in the world!!!

Blake Harmon from Big Bear Ca, is our camp photographer this year. Blake, an outdoorsman, loves to explore new areas and document the places he visits with pictures. Mr. Harmon has been a professional photographer for three years and a prospector for about a year and a half. “I discovered many of the places I like to photograph have a rich mining history, so photography and prospecting for gold go hand in hand perfectly. I love being at Cripple River and plan to come back year after year. There is so much to see and do---I could come up here for years and still not be able to see and do it all. An added plus for the artist in me is that with twenty-four hours of daylight, the lighting is always good to take pictures!” It probably won’t come as a big shock to my readers that Blake’s hobbies include fishing, hiking, boating, backpacking and camping. This year Blake is working on putting together a Cripple River yearbook, with the names and pictures of all the people in camp along with photographs of scenery and area of interest. Plans for this ambitious undertaking include adding stories and writings of interest to the prospectors who come up to Cripple River. This book will be offered for sale, and as of yet has not been officially named. Being here is such an education that Blake has been thinking along the lines of, Cripple River Class of 2006, or something along those lines, but some of us feel that it should be called The Cripple River’s Two Hundred Most Wanted List! Now this idea of a Cripple River Annual belongs to Marvin Rapose from Grant’s Pass Or., who is our local talent agent in charge of our Friday Night Saloon Talent Show and Extravaganza. Marv, now silver haired instead of blond, is more than just a pretty face, he’s smart too. (And much too lucky at our local games and tournaments it’s often felt by those of us he trounces.) Marv decided that if we had a book with everyone’s pictures in it we could point out the picture of a person under discussion, and it would make life much easier, as well as serve as a souvenir of what is, for many people, a once in a life time trip! Marv made up these books for several years then one year, being much too busy, he passed the torch on to another person, but things happened and the ball got kinda dropped. The idea was just too good to ignore, so this year again, the Annual will be forth coming!

Stephen Welch from Scotia N.Y., has never heard about Alfred Hitchcock’s famous movie, The Birds, but he still had a close encounter of the feathered kind this week. Riding on the beach on his way out of camp he ventured too close to an Arctic Tern’s nest! Now these birds are very protective of their young and seeing Stephen on his ATV, the mother or father bird decided he looked like a sure-fire bird hunter and dive bombed him to chase him away. Now being attacked by several birds can be disconcerting, so Stephen retreated, letting the birds feel content that her young were safe again in their ocean view nest. Stephen is here as part of a mini family reunion with his father Jim, to visit Grandfather David Welch from N.C.

Recently there has been a lot of news coverage, and talk about Nome’s famous dogs. Yes, dogs! Nome is the home of many famous canines, and last year one of the most famous doggie citizens from Nome returned home after being gone for approximately eighty years. Fritz was born and raised in Nome in the 1920’s, and in 1925 he was one of the heroic sled dogs harnessed in double lead with his team mate Togo that covered 260 miles of the trail from Nenana to Nome carrying the life saving diphtheria vaccine that was so desperately needed. The entire emergency sled run was 674 miles across frozen mountains, tundra, lakes, rivers, and the Bering Sea, fighting blizzards and temperatures in excess of -56 degrees below zero. Fritz raced in sled races in New England in the lower forty-eight, toured Madison Square Garden, and was in a Christmas display at the Gimbel brother’s department store in New York City. Fritz served as an expedition dog of Admiral Perry’s on his trip to the North Pole, and this great sled dog served as a foundation of the Siberian Husky breed. Fritz was mounted when he died and is wearing his original Seppala harness in the glass display case he now calls home, in the Nome Museum. Another great dog from Nome and the Diphtheria run was Balto, who died in 1933 and now rests in Ohio, but that is another story. True heroes abound everywhere!

This week was golden in many ways, one of which is our camp cook ‘Chip’ Yorde and her husband Laverne, better known to his friends as ‘Yorde’ celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary, the Big One, number five-o, here in camp with their many Cripple River friends. They were married on July seventh, and their love is still going strong! Congrats Chip and Yorde, and many happy returns.

Fishing continues to get better and better, the gold is here, and the unique beauty, all that is missing is you!

Until next time, may your life and the bottom of your gold pan be golden!

Your Friend, Arctic Annie