Tag Archives: spring

Springtime Visit

Don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned that Super Bowl Sunday is a special day for us at the mine.  Years ago, we snowshoed into the claims on a Super Bowl Sunday and decided right then and there to buy them.  Ever  since its been kind of an anniversary for us, we visit, roast hot dogs, hike around.  This year, because of a scheduling conflict and the fact one of our team is a Bronco’s Fan, we did it the following weekend.  There are definite signs of spring, even a wild violet decided to sprout.

river

 

The Creek is open, the water is really low.  I was tempted to jump in there and check out some of that exposed bedrock and creek bed.

 

 

 

IMG_1164Though the glory hole and the staging area are not quite ready to get our operation going.

 

 

 

 

We did manage to get a few buckets of paydirt from our stockpile, lots of folks got dirt for Valentines day this year I think and we were running low..  Not quite ready to start the mining season, but had a great day nonetheless.

 

paydirt spring

 

Moving Day

Time to start the 2014 mining season! Had the usual first day hiccups. Had to take the big equipment hauling truck the shop for some issues we just discovered. All the atv batteries died. We forgot tools, had to make patch jobs, tempers ran high at times.

The weather was absolutely amazing. I have lived in Alaska all my life and I have never seen 80 degrees in May. Never.

Hoping to fire up our trommel for the first time tonight or tomorrow.

We are tired, sore, and incredibly blessed.

20140502-185851.jpg

20140502-185908.jpg

Sneak Peak

This is a sneak peak at our new, improved and bigger wash plant.  The sun is out the snow is melting and soon you will be able to see some photos of this beast in action.  As you have seen, if you have been following the blog, we have been up to the mine this winter.  We have done some snow clearing to hurry along spring melt so we can set up our new equipment.  Stay tuned for 2013 mining season news and photos, ITS ALMOST HERE!!!

All work and no play….well you know the rest.

Trail.gold. trees, fallen

Every winter the snow brings lots of trees down in the trail and every spring we have to get out the chain saw and start clearing the way so we can make it down our trail. Here is a picture from thanksgiving to show that the mess has already begun. You would think that we would get at least one spring that would be free of fallen trees on the trail, but that is so not the case. Mother Nature loves to keep us busy.