Tuesday, July 27, 2010
High Sierra Camp
Larry: We mostly write in our journals in the morning with our coffee so we are recapping the day before. We spent a very enjoyable day at our old diggins. Actually, found 15 to 20 grains!ground sluicing a little spot. I don't have a scale so I don't know for sure. It's always fun to splash water up on the bank and then spot gold that has been washed out. Hey, it is just fun to actually see more than fines. Gold certainly tinges our experience up here. It's great anyway but it's always more fun to find gold.
We made a trail down to the creek from our original camp. I'm in awe of our physical abilities 28 years ago. I recall making several trips out of this very steep canyon with all of our mining gear before 8 - 9 AM! so that our friend Mickey wouldn't feel obligated to help. We raced up the mountain with loads! Lots of good memories up here - I cleaned out Jerry's boil hole yesterday - found one tiny piece. I cleaned out most of the holes I could find on that bank - not much. I creak and groan in the mornings but then after a cup of coffee, my muscles and joints get going. Is this what old age feels like or am I still out of shape? Probably a combination of both. I think I'll run the river box today - clean off some high gravel and a mystery boil hole or two.
Charlotte: Cool & clear. Finally got some sleep. I had a couple of dozes until it cooled off and then the moon rose. It's interesting - before I was afraid of a bear showing up and now I am afraid of the alarm going off. Thank you God that we have an alarm so we will have some warning if a bear does show up. We had a dinner of warmed over lasagna (heated in a skillet), avocado and onion. Have enjoyed a leisurely morning in camp - coffee, journals, reading from "In The Flow of Life", protein bars, apple and peanut butter, bathroom time and readied camp for the day. We covered the car with the big blue tarp, silver side out, so we wouldn't have to come back up at mid-day. It gets pretty hot around mid-day and that is when our car will be in the sun if we don't move it. It's in a great spot for morning shade and afternoon shade - it's only that mid-day sun.
The BIG news! We finally found some gold - small but never the less you can pick it up with your fingers. We hiked up to our old camp and then cleared as much of the old trail as we could find. It was pretty rough going in places but I am guessing it didn't take us more than two hours, but time can fool you up here. What I think I have discovered about us - WE THRIVE ON CHALLENGES. We get some pay off out of exertion - hard physical labor. We don't know how to do easy or maybe that just doesn't interest us at some level. Maybe we expect the rewards, like gold, to be hard and so it is? We don't expect to look down and find a nugget or find a boil hole with an ounce of gold. Have we really changed that much since we used to make our living from gold?
What are we getting out of putting ourselves to the test, all of this exertion? Well, we are certainly getting more fit but there is more - I have noticed that one of the favorite things that we say to each other is "Well, we did it!" climbing out of canyons, finishing a really long day at Hickory Farms or finishing a big project at the ranch - what is that about? What are we doing here? What are we doing in these mountains? What are we doing on this life journey of ours? It's so beautiful here.
