North To Yukon Gold.

   Jack London once wrote that he left the Yukon with nothing but scurvy and stories to tell. I left the Yukon a few days back with some great memories, several hundred pictures, and made some good friends while I was there. But in my case with the restaurants along the way, and that great camp-food out at the gold-mine, scurvy was the least of my worries. 

All grand adventures begin someplace, and mine felt like it had truly begun when the Boeing 737 began it's take-off roll and felt myself pushed back into the seat. A late flight, it would travel 2000 km. over the rugged mountainous terrain of northern BC and the south Yukon.
   Sitting in the departure lounge before boarding, and remembering the words of Jack London, I had studied my fellow passengers, trying to decide which one I was going to eat if we happen to go down in the mountains. It was a toss-up whether to go quality or quantity, and that big fellow up in seat 17c will never know the fate spared him when flight 555CD arrived safely in Whitehorse at 1am.

   The next morning after a few hours of sleep I rounded up my rental and hit the Klondike Highway for Dawson. Leaving just after 10, I figured if I didn't bugger around too much I could do the 600+ km. and get to Chris and Nika's mine on Stowe Creek about dinner time. 

The weather wasn't exactly the greatest out of Whitehorse, but I had the satellite radio dialed to the 60's station, pedal to the metal, and nothing was going to dampen my parade.

Once beyond Carmacks it cleared off and turned into a most pleasant day.

Pelly Crossing

Stewart Crossing

Gravel Lake is always stunning this time of year.

I completely by-passed Dawson City on the way in, my interest was out in the gold-fields, once up on the Hunker Summit you take your pick, the Sulphur Ck. Road would take me down past Granville and over to the south Indian River country.

Old stomping grounds.

At the summit overlooking the Montana Ck.valley, Haystack Mtn. center and my destination Stowe Ck. over at far right.

   In the olden days our switch-backy road down the mountain into the valley ended here at the formidable Montana Ck. crossing. This would be a first for me, being able to drive a vehicle across Montana Ck. and right into Stowe not too long later, none the worse for wear.
There I met Chris and Nika for the first time, all the kids, her parents, Sabine and Bernie, #1 man Riley from New Zealand, his wife and camp 'child wrangler' Charlotte, and the Cat operator David.

Stowe Ck. Hilton.

If you have watched the program Yukon Gold, you will recognize Chris and Nika's camp. All the comforts of home, and then some. Certainly a big improvement over the roughing-it out here we did so many decades ago.

Chris, Nika, Sabine and Zyla, chilling in the main-room.

The camp cat Digger is a character unto himself. Nika picked him up off the streets of Dawson City, and he pretty much runs the place. He enjoys riding around in vehicles with the crew, and puts up with no end of rough-housing from the kids.

The next day broke clear with a good frost, and I was eager to get out on our old creek once more.

The notorious Dodge Twins, Sierra and Hunter.

They gained national attention last year coming into this world in the front seat of Chris and Nika's pick-up truck en-route to the hospital. One of their favorite spots is up on the back of the couch where they can keep an eye on the comings and goings of the crew.

Chris took me for a tour down at the mouth of Stowe to the Montana bench they have been working the past few seasons with some degree of success.

Riley exposing the pay deep in the bench, mouth of Stowe.

He jumped down off the machine that morning and took several pans out of the cut, coming up with some good results.

David working the D9.

Upper Stowe.

We drove past the camp upstream a few claims, to the extent of their workings, where they had been stripping and preparing ground in their spare time with a monitor and excavator. The valley has not been mined from here up, the virgin ground upstream is the area I drill-tested back in 1981, so we had lots to talk about. I think he enjoyed showing me around as much as I did.

Nika taking the twins for a spin down the driveway, along with dogs Bo and Duke, and cat Digger.

End of season whoop-up.

Nika's Dad whipped up a couple tables that afternoon, the neighbors from over at Eureka Ck. were invited for dinner, and the spirits and mining stories flowed freely. 

Northern lights, Stowe Ck. style.

 The guys had dug out a great huge fire-pit and hauled in no small amount of dry wood for a bon-fire later that you couldn't stand any closer than 20 feet to. A spectacular wrap-up for the season, fire-works were set off down in the cut, lighting up the remote Montana Ck. valley.

    I hung around out there at camp all week trying to stay out of the way and just taking it all in until it was time to make my way south once more. It was a huge event in my little life, to go back out there one last time after 35 years and see what Chris and Nika have done at our old creek with today's gold-price. The weather was perfect, the people were wonderful, and the trip couldn't have gone better. I've got plenty more experiences from the trip to share in the next while, and sometimes the most interesting story is the one you can't tell.

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