Return To Gundy Mountain

Two years ago after we dug our little shovels into the side of a gold claim on Myers Fork- a gold claim owned and operated by Chicken Gold Camp, Mike and Lou Busby were gracious enough to rename that part of the claim: Gundy Mountain. It has been referred to thusly ever since, even up to the last few days as Mike was talking to some other recreational miners and told them of the really good finds that both we and quite a few other clients had made in that same basic area and on that same basic "mountain." Today, for example, a pennyweight or so of an almost perfectly heart shaped nugget was found by a team of three who have been here digging and a pickin and a grinnin ever since we arrived. Fortune granted them a good wish today for sure! For, us, we hit the mountain again for the first time since arriving on May 22. The camp is getting in great shape for the official opening June 1 and and so Lou and Mike told us to take some play time on the claim. It took a while to organize and pack after finishing chores (oh, and we built the steel frame of the new walk-in cold frame today; it is awesome). Mike, Lynn and I measured, cut, welded, fitted and presto a new add on to the greenhouse. Photos another time! Back on Gundy Mountain, we set up our highbanker and started to pump, sending water from Chicken Creek up the hill. By about 4 in the afternoon we had started official operations and run the better part of a tank of gas (we're talking about a quart here) which took us about three hours. We moved a lot of dirt- mostly fractured basalt, or bedrock that has been severely damaged and broken by frost and thaw over and over again. There was color in the sluice at the end of the run- good color, but nothing big enough or impressive enough to want to go running up and down the creek showing to others. Not yet anyhow. A few others did earn some bragging rights today though and that is just fine. We like it when EVERYBODY finds good gold. It's what they come here for; it's what we aim to help them find! While being part of the team working shoulder to shoulder to get camp ready is loads of fun and rewarding in its own right, the feeling of pitching the shovel deep into the rough gravel, and the sound of it hitting the tines of the metal classification grizzly, then being washed by the water jets in the highbanker wash hopper with water sent from the pump running down below on the edge of the creek - well, that's just magical my friends. There may be gold in every shovel. There may be none. But the possibilities keep you working and thinking and hoping and figuring and planning right up until the time when you know you simply must stop for the day before you reach the point where even if you lean on the shovel you are sure you will fall over. It is a blessed fatigue. It releases joy in the soul even as the body surrenders. A late dinner on the grill tonight. Maybe some ribs and a salad. Then bed. Tired never felt so grand! No, it isn't Walton's Mountain, John Boy. This is the view from Gundy Mountain. And this is what carries the long journey to fruition. There will be more in the days to come. Much more. And new friends and new faces to share the experience of prospecting for gold in the magical moments of our time in Chicken, Alaska. Wish you were here? Well be waiting for you......