Spooking Time at Vein Mountain

Working our way to warmer “climes” for the winter months, we stopped along the eastern corridor route at one of our favorite haunts (that’s a Halloween thing, don’t ya see?)- at Vein Mountain LDMA gold camp just in time for the Halloween festivities and the local outing. We’ve made lots of good friends here and it’s always fun to see them, work with them, and of course dig in the dirt with them. On this occasion, we were extra blessed to be joined by quite a few of the crew team from the GPAA Motherlode Expedition and the Nome Alaska 6 week summer outing. It was a great opportunity to ask questions and learn more from those that have attended before, some many times before. And any time you can talk Alaska with “them that know her well”- that’s a good time for sure. We used the opportunity to compare and contrast our Chicken Alaska (Chicken Gold Camp) experience and while the two are very different in many ways, they also have a lot in common and both are experiences that, given the chance, you surely wouldn’t want to miss.

Because I have covered outings here at Vein Mountain before, I’m just focusing on the end of outing auction that is always held right before the gold draw. Every body loves an auction, and these auctions are not only good, they are darn funny to boot. And the North Carolina flair that is attached to this one is just precious. A southern drawl and a mountain humor makes for some amazing one liners!

People always ask if there is really gold in North Carolina. Yes there is. Quite a bit of it actually. But while you may, if both luck and hard work are on your side, find a nugget or two, most of the gold is extremely fine, like a dust. Still gold is gold and we have always maintained that the fun is in the finding, while the real gold is the friendships. This camp now has a wifi (small fee attached) set up for use by members. That is a big help for those among us who need the computer connection to the outside world for any of a dozen reasons. Some prospectors don’t want it and don’t need it. Good for them. Life more simple can be a good thing. I try to keep one foot in that camp and one in the fast lane of technology- not always easy, but always interesting.

Here’s a look at the auction: