July 3, we woke up to a rainy day in Fairbanks. We just haven't seen a lot of the sun this summer which seems silly since it has been shining about 24 hours a day. We had decided we would just look around Fairbanks a little. While we were getting ready to head out, we had a visitor wandering through the yard. He (or she) was probably looking for a little something to eat - fortunately Tinkerbell was in the house so we didn't have to worry about her. The fox had been nibbling on some of our raspberries which we had learned from his scat in the yard.
He stayed around long enough for a few pictures and then headed up the hill. We headed to Fairbanks with a first stop at the Large Animal Research Station to see if the musk ox were out. No luck because even on this cool cloudy rainy day, they were back in the trees.
The family bowls are just beautiful but pricey.
From there, we went to Pioneer Park. It was pouring rain when we got there but we ducked into the riverboat to check it out then on to one of the museums. As it was almost noon, we decided to take a break and go to Taco Azteca for a quick lunch. Then back to Pioneer Park to check out a few more museums. It had dried up a bit. First stop was at Forty Below so Suzy and Morris could experience Alaska at -40. Suzy said it felt a lot like a meat locker.
We finished up at Pioneer Park then took the guys home so they could get some cornish game hens cooking for dinner. While they did that, Suzy and I went down to Fred Meyers to pick up some groceries for the next few days.
On the morning of July 4th, we loaded up the RZR and drove approximately 55 miles north of Fairbanks to the Davidson Ditch area.
John and Morris checked out the pipe to see how it was put together.
I read more about the Davidson ditch and learned that it consisted of approximately 8 miles of pipe ranging in diameter from 46 to 56 inches and also about 82 miles of ditch similar to the size of a canal in Arizona - 12 feet wide by 4 feet deep. The ditch was used from about 1910 to 1952 for providing water to gold dredges - in 1952 the price of gold fell so use was discontinued. It was purchased by Chatanika power in 1958 and a siphon was used to power a hydroelectric plant for a dredging operation near Chatanika until the 1967 Fairbanks flood destroyed the dam on the Chatanika River. (end of history lesson for today).
We drove on to Nome Creek and found a place to park. I was surprised at the low number of people in this area as usually there are a lot of atv's out on weekends and holidays. Perhaps July 4th falling in the middle of a week prevented people from being out and about.
We off-loaded the RZR and the plan was for the guys to head out for a ride up Quartz Creek Trail while we did what we wanted to do and then we would go for a ride when they got back.
Since we are in the middle of Giant Alaska Skeeter season, the first order of business was to apply lethal doses of OFF to clothes and exposed surfaces. Suzy helped Morris to make sure he was covered with the stuff. (Time for everyone to hold their breath)
Then they were given instructions to take lots of pictures and they headed out (notice how clean the RZR is in the above picture). They had disconnected the trailer from the truck so Suzy and I drove out to look around the area.
First a stop at a bunch of Cotton Grass to pick a few "blooms". We expected the white part of this to feel much like a dandelion puff and to fall apart when we touched it. To our surprise, it didn't do that but instead it felt more like you would expect the tail of a Cotton Tail Rabbit to feel - very solidly held together but fluffy.
We then drove to where the guys would have taken off on the trail and back to where they had dredged for gold in this area in years gone by.
You can still see where they reshaped the river to meander back and forth - forth and back.
The above picture shows Nome Creek running in the altered path.
We then drove to the Ophir Campground area to see Moose Creek. But I had to stop cause I saw something very strange.
flowers?? Yep - I had heard that there are a few places where white fireweed grows but didn't realize there is also a lighter color of the flower that exists also. Notice the pale pink flowers in the picture above (contrasted with the darker fireweed in the background). Legend says that when the top buds on the stalk bloom, it is 6 weeks until winter - hopefully the flowers will bloom slowly but I will be watching the ones in my backyard to see if this Urban Legend is true for this year.
On our way back to where we had left the trailer, we had to stop at the trailhead for Tabletop Mountain. It is a short hike and someday, I will hike up this trail but for today, we just wanted to see what in the world that was on the ground by the sign.
Yep - it was a boot cleaner. I haven't been able to find out anything about why a boot cleaner was installed at the trail head but we both tried it out. I had one in Montana to help clean my boots when they were muddy. All I can think of is "Only in Alaska where you drive by lots of houses where it looks like the whole yard could be declared a city dump would you find boot cleaners 50 miles from the nearest town so you can clean your boots before or after hiking a trail". I might have to stop by the BLM to see what they can tell me about this one.
Tabletop is viewed through the burnt trees.
Some fireweed in my little gold pan.
A meadow of Cotton Grass.
We got back to the trailer and picked up a shovel and our little tin gold pans that we had bought in Fox that morning. We girls decided we were going to find some gold to show the guys when they got back.
Lots of rocks in Nome Creek that is for sure.
"Is there gold in this rock?"
We panned for a while but weren't having too much luck. Sadly, a little too late, we thought "if only we had brought our little bit of gold from our Gold Dredge #8 trip, we could have put some in a pan and told the guys we'd struck gold". Darn darn darn.
We then walked around the area and Suzy was as fascinated as I was with the soft spongy feel of the vegetation in some areas.
It was now about 2:30 - the guys had been gone for about 4 hours and they had only taken a few snacking items (jerky, granola) as they thought they would have lunch when they got back. Suzy and I hitched the trailer back to the truck and decided we'd go ahead and drive over to another spot on the road closer to where they would come off the trail.
We waited there about 45 minutes then drove over to park near the first 4 wheeler trail head. While waiting, we decided to walk up the trail a ways. It was a very muddy trail with water running down quite a bit of it. We came across some moose tracks.
Notice the difference in sizes - somewhere there must be a mama moose and her baby. We kept saying "okay we'll walk to the next corner", "we'll walk to the top of that hill". The trail just keep going on and on and we weren't getting out of the trees so finally we decided to turn around and go back down to the truck.
Shortly after we got back to the truck, the guys pulled in. John said he had taken a wrong trail and kept heading down instead of up. Morris said they had to winch out a few times and one time the water was pouring in the floor cause they were running in the creek. They had been gone a little over 6 hours and had only driven 46 miles so it must have been an adventure for them.
All in all, the RZR didn't look too terribly dirt but it was definitely time to load up and head for home. John had to work on the 5th and the rest of us had more traveling to do.
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