Holy cow, I don't even know how to even describe the morning we had. I'm not sure what the term for hillbilly in Alaska is, but I'm pretty sure we spent the morning with one. It definitely had a Deliverence vibe.
We started the the morning with a group of 11 in Rich, the guide's van. The tour was a wilderness gold panning experience.
Rich drove us to his cabin in the woods, narrating the entire way. We saw the home of the other guide who was supposed to be there to help but he was still hungover.
We saw the shack of his deadbeat son who wouldn't work but he has two babies so he let's his sorry self live at what used to be his office. Etc. He had LOTS of colorful descriptions.
When we arrived at his cabin, he gave us each rain boots. While we were there, we were SWARMED by mosquitoes. Thankfully we had long sleeves and pants. Those with exposed skin definitely got bit.
After that, a long ride to the river. When we got to the last public restroom, he stopped for anyone who needed it. He promptly peed off the side of the road. He said real men don't pee in restrooms.
At that point, the entire van started giggling. It was really something and the morning had just begun.
Along the way to the river, he kept calling...here ladies, come on out. He was talking to the moose. He also said no Barbies live here. And…he can't attract a woman because he doesn't have a toilet. He's pretty sure when he builds one, the woman will follow. Now he only has an outhouse. Also, if you have a sister who isn't pyscho, sent her to him. That was only a few of his comments.
Once we arrived at the river, we grabbed a shovel and pan and hiked down to the river bottom. He demonstrated the panning technique so for the next hour+ we panned. It was actually very entertaining. He went from group to group to help out. We ended up with tiny pieces of gold in our pan.
We then went beck to his cabin, he put some reindeer hot dogs on the grill and made lunch for us. While the hotdogs were cooking, we transferred our gold flecks to a vial.
Next, a trip back to the lodge. We are exhausted but we have yet another tour booked. Doing the booking online several months ago, you can't imagine how these excursions will turn out. If I knew then what I know now, that would be it for the day. But, in a couple of hours, we are going on a river cruise.
So we are back from the river cruise and dinner. The cruise was uneventful other than the engine started smoking. I thought that safety drill was going to have to be initiated...a plunge in a fridged river with life jackets. Luckily, he was able to pull over, drop us off and go back for a new boat.
The event of the day was definitely the gold panning. We laughed all thru dinner talking about the day. Something for sure! Out of all the amazing things we did in Alaska, somehow I think this gold panning adventure will be the one we remember the most.
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