Today was a day of sleeping in and then more painting, as Sara and Nathan completed the garden border out of 6 inch by 6 inch rough cut logs.
After I completed the first coat of paint in several rooms, I went for a ride for about four hours on a road that loops into the gold rush area and back .
The loop starts on Bonanza Creek Road which follows along Bonanza Creek where the first claim for gold was made in 1896. Near the beginning of the loop is a site where a huge dredge used during the gold rush in 1902 is on display. It is very large and impressive, and ran completely on electricity that was supplied from a large hydro electric generation station in Dawson City. This large structure floated in a small pond and as it chewed up the earth in front of it, processed the soil looking for gold then depositing the excess out the rear; it crept its way upstream. This always impresses me, as it is so big, and yet floated in a small man made pond that moved UP a mountain.
There is a turnoff over a narrow bridge that is the start of the King Soloman Dome drive. It is a road that completes a loop up and around a very high mountain just East of Dawson City. It is a narrow, and sometimes rough road but well worth the effort and time.
From the loop road I took a brief look down the road leading to the Eureka Gold Panning Adventures site . This was even narrower and an added bonus being a stream crossing. So I estimated that it wasn't very deep and took a slow ride through it and surprised myself by having water splash onto my windshield and soaked by pants up to the knees. But I didn't fall over, so it was successful. After all this, the place was closed. So the return trip brought me back to the same stream crossing and now being smarter I chose a different route, yet to once again get soaking wet one more time.
Once back on the loop, I came across the Gold Bottom Tours site where people are taught how to use a gold pan to swish water through a shovel full of dirt with the hope of finding some gold being left at the bottom of the pan. I have attached some photos of a vial with some gold flakes that a customer had panned over about one hour.
Then back to Sara's, finished the painting, a dinner of leftovers, and and early to bed.