gold, moose & rhubarb

With a nice warm, sunny day it seemed like a gold (good) time to check out a couple of local streams cascading down from the nearby mountains for any color (panning speak for gold flecks in pan). One Mile Creek is about 8 miles from Donnelly Creek and it is a nice clear running creek that on this day was warm enough to stand in and not have frozen feet.

After reading several books on the techniques of panning we set out armed with armchair knowledge and our gear. OK, the gold may be the scenery around and the fun of being outdoors, but we did save a few little shiny pieces that stayed in the bottom of the pan.

After lunch at Ruby Creek we investigated a side road and on the way out spotted the wildlife viewing of the week, a Great Horned Owl.

On the way back, we made a stop at the historic Black Rapids Lodge, currently being restored and were taking pictures, walking around the building. Rounding a corner I suddenly hear Tom yell, “We’ve got company!” Turning around I see a cow and a calf coming at us in a full run right behind Tom. Being trapped between mama moose and the building was not a good idea, so we quickly vamoosed. Just another first encounter of the Alaskan kind.

Our beautifully sunny deteriorated in the afternoon but we were in our nice warm, dry cabin feasting on a fresh homemade strawberry rhubarb pie. The rhubarb was harvested from the garden behind the State Park office and from the Sullivan Roadhouse which offers it free for the picking. Rhubarb grows great here and there is a move in Alaska to commercially grow rhubarb including making juice to sell. While grocery store rhubarb is always red indicating first year growth, subsequent years get greener and this was almost totally green. It tastes the same!

We do eat royally somedays. Sunday dinner included teriyaki moose kabobs, the moose roast a gift from our boss, fresh homemade garlic bread, and more rhubarb pie a la mode.