THAR’S GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS!
05 July 2013 | Rogue River, Oregon
TLT
Daily: 19 Miles / 32.8 MPG
Total: 720 Miles / 34.7 MPG
Today we stayed put, slept late and had a leisurely breakfast under the pines. Lynn reorganized and repacked the kitchen bag and provisions. All our kitchen gear is kept in the car at all times to thwart the bears.
We took a short ride to Applegate Lake and finally found the Squaw Lake Camp office (aisle 3 in a small General Store). Then we took a three-hour hike along the lakeshore.
Lynn got an impressive cut on the ball of her foot climbing over the rocks from a mid-hike skinny dip. (It was quite warm). Our nautical preparation served us well, we grabbed the first aid kit from our daypack, cleaned and treated the wound and headed slowly back to camp.
Earlier in the day we had seen what looked like the crash of a kayak, a bicycle and a moped hung up on the rocks just off the opposite shore of the river. When we returned to camp from our hike, we discovered the “wreck” had a generator, a pump and an air pump running. The operator, dressed in full wetsuit and mask was sluicing for gold. It seems we were camped along the one-mile stretch of the river not within the National Park boundaries. Each year this guy prospects along this stretch from July to September, as long as the road is clear of snow.
Never did learn whether he made enough during the summer to survive until the next summer’s gold rush.