L-cky Shot

We're back in the field...about 2.5 hours by car north of Anchorage near Hatcher Pass. It's a gorgeous area and the rocks are nice too, with visible gold in many of the drill holes. I'll only be here till Friday, then head to Chignik on the Alaska Peninsula on Saturday to start work there. Jo will meet us in Chignik a week from today (Monday).

We're certainly not roughing it at camp. We have the good fortune to spend the week at a B&B that used to give tours of the old underground mine workings. Below is a pic of where we're staying.



When drilling started up again last year, the owner (also owner of the claim), stopped running tours and now hosts the work crew. Here now are 3-5 geologists, a handfull of geotech staff, and 4-5 drillers and helpers, the B & B staff, and our helicopter pilot. As the current drilling is on top of a ridge, the helicopter is needed to move people and equipment. When the rest of the snow melts the ridge top is accessible by 4-wheeled ATVs.

Yesterday was pretty crazy. The husband of a cook here tried to land his plane on the ridge near the B & B but got caught in a crosswind, swerved off course upon landing and flipped the plane when the nose hit a snowbank on the edge of the old tailings pond! Fortunately he walked away with only a bump on his head. Later that evening we got a front loader and helped flip it back over. He also was able to embed a rock just bigger than a softball perfectly in the center of the nosecone. The pics are on the flickr page if you don't believe the rest of this.



Jo's a bit freaked out as two grizzly bears were spotted about 1 mile away from her today by some hikers...and it's only her first day mapping! Scott (our chopper pilot) said he'd buzz the area though and keep an eye out the rest of the week. I'm glad I'm logging core...