{"id":71,"date":"2010-11-07T14:11:55","date_gmt":"2010-11-07T14:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fikes.info\/fb\/?p=71"},"modified":"2010-11-07T14:11:55","modified_gmt":"2010-11-07T14:11:55","slug":"curlys-gold-the-mouse-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fikes.info\/fb\/curlys-gold-the-mouse-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Curly’s Gold – The Mouse House"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Curly’s Gold<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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by Don Burke<\/a> on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 11:29am<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It all started with brother George and his barber Curly. I suppose barbers
\nhear a lot of interesting stories and according to Curly, an old timer
\nsitting in his barber chair told him of finding a gold nugget in the stream
\nbed of one of the creeks that fed down into Russian Gulch on the rugged North
\nSonoma Coast. When George told my brother Bill and I, it sparked a vision of
\nadventure and riches; perhaps a vein of gold in a rocky bank of quartz. We
\ngathered our camping gear, bought a topo map of the area and set off to find
\nthe gold. We drove to the nearest point along Hwy. 1, locked the car and
\nshouldered our backpacks.<\/p>\n

We hiked up and down two of the steep rugged canyons, finding a beautiful
\n5-tiered waterfall with huge ferns and moss covered cliffs, but no gold. I
\nremember we were panning for color in the stream of the third canyon and
\nfinding only the shimmer of mica flakes, when a sudden rain storm started
\npouring down on us. We grabbed our gear and sought shelter under the nearby
\ntrees. The rain lessened, but was not going away soon. We checked our topo
\nmap and saw that there was some kind of building up the mountain to the north
\nof us. Unoccupied cabins were common in the hills around here, so we set off
\nto find shelter from the rain, and a place to spend the night.
\nAfter climbing for a mile or two we came around a corner to see a large old<\/p>\n

house with an orchard and shed nearby. We needed to dry our clothes and get
\nwarm, so we checked the door and found it unlocked. As I recall we entered
\ninto a sun porch room with what appeared to be numerous doll houses along the
\ninside wall. The large living room had a big stuffed chair and sofa in front
\nof a rock fireplace. We went from room to room to be sure no one was
\ncurrently living there. As we backtracked our way toward the living room, we
\nre-entered one room that had been empty moments before to find an raccoon
\ncarcass blocking the door as it opened.<\/p>\n

It was getting dark and we needed to start a fire, so we lit some candles,
\nunpacked a flashlight and went outside in search of wood. The best way to
\nspot animals at night is by holding the flashlight up at eye level. That’s
\nwhat Bill did when we saw the eyes of a large cat in an apple tree about
\nthirty yards away. We knew it was large because of the wide set eyes that
\nflashed back at us as it jumped to the ground. It was most likely a bobcat or
\nsmall mountain lion. We took the wood we had found and retreated to the
\nsafety of the house. We had a pistol at the ready if we had needed it. With a
\nwarm fire burning we ate the food we had brought and unrolled our sleeping
\nbags. I remember we discussed how strange it was that someone had placed
\nmouse traps in the doll houses, as we went to sleep listening for the sound
\nof the large cat outside.
\nThe next morning was clear and sunny as we hiked back out to the road, richer
\nand wiser by our adventure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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