2005/04 Deep South trip - Marion Mine |
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We abandoned the parkway and headed south out of the mountains onto normal roads towards Marion. Sandie remembered that there was a gold and gem mine near Marion, so we hunted it down. As it was warmer now in the valleys we opted for some more “creekin’”, and also decided to camp there for the night.
This creek was cold, wide, and fast, and thigh-deep after all that rain. The prime spots for finding gems are behind large rocks in the main flow, where the water slows down and drops the heaviest materials, so we were going to get a lot wetter this time. It rained most of the afternoon, and by the end of the day the rain had turned to sleet and the wind was coming up. You know you’re in trouble when you’re looking forward to getting into the water and out of the wind! We didn’t find much gem material either. There were lots of quartz and a few tiny garnets, but our main reward was a good dose of hypothermia.
After retreating to the camper it took us over an hour to warm up even with the furnace at full blast. We found we could receive one TV station at this spot, a public television channel that played gospel music and ancient British comedies. Some of the jokes were a bit risqué for the Bible Belt audience, but as they’d never understand British 1970s humour anyway I don’t suppose it mattered.
Sunday April 3rd
We had a disturbed night with a howling gale, and bits of tree crashing onto our roof. By morning the wind had dropped a little, and it was sunny but cold. We were looking forward to hot showers but the power was out, probably because of storm damage, and their water pump wasn’t working. We also found that the world had changed its clocks on us, so we had a late start into Summer Time.