Gene and Thom Lane at the Rim Me on the way down Fabiola heading down View from the cabins looking up at Gene driving down. Group picture. Thom, Gene, Brent, Me and Kathy

Just some tires and she'll make it.

Thom and Gene sharing a story

We get to the cabins and Thom Lane tells us that the Cabins were built by Jake and Tom Caldwell (one of the miners of Morrisonite) and tells us some funny stories about when he stayed out here and was mining Morrisonite with Gene. One story is that Gene let him sleep on the floor of the cabin, but the rats kept him up all night sniffing his face,  so he slept outside in the front seat of Gene's Scout every night with his feet hanging out the passenger side window. We then began to look over the next set of switchbacks that end up at Jake's Place claim. Here the roads are really bad and steep and have deteriorated greatly since the last time I was here a few years ago. Gene decides to only drive down a 100 yards.  The rest is very dangerous,  even to walk down.  Most of us decided to make the hike down anyways, except Thom , who has a very bad shoulder. The shoulder is so bad , it needs to be replaced.  For him to slip and fall would not be a good thing way out here. So Thom stays at the top with Kathy.

Brent, my wife Linda (white hat) and Fabiola clearing the road. I was supervising.

The Road now clear, Gene Starts down.

The Nasty part. We walk the rest of the way.

My fearless wife, Linda, myself, Gene, Brent and Fabiola make it to the pit which is filled with large boulders of the white welded tuff Matrix,  which contain very small webs of Morrisonite jasper veins. The site is BLM land so basically , mine and yours, but the site itself is still under claim, so digging or taking any jasper is not permissible. There's nothing there but the matrix anyway. Gene starts pointing out the very small seams of jasper in the host rock and gives us a geological overview how it was formed.   Gene pointing out the boundary between Jake's Place Claim and the Veronica Lee Claim. Morrisonite Jake's Place Pit My wife, Linda, Brent and Fabiola started back up the switch backs about a half hour before Gene and me. Gene and I stayed back a while longer sitting down on a large boulder, legs hanging over edge of the pit's cliff eating lunch, looking out over the beautiful vast Owyhee's and talking about mining. It was one of those memorable small spaces in the time of your life when everything is...balanced. No computer, phone, "honey do list", grass to cut or dog crap to pick up. Just sitting there in the raw open vastness, talking with one of the people you admire and respect.

Gene and I start the steep walk back up. I look far up the road and see my wife looking down at me waiting. After being married 26 years,  I know what's she thinking...smiling to herself , " He's gonna to die".  After trudging about 30 yards up , the breathing gets a little faster, the shirt gets a little wetter.  I take a quick glace over at Gene . He has not even broke a sweat.  "Ahh man...I can't stop and let him take the lead. It would not look good."  So, I do the next smart thing... I ask a question. Gene stops, looks around , takes a deep breath and starts to answer my question. He begins to walk again while talking!  Don't get me wrong . I'm in good shape, but having Gene paced with me is impressive. Especially, at his age and being a diabetic. We get close to where everyone is waiting by the truck and I see my wife and of she's of course smiling.  "How did it go" ,she says to me. Being a male, I slow my breathing down like it's no big deal . "Oh"... Clearing my throat.."Not so bad".   I look over at Gene.  "I had to stop for Gene a few times... but not so bad".  My wife looks at me and says.. "Yeah, rrrright..." Gene gives a big smile and a chuckle.

Long hard walk back out