The summer of 2009 is one that will live in my heart for the rest of my life. It is drawing to a close as evidenced by the inky blanket of night that has returned and the days that are becoming cooler and wetter. The romantic part of me is sad to leave before winter sets in while the pragmatic part of me knows that leaving must now be foremost on my mind.

The fact that this is just a goodbye, not a farewell, makes the thought of departure bearable. I have nowhere near had my fill of the Klondike yet. This land has settled into my bones as firmly as it gripped my soul for a decade and I am afraid that I will never be free of it. It was here, at the end of a dream and at the very edge of the world, staring out into a land in which you could lose yourself that I found out what is truest about me. Some things I liked, some I didn’t, but I now know the stranger I once faced in the mirror every morning.

Tonight, I finally went for a walk down to Bonanza Creek, following a path that starts here at the RV park. It was a short stroll that took me through the essence of the Klondike, across dredge tailings and past mining equipment, reminding me that this was a land built on foolish dreams and honest labour. The land has been scarred by the miners searching for a yellow metal with no intrinsic value, but it is now inhabited by people who know that true wealth has very little to do with material riches.