A Visit With Norman and Carolyn Vaughan
April 2001

Some of my friends and I spent a weekend at Gates Creek Cabins near Trappers Creek, Alaska.  The weather was beautiful and the snow was still about 4-5 ft deep.  Here we are posing in front of Denali.  I'm in the left photo and my friends Ron, Sunny, Cathy, and Eric are on the right.

Ron is good friends with Norman and Carolyn Vaughan so they invited us out to their cabin.  I had the only snowmachine so only Ron and I were able to reach their cabin.  It's about 5 miles from the nearest plowed road.

They have a beautiful single room log cabin.  It looks like it came straight out of a Jack London novel.

Norman Vaughan has always been a hero of mine.  I read his book "My Life of Adventure." years ago but never dreamed I would get a chance to visit with him for an hour in his home.  What a great experience it was.  He is a great story teller as you can see here.  I listened carefully as he recalled this years Serum Run trip he made from Nenana to Nome by snowmachine and dogsled.  Not bad for being 95 years young!

Here you can see some ski skins hangin up that are made of real seal skin.  The snowshoes on the right are used for gathering wood because he can easily maneuver.  The poster above Ron is of Joe Reddington, Father of the Iditarod and good friend of Normans.

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