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Fairbanks sat four hundred miles west along the Yukon River watershed from Dawson City—though the meandering river easily traveled twice that distance to make the journey. Larch Creek was a small town thirty miles south of Fairbanks, perched in the foothills of the Alaska Range.
It was one of the most breathtaking places Mickey had ever been. An isolated valley with a wide basin, but high hills wrapped the town into a cozy bowl. It stretched along one side of a small, active river that looked to be draining directly from the big glaciers of Denali.
Despite being seventy miles away, the tallest mountain in North America dominated the view at the head of valley. It surprised him at every turn. Driving into town from the tiny airport (whose runway was actually a chunk of the one road int
