I lived at North Pole and was in the Air Force. My advice is to settle in and get used to being in Alaska! You are in a part of the world where you are surrounded by GOLD. Be patient, the GOLD isn't going anywhere!
New GOLD miners with wives have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. Being sure that the wife is adjusting and getting acclimated to a new part of the World is priority #1. All members of this Forum will agree, a happy GOLD prospector will take the time to get their spouse as excited about prospecting as they are and become a willing participant.
My prospector advice;
With knowledge that Alaska was discovered by Natives 20,000 years ago and by the Russians and then by North Americans, it's pretty well settled at this point in time. All of the land is owned by someone. There are places you can fish and there are places you can prospect for GOLD. Public thorough-fares and roads are understood to have rights of way and they provide access to much of Alaska. The way Alaska was in 1869, 1969 and the way it is now, in 2019 are three different situations. "Respect" is the order of the day when venturing out into unknown domain.
Etiquette;
Learn "where" you may pursue GOLD. Walk gently and be prepared to "bow out gracefully" if necessary.
You have chosen a GREAT group of talented prospectors to learn from!
- Geowizard
I took a stroll up highway 6 towards Chatanika Lodge just yesterday. Everything is covered in snow buy you can still see large tailing piles along both sides of the road. I turned around in the lodge parking lot.