Gold Road
Zolota Doroga, or the Gold Road in Junnharic, is the name of a high mountain pass that allows carts and wagons a relatively safe and easy road over the Stone Mountains from the west and the east. At its western end, the pass is just over 20 miles from the Junn Harr seasonal city of Zimnii Gorod and its eastern terminus would be more than 40 miles beyond that. It's eastern end opens into a broad valley between the Stone Mountains and the Manitar Mountains and travel through this valley (known as the Stone Road Pass, or Stone Road Valley) brings you to the western frontier of the Kingdom of Cobal.
Travel along the Gold Road is described as "relatively easy" because the pass is over a smooth and gentle slope both uphill and downhill with a peak height of just about 5,500 feet of elevation over nearly 40 miles, but it traverses a course through some of the most orc and troll infested terrain in the entire region. Roads and paths that make travel for merchants and adventurers easier are also good for orcs and trolls, after all.
The name of the pass stems from the well-known fact that there are significant deposits of gold found all along the high mountain road. The problem with panning or mining the deposits is found most readily in the near-constant threat of an Orc and/or Troll encounter that will always end in bloodshed of one kind or another.
Geography
The Gold Road is a high, clear pass over the Stone Mountains that reaches a height of 5,500 feet over the course of about 20 miles. Both the western and eastern approaches are wagon/cart capable and there are numerous fresh water sources all along the route. Much of the road is covered in mountain grasses and soft heather, with only it heighest elevations exposed enough to make the path entirely rock or stone covered.
Climate
Known for brisk winds at all times of the year, it is particuarly windy in the winter months and particularly wet in the spring and early summer. During the frequent and sudden summer thunderstorms, the risk of flash flooding (especially on the eastern approach) is particuarly high. Summers tend to be warm and rather wet, while winters are prone to very cold and quite dry.
Fauna & Flora
Large stretches of the road are surrounded by vast forests of alder, poplar, aspen and birch at lower elevations with spruce, pine and cedar as one climbs higher. Grasses are course, broad-leafed varities like buffalo grass or deep fields of heather and heath. Near clear, cold mountain streams and small rivers, large areas of sphagnum peat can turn what would otherwise be an arid mountain cleft into a deep and cold mire of dark tannic waters.
Wild sheep, mountain goats, elk, deer and even moose have been seen moving through the fields and meadows near the road. Bear, wolves, badgers, foxes, martins and lions have also been encountered there.
Natural Resources
Many credible accounts have been told, and much evidence presented, that significant gold deposits exist in the highlands immediately around the Gold Road. More than a dozen prospectors have reported successful collection of gold nuggets from many of the streams along the pass, and one Gnome adventurer returned to Colbal with a nugget recovered from a streambed along the road that weighed more than 23 lbs. Another tale tells of a quartz-gold vein found in a cave along the pass that was the height and breadth of a full-grown horse and seemed to run deeper into the cave for as far as the eye could see.
With tales and evidence of this sort, many would expect a rush to exploit this sort of naturally occuring wealth, but the near constant threat of Orc and Troll encounters makes the would-be prospector think very carefully about spending any extended lengths of time simply walking through the region looking for gold.
Tourism
There are numerous Junn Harr camp sites located on the western side of the pass, and a very small (and very heavily fortified) village on the eastern side of the pass. The western camp sites are seasonally occupied by Junn Harr traders, while the eastern village is entirely populated with Caldarian-speaking merchants and traders looking to take advantage of trade and traffic moving across the pass in both directions.
Location under
