Back to some more adventures. My brother, Trey, came in town for the 4th of July weekend. We spent Friday hiking Argentine pass, exploring old mining structures. We found two mines that were still open and went into them. Both began in hard rock (as opposed to being first dug through soft top soil), which is why we suspect they were sill open, not caved in at the entrance, as most mines on the mountain side are. It was a little erie when we came to a cave-in while we were in one. These pictures are of the first mine we went into, which went back into the mountain a couple hundred feet. It had at least one branch off of the main tunnel, and possibly a second, which was caved in.
The second mine only went into the mountain horizontally for 20 feet before going straight down a long way (we tossed a rock down and heard it fall for several seconds). We couldn't get very close to the edge of the shaft to look down or take more pictures because we couldn't tell how large the shaft was and didn't want to risk stepping on rotten wood and falling through.
We also found this rock symbol near a high point on the ridge of Leavenworth Mountain. The cross was oriented such that it may have been a compass. Not real sure, though.
By the end of the day, we'd hiked 6.5 miles in about 6.5 hours. Here's a plot of our hike.
The second mine only went into the mountain horizontally for 20 feet before going straight down a long way (we tossed a rock down and heard it fall for several seconds). We couldn't get very close to the edge of the shaft to look down or take more pictures because we couldn't tell how large the shaft was and didn't want to risk stepping on rotten wood and falling through.
We also found this rock symbol near a high point on the ridge of Leavenworth Mountain. The cross was oriented such that it may have been a compass. Not real sure, though.
By the end of the day, we'd hiked 6.5 miles in about 6.5 hours. Here's a plot of our hike.
flickr for the rest of the pictures from our hike
Saturday, we packed the Jeep and headed up Guanella Pass for some 4 wheeling and camping. There are two dirt roads above Guanella Pass road that lead to Waldorf Mine. We were following a trail ride on the GPS that we found on traildamage.com. It followed the lower road, which is significantly worse than the upper road (which a 2wd car could handle). We managed a couple of good creek crossings and rocky hill climbs on the way to Waldorf Mine. This is a picture from our 4 wheeling adventure.
flickr for the rest
We stopped several times to explore some old mining structures, but it turns out that all of the mines in the area had either collapsed, been dynamited, or barred shut. Near the top of McLellan Mountain, we explored the Santiago Mine ruins, which are still in remarkebly good shape. The mill still has most of the original equipment in it and we felt safe enough to go inside and check it all out. Here are a few pictures of the Santiago Mine ruins.
flickr for the rest
Here is a plot of our path, starting and ending in Georgetown. In the future, I'll try to geotag photos along the path.
Here is a plot of our path, starting and ending in Georgetown. In the future, I'll try to geotag photos along the path.
We hiked as high as 12,550 feet, exploring possible mine ruins. We camped near Leavenworth Creek that night, and both froze becaues we didn't pack warm enough sleeping bags. I was testing out my 40°F down backpacking bag, which apparently won't cut it by itself in the mountains. We spent the next day checking out all the old mining roads in the area and of course, watching the Georgetown fireworks. It was good to have a visitor for a few days and have some fun, rather than working on the house alone, as I had been for the last few weeks.
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