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| My eventual destination was the ridge line just at the top left of this shot. I wasn't certain where I should be headed at this point of the journey, but I figured that I would use my intuition and memory of what I saw on Google Earth to find the mine works. |
I was hoping to do a more complete post on this, but providing my audience with proof of my adventures is top priority! The outing started off last Saturday with my brother and I driving up a desert canyon towards some mountains. We had spotted an interesting area on Google Earth and wanted to see what was up there. Well, the plans got foiled when my brother's Ford Exploder was not up to the task of going up the rest of the trail. So, I told my brother that I'd hike the rest of the way up myself and take pictures of what I found. I told him I'd only be a couple of hours. Four and a half hours later, this is some of what I found, in no particular order....
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| Me holding my find: a single-shot, break breach shotgun. |
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| This is part of the tramway that the mine used to haul the ore down the mountain. |
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| This is the main entrance to the mine. I explored what I could and the network was decent. As for what I didn't explore, I was alone and had no desire to find out if "bottomless" pits were really bottomless. |
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| One of several structures that I found. Most were foundations or had collapsed in on themselves completely. |
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| I hiked to the top of the ridge to get cell reception. I needed to let my brother know that I was still alive (he was down the canyon in his car waiting for me). When I started down from here I noticed the butt end of a gun sticking out of the dirt. I pulled out the gun that you can see in the picture above. It must have been forgotten. I'd say that it had been there a year or two--nothing rare or special. |
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| This was taken on my way up to the ridge mine. My destination was to the left of the shot. Directly ahead of me is a beautiful mountain. I have plans to hike up it in the future. |
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| The gun after a light cleaning and oiling. I was able to break the breach open and cock the hammer. It wasn't loaded. I haven't figured out the gauge yet. It's smaller than my two pump actions. As long as I can get the inside of the barrel clean and the breach seals properly, it should be safe to fire. |
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| The remnants of an old building. |
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| The wheel from the top tram house. |
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| This was one of those pits I was talking about. The complex (not this
shaft) probably went down 1,000 feet, evident by closed adits seen on
the way up. Look at the vein of iron ore; I'm not sure that's what they
really were hoping to find. | |
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| Poltergeist or deadly gasses? I'm thinking it's a gassy Casper. |
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In conclusion, I am awesome.
The End.
10 comments:
All you need is a talking backpack and you'll be the ultimate explorer! Looks like a lot of fun... even the flatulent paranormal activity.
I wanted to say something about the usage of the words c*ck and sh*ft, but I think I'll refrain. I don't want to bring something dirty minded into something so serene as a hike in the mountains and exciting as the explorations you do. Great blog entry! I'm glad your back is feeling better.
Your part of the world seems to be full of adventure. I enjoyed your pictures!
I also like the last line of this post. I should end all posts like this.
The gun is making me nervous. Let's just dismantle it and call it great...thanks.
Freakin' awesome.
Mines will be your undoing. But you will still be awesome. The End.
Megan~ When my backpack starts talking to me, then I know that I'm seriously dehydrated. Gassy ghosts are the greatest. That last sentence is fun to say out loud.
Jules~ Thanks! My back was still tender on that hike, but I figured it would be good for me. As for those two words, well, behave yourself!!!
Christielli~ It is amazing what adventures you'll seek out when the town you live in bores you to tears. As for my post's ending, it's how I do Stuart Smalley.
Nessa~ There's a lot of things not to like about guns, I sense. I do like to sport shoot. The way I was raised, guns were part of tradition. I learned the proper way to handle and respect firearms from my dad, who was in the army, and I also took gun safety classes.
Brett~ It freakin' was!
Wayne77~ You know too much about me.
i go on hike and the most interesting thing i find is an animal bone piece or a curiously shaped rock...u find shotguns!
not fair.
u looking gud bro.
Dude, you're like some kind of backwoods Indiana Jones. There's history in dem hills!
I am, in all seriousness, mega jealous of your adventures.
Tys~ Some people hike to go where no human has been before, or some bullshit. I can dig that, but it is always interesting to me to find out what people were up to back in the frontier days. I usually find stuff like horse shoes, colored glass bottles, or old nails--the kind that some blacksmith made. The shotgun is not that old, a Brazilian make, probably within twenty years, but it is similar in style to an old single shot gun. I still am wondering why it was left there.
Jay~ Yes! I always thought of Indiana Jones as a role model. He's who got me outta that whole Luke Skywalker phase. The thing is that I know that a lot of this stuff is either getting ruined by idiots who drive up to shit on their ATVs, or lost to time.
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