I agree with the others commenting on the cairns. Though not impossible, the fact that they are down below the main mountain block makes me think they're made by native peoples. Caucasian explorers and prospectors also set up cairns to mark a path or provide directional information by utilizing a tobacco tin with a note in it placed within the rocks. The only reason I would think prospectors would stake claims on the alluvium would be to placer mine the wash gravels for precious metals washed down over millennia.

Thats super interesting. I saw at least two of them, they were fairly big like 4ft tall, both on high points. Guess next time I should check if there is a tin visible.

Another day of criminal endeavours.

We were in the mood of some mine camp exploring so off we went.
We are allways excited when we find an open mine and we just happened to bump into one.

Helmet, headlamps, respirator, rock and roll.

The mine had a long tunnel and two side passages. One of the passages led through big rooms where they must have mined an extensive horizontal vein and shored it as they extracted the rock. 



Couldnt find a date on these but they look very 60s


More of the shoring of the horizontal vein


It also had several vertical shafts ( spot the bats!)


Some areas were sketchy with broken timber so we turned around.

The mine had survey stations. They are either in progress of mapping it or they have mapped it and left the stations. 

Also the photos are not great in part because I had no tripod, I didnt bring a phone and mostly because there was a roost of townies and I was using my small headlamps. 

SHHHHHHHHH DO NOT DISTURB THE CUTIEFACE



I thought long and hard about if I wanted to report the roost. I hate that the government is closing mines "for our safety" when they leave us to die in the hands of corporations and sacrifices us to the stock market without a second thought. I want to be able to explore mines thanks. 

BUT

1. Bats are more important than my fun.

2. The roost had about 15 bats wich is quite a lot ( thats what the Eureka roost started with when they gated it and now is the biggest known roost in the park). If it was only a few like ive seen before in some panamint mines I would not worry.

3. Townies are silly in that they will snooze right on the walls. Any horrible/uninformed human can pluck them, touch them, harass them or make bonfires in the mines.

4. If they are hibernating here they might also be having a maternity roost in summer. 

5. This mine also is stupidly accessible...

Sooooooo I reported it to fish and wildlife and tried to report it to the NPS ( they havent got back to me yet though). Hopefully its for the best and these babies can thrive and multiply like in Eureka.

Neat! Reports like this are always interesting because I never go into mines for the obvious safety reasons, but I always want to.

Love this report! Thanks!

I think you did the right thing in this case. I’m with you in person freedoms and screwing our corporate overlords but bats need protection. Bats & bees are the si called canary in the coal mine of our environment right now.

And I hope you have better luck than I have this year in getting anything out of NPS. For the most part my general impression right now is that would just rather not hear from us about anything.

The NPS is hilariously understaffed, underfunded, over-legislated, and overworked. DEVA has a staff of a couple dozen people to manage over 1 million people a year and an area roughly the size of Connecticut. They deserve some slack, especially when all of their major attractions have been impacted in the last few years. They're just people working for a living.

If this is the mine which shares a name with a member of the genus "Equus", I'm amazed it isn't gated. Always loved the timbering and stacked rock (is this "gobbing"? Been a while since I reviewed my mine terminology.).

(2023-02-24, 03:44 PM)Brice Wrote: Neat!  Reports like this are always interesting because I never go into mines for the obvious safety reasons, but I always want to.

Meanwhile Im terrified of exposure so love to see your climbs  

(2023-02-24, 04:29 PM)Beardilocks Wrote: Love this report!  Thanks!

I think you did the right thing in this case.  I’m with you in person freedoms and screwing our corporate overlords but bats need protection.  Bats & bees are the si called canary in the coal mine of our environment right now. 

And I hope you have better luck than I have this year in getting anything out of NPS.  For the most part my general impression right now is that would just rather not hear from us about anything.

Who knows, I called and asked to be transferred to the resources department but they refused and asked for my contact details instead to call me back. Will see. If I dont hear back from the NPS or F&W in a while I will go through my contacts at Bat Conservation International. Not much more I can do.

(2023-02-24, 04:36 PM)GowerGulch42 Wrote: If this is the mine which shares a name with a member of the genus "Equus", I'm amazed it isn't gated. 

Nope not that one. I still havent been there

Edit to add: I had to look it up, the tiber shores are called stulls or stemples. The walls are gobs yes indeed.

(2023-02-24, 04:36 PM)GowerGulch42 Wrote: The NPS is hilariously understaffed, underfunded, over-legislated, and overworked. DEVA has a staff of a couple dozen people to manage over 1 million people a year and an area roughly the size of Connecticut. They deserve some slack, especially when all of their major attractions have been impacted in the last few years. They're just people working for a living.

I think it was 1.7 million last year. And Absolutely they are.  And I give the front desk folks a lot of slack.  It’s not their fault they see so little training.  Especially with the majority of staff rotating every couple of years.  But I’ve struggled to contact anyone in a bunch of departments this year (including to volunteer my time in the park) and can’t even get an email back. And I’ve also gotten some downright rudeness from a couple of folks.  Today we tried to alert NPS to an illegal gun range in Wilderness area 17 and no one wanted to take a report.  So what can you do?  Most of the individuals try very hard in a difficult situation and have my respect.  But the system is broken. 

But let’s not derail the thread.  

I’m really glad you have the resources of the bat group.  They have many more dedicated hours than we do as individuals to get the parks attention.  I hope they get protection!