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Nelson, NV
Nelson, also referred to as Eldorado Canyon is less than 40 miles from Las Vegas and is where I saw my first abandoned mine about 2 years ago. It is located near the Colorado River and a popular summertime hang out with plenty of "safe" cliffs to jump into the river.
Nelson has also had a few movies shot out there, the most recent was " 3000 Miles to Graceland " if you've seen the movie and remember the gas station and airplane being blown up this is where it was filmed. They offer a guided tour of the Techatticup and Savage Mines which are supposed to be the largest in the area, they also rent kayaks and canoes http://www.eldoradocanyonminetours.com/
On my camping trip a few years ago we saw a few abandoned mines on the way to our camp site and I was immediately fascinated. All I thought and talked about was going to explore one of the mines and my friends informed me about how dangerous they are and told me to " Stay out and stay alive." Being from Ohio I never heard that saying and thought it sounded a little silly (still do) On our way out from camping I finally convinced one of my friends to hike to the Red Mine with me. He said he would not go in but would check it out. We made it to the entrance and I was highly disappointed to find it filled with foam.
Since then I have made a few trips to Nelson in area's that are not in the State Park hoping to find open mines. My first couple trips were in my car, in the middle of summer so we didn't to far off the road and only found a few small prospects. Now that I have a truck my friend Mark and I headed deeper into the desert.
It was a perfect day, 75 out with a nice breeze. First we headed to the Rand and Eldorado Rand Mines. We found an adit that went strait back about 75' and had a wooden ladder going down about 30'-40'. I went down only to find it went to nothing. We had plenty of other places to check out so we headed to the next one.
Only 5 pics allowed per post, ugh!!!!!
We headed to a few different areas and found many cool mining features but no mines worth bragging about. None of the adits went back farther than 100' and any shafts we found were flooded after only 40'. We could see the ladders went deep into the water and one was filled with debris floating. We found all the usual and unusual: Abandoned car, half a construction vehicle, cans and more cans, couple interesting doors, shacks and a beautiful grave site over looking the river.
Although we didn't find the huge mines we hoped for it was still nice to get out of the city. Here's a link to the rest of the pics it took http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...3&l=c0ac266e67 If your ever in the area it's definitely worth checking out. If you've been to Nelson and found any large mines or shafts that aren't flooded let me know, I'm sure there's at least 1 out there I just haven't found it yet.
Nelson has also had a few movies shot out there, the most recent was " 3000 Miles to Graceland " if you've seen the movie and remember the gas station and airplane being blown up this is where it was filmed. They offer a guided tour of the Techatticup and Savage Mines which are supposed to be the largest in the area, they also rent kayaks and canoes http://www.eldoradocanyonminetours.com/
On my camping trip a few years ago we saw a few abandoned mines on the way to our camp site and I was immediately fascinated. All I thought and talked about was going to explore one of the mines and my friends informed me about how dangerous they are and told me to " Stay out and stay alive." Being from Ohio I never heard that saying and thought it sounded a little silly (still do) On our way out from camping I finally convinced one of my friends to hike to the Red Mine with me. He said he would not go in but would check it out. We made it to the entrance and I was highly disappointed to find it filled with foam.
Since then I have made a few trips to Nelson in area's that are not in the State Park hoping to find open mines. My first couple trips were in my car, in the middle of summer so we didn't to far off the road and only found a few small prospects. Now that I have a truck my friend Mark and I headed deeper into the desert.
It was a perfect day, 75 out with a nice breeze. First we headed to the Rand and Eldorado Rand Mines. We found an adit that went strait back about 75' and had a wooden ladder going down about 30'-40'. I went down only to find it went to nothing. We had plenty of other places to check out so we headed to the next one.
Only 5 pics allowed per post, ugh!!!!!
We headed to a few different areas and found many cool mining features but no mines worth bragging about. None of the adits went back farther than 100' and any shafts we found were flooded after only 40'. We could see the ladders went deep into the water and one was filled with debris floating. We found all the usual and unusual: Abandoned car, half a construction vehicle, cans and more cans, couple interesting doors, shacks and a beautiful grave site over looking the river.
Although we didn't find the huge mines we hoped for it was still nice to get out of the city. Here's a link to the rest of the pics it took http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...3&l=c0ac266e67 If your ever in the area it's definitely worth checking out. If you've been to Nelson and found any large mines or shafts that aren't flooded let me know, I'm sure there's at least 1 out there I just haven't found it yet.
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