First time rappelling and Goodsprings, Nevada mine pics

[go_browns79]

Joanne and I headed out towards Goodsprings, NV to do some rappelling and ascending practice. We went to a cliff with just a 30' drop, but it worked great for my first time on rope ever. My first 2 rappels and ascents weren't the most graceful but I didn't crash into the rocks bellow so I was happy. After that I got my technique down and went much smoother. Afterward we took a "quick" hike not expecting to see much and were amazed. Dozens of adits, one leading to the other side of the mountain, couple shafts, an old winch, cables still up to get buckets down the mountain, and about a half mile of cart tracks going around the mountain. We still have plenty to explore in this area since we ran out of daylight. What a great way to spend a sunday.











The rest of the album can be seen at http://s1224.photobucket.com/albums/...7/Goodsprings/

[Kiel]

That winch is pretty cool

[Derek]

Thanks for the post!

[Dawn_CL]

I wouldnt mind having some of that track for my mine.

Dawn

[UnderUtah]

Nice job! Is sit me or do the tracks look a little steep headed down the waste pile?

[silverstate55]

Looks like around Shenandoah Peak area....

AWESOME pics!!! I wish I could be out there with you...

[Joanne]

Nice job! Is sit me or do the tracks look a little steep headed down the waste pile?

It's not just you!! The tracks take a downward dip right at the tailings pile. The winch cable is still laying beside the track so they must have winched the carts up the incline.

Joanne

[Joanne]

For me, this was a really exciting find. The adits and structures are hidden from view up at the end of a gorge that’s in the shape of a lazy “Z”. That and a pretty strenuous hike have kept most of the causal explorers away. In an area where the mines are pretty well picked over, this gem is sitting up there getting much less traffic than other local mines.

At the top of the gorge, the area opens into a large “bowl” with adits just below the ridge line all the way around its circumference. As Bill mentioned, there is mine track that spans about 180 degrees around the circumference ending at the remains of a tram station. Although I haven’t been to allll that many mines, this one is the most picturesque I’ve been to.

We identified a couple of shallow shafts (30 to 40 feet from what we can tell) that we would like to drop during a future visit. Although many of the adits we found appeared to be prospects, there were a couple of them that have significant workings, including the one that Bill mentioned that had an adit on the back side of the ridge.

I’m really looking forward to another trip to this area with the time and gear to explore much more extensively.


This is the headframe over a small shaft. It appears to be about 30 feet deep. It looks like the sheave wheel hung from a steel loop at the top of the headframe.




You can see that it's a pretty small winch so the shaft can't be too deep.




Inside one of the adits was this short winze. It looks like they are all pretty shallow in this area.




This is the largest headframe we found, unfortunately it's collapsed.




The track winds its way around the circumference of the "bowl". We estimate about 1/2 of track.




Here's the top of the track's incline. It appears that the cable was used to pull cars up the incline.




This cable spans the the "bowl" and ends at an ore chute on the opposite side. I can't figure out what it was for.




This is one of the rollers from the top of the tramway. You can even see the wooden brakes that the operator used to control the speed of the buckets.




The track ends at the tram station. It's obviously a long way to the bottom!




I look forward to returning to this "complex" when we have more time to spend exploring. It's great to visit an area that's not been picked clean.

Joanne

[Joanne]

Looks like around Shenandoah Peak area....

AWESOME pics!!! I wish I could be out there with you...

I hope you know that you are ALWAYS welcome to join us on any outing. Hopefully as a few of us locals get connected, it will be easier to find someone who is available to head out and explore. I've done a lot of solo trips, but it's more fun when there's another mine fan to share the adventure with.

Joanne

[Stuart]

Great report thanks for sharing!

Looks like you are really getting the hang of rappelling. It takes a little while to get the rhythm down and the gear adjust, but once you have it down its a breeze.

Ah, the weather looks so nice down there! I need to head south for a couple of weeks.