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With all the recent trip reports and exploration going on I was starting to feel left out. So Crystal and I packed up our gear and drove up to our old favorite exploration grounds, Eureka. Instead of heading up to our usual mines we took a left just inside town and drove up Knightsville road to the Burristan Pass Rd. We found it entertaining that although Burristan Pass road is in excellent condition, there is a sign at the fork saying that the road is "Closed due to dangerous conditions" Not far up the road we came upon a spectacular headframe above deep shaft. After looking at the headframe for a while I did the sensible thing and started looking around for an accessible adit. I didn't spot one right off, but I did find it peculiar that although the wind was not blowing I could see a branch dancing wildly on its own. Upon closer inspection I found the source of the wind to be a 1.5' hole blasting that wonderful smelling mine air with enough force that it was hard to hear anything else when standing nearby.
We promptly suited up in our coveralls and gear worming our way down into the mine, this was difficult due to all the debris being blown in our faces from the hole. Once inside things calmed down and we were able to get a feel for the mine. Many of the haulage tunnels are pristine with little breakdown and fully intact rail, but you must beware of false floors. We found many massive stopes inside interconnecting multiple levels and a network of pipe. There are also quite a few ore carts inside the mine with some missing wheels. We spent a few hours inside the mine trying to find the source of all the air. Using our spiderman skills we climbed the stopes working our way up into the mine finding that the air it is coming from the upper entrances of the mine. Hopefully when I get back in there I will be able to make a through trip out the top. After exiting the mine we drove the rest of the way down the pass road and into silver city. It was cool to look down over the pass into the active Dragon Mine, which is huge!
Beck Mine #2 adit:
39.943359 N 112.097404 W
Altitude: 6,971ft
ALL IMAGES OF THIS TRIP: http://mojaveunderground.com/gallery...h/Eureka/beck/
We promptly suited up in our coveralls and gear worming our way down into the mine, this was difficult due to all the debris being blown in our faces from the hole. Once inside things calmed down and we were able to get a feel for the mine. Many of the haulage tunnels are pristine with little breakdown and fully intact rail, but you must beware of false floors. We found many massive stopes inside interconnecting multiple levels and a network of pipe. There are also quite a few ore carts inside the mine with some missing wheels. We spent a few hours inside the mine trying to find the source of all the air. Using our spiderman skills we climbed the stopes working our way up into the mine finding that the air it is coming from the upper entrances of the mine. Hopefully when I get back in there I will be able to make a through trip out the top. After exiting the mine we drove the rest of the way down the pass road and into silver city. It was cool to look down over the pass into the active Dragon Mine, which is huge!
Beck Mine #2 adit:
39.943359 N 112.097404 W
Altitude: 6,971ft
ALL IMAGES OF THIS TRIP: http://mojaveunderground.com/gallery...h/Eureka/beck/
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