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Our journey began with the two of us heading to Las Vegas. Troy was nice enough to drop us off at the SLC airport Sunday morning and we were on our way. Well almost, turned out our first flight was delayed by 3hours so we sat around for awhile. When we finally boarded and landed in Long Beach (yes we had a layover going to Vegas) our connecting flight turned out to be delayed as well. Good thing we didn’t have plans in Vegas other than hanging out and enjoying ourselves. Once we finally arrived we found or checked luggage and I convinced Stuart to get tickets for a shuttle. He thought we could save $10 and walk the four miles with six heavy bags to Planet Hollywood. At the hotel we headed out to take advantage of our free 24hr buffet passes that came with our room. Needless to say our time in Vegas was actually quite uneventful if not boring. Here’s where our trip gets exciting. . .
10am the famous Brit Eaton picked us up from PH and we sped off to our destinations; Goldfield, Tonopah and Hawthorne. The first ghost town we visited along the way was Rhyolite just outside of Beatty. Beautiful buildings are still standing everywhere and the BLM even turned it into a fun little tourist spot equipped with public restrooms. Each building had a fence and signs saying STAY OUT but much better than being torn down and buried. When we got our fill of pictures we continued on to our desired destinations.
Hours later we finally arrived in Goldfield and met up with some crazy characters named John and Justin. John is a 76 year old man who knows just about everything about anything. He has mining claims all over the state and has worked in a lot of the mines in the area. Justin on the other hand is a 24 year old man who works for John doing assay work and anything else John needs, both are geologist enthusiasts.
The first mine we went to that way was the Gold Point, about 20 minutes outside of Goldfield. It consisted of three shafts and one adit. Stuart dropped the shaft that looked the most promising but it ended up being very small with no drifts or treasures. Meanwhile Brit and Justin ran off to check out the adit nearby. It ended up being very small as well but had a winze inside. Being very excited to try out his new vertical gear Brit gears up. Once ready we realize that he didn’t have any ascending devises. He only had a hand ascender but no chest piece! Reluctantly we let him run off to the winze and hope he gets out somehow. Not too long after, he is out again and tells us that the winze was full of every dead animal in the state. A few hours later we realize the entire area is a bust so we move on to the next mine shaft. Hauling fast down the bumpy dirt road, Brit managed to get his 2008 Tundra air borne!
5 minutes later we are back in Goldfield and heading straight for the Mohawk Mine. We stopped and looked at several nearby mines but nothing really caught our interest. Once at the Mohawk Shaft we get ready to drop it, we rigged to the truck because this mine looks like a small sinkhole. No supporting structures or anything, just a 400’ hole in the ground. I was the first one to go down and everyone on the surface had to be extremely careful not to let loose rock fall down the shaft. Luckily I made it to the first level without incident and safety got off rope. On my way down I noticed ladders all the way down the shaft in good condition, which meant that someone had been down here before us. Sure enough when I started exploring the first level I found survey tags all over. In a few minutes Brit joined me then Stuart and eventually Justin. Hours later we explore all the way to the water level and start to climb the ladders out to the surface. The wind in Goldfield never quits and started blowing more than 60miles an hour! Rocks were constantly fallen on us as we ascended up. Poor John was at the top the whole time and was about to call Search and Rescue for us, we neglected to tell him that being underground for 5 hours is normal. Eventually we all made it out and headed into Tonopah for dinner and a motel.
Tuesday:
Stuart didn’t sleep well that night and was constantly on the toilet or throwing up. Once morning came I knew he was sick, really sick. I had Brit take me to the grocery store and bought him some meds and a little bit of food. We ended leaving Stuart at the motel the entire day in hopes that he would be feeling better enough to do some exploring Wednesday. So off we went again Brit, John, Justin and I. First stop was an old mill site out in Candelaria. After poking around for a few minutes we left on a lead that there was a mine not too far away that look promising. The mine was an incline with a cute little door leading down into it. We explored the whole thing in about 20minutes and found lots of pack rat nest. I did find someone’s business card tucked away in a corner.
So off we went again to another mill site that has a really promising lead. Racing through the Nevada back country we made it there and spent very little time poking around. After being disappointed we head off on another lead in Marietta several miles away. Marietta is a town or place of residence with a population of about two-four people. More mules live there than people, as we saw 5 mules and no people. In the town we saw a collapsed stable and an old stone building. There were some buildings up on the hillside so we made way towards them with hopes of finding something interesting. Not too far up the rocky mountain road we popped a tire on the front passenger’s side. When the tire was changed we made a decision to head to Hawthorne to get a new tire. We went there because Brit made acquaintances with the tire shop guys last time he was in NV and hoped he could get a deal on a new tire.
On our way to Hawthorne we stopped by Willey Buffington’s home in hopes of getting permission to go inside his mine. Brit really wanted to repeal down an incline that look promising. It took some patience and talking to Willey’s wife Zula to convince him to take us to the mine. We all decided that once the tire was fixed we’d come back later in the evening and explore. Hoping that Willey understood we made a mad dash to Hawthorne before the tire shop closed. Once there we met Tracey the owner and his gang. Everyone was riding around on adult sized tricycles made for the parade that weekend. Apparently the men ride on a race track and drink one beer on the first lap, two beers on the second and one beer and a shot of whiskey on the third. I guess most don’t make it far after that. . . Tracey showed us pictures of the mines he has been into and all the artifacts from them made me drool. We made a plan to meet up with them in the morning and check out a winze that no one had been able to go down. Finally Brit got a new tire for a sweet deal and off we went again to Willey’s mine.
To our surprise when we pulled into his driveway he was coming out the door flashlight in hand. I rode with Willey to his mine and he told me about how he used to work at the mill in town and about the ore he is trying to sell. Once at the mine named Boston, Brit, Justin and I geared up in our repelling gear. Justin borrowed Stuart’s since he was not with us. This mine was particularly interesting because Willey is currently leasing it out to some universities and they have a seismograph set up all throughout the mine recording earthquake activity. The mine also had electricity with lights running through the whole haulage tunnel. About 600’ in, we made it to the winze and rigged to some eye hooks in the wall. Brit went down and kept knocking rocks down on himself making him irritated. At the bottom of the winze he became sorely disappointed as the winze ended with no other drifts or workings. So after being defeated for the 100th time that day we headed back to Tonopah and hoped for a better tomorrow. Stuart was feeling much better but still not good enough to leave and eat dinner so I went without him again. We all meet at the Tonopah Station along with two other skeeters Brit dragged along. That was the most decent meal I ate the entire trip.
Wednesday:
8am we woke with Stuart feeling much better and packed our bags and got ready for our next adventure. We checked out of the motel and through the bags we didn’t need for the day in Brit’s truck and put everything else in with John and Justin. Brit had his own agenda for the day so he pawned us off on John and Justin and the four of us went out close to Hawthorne to meet with Tracey and his buddy and employee Calen. The place they had in mind was called Silver Dyke, which was funny because no silver was found there only tungsten. John said they named it that to get investors; people will invest in silver but not necessarily in tungsten. The road going up to the mine became too rocky for the vehicles so we resorted to walking. It was actually a really nice day out so we didn’t mind the quarter mile hike to the mine. John hung out by the trucks and picked up rocks with ore. We passed a lot of old buildings which would have been the mill site. It was a really pretty area with lots of trees and a stream. Stuart was carrying the 600’ rope weighing about 50pounds because we thought we would need it and I had all the rigging as well as a 192’ rope. When we entered the mine they took us straight to the winze, Stuart took one look at it and said it was a waste of time to drop. We wanted to go to an area no one else had gone before, when they asked why he said because of the ladders in pristine condition. Tracey said no one he knew would go down that and started arguing with Stuart, meanwhile I was poking around and found a small candy tin. Inside the tin was a note written in 2001 telling someone to go down to the 7th level and pull the artifacts out that the previous person left. Case Closed.
We left the mine and hiked higher up the mountain in hopes of finding another shaft that they knew only boy scouts had been down a long time ago. Well we didn’t find the shaft we were looking for but we did find another so Stuart and I rigged it up and he dropped down. The rest of us stayed on the surface and poked around, Tracey left to go find the other shaft he was telling us about. An hour later Stuart finished the mine not finding anything note worthy except for a cardboard fuse box from the 1930’s. We left the mine on our way to find Tracey. We ended up following his tracks all the way back to the truck, needless to say that ended our outing. We all decided to head to Hawthorne to get something to eat and find another mine to explore.
Tracey and Calen had to head back to close up the shop and other things so we decided to meet at the El Caption casino and restaurant. Not knowing the next time we’d eat Stuart and I got some burgers and waited for everyone to show. After a lot of miss-communication we learned that the tire guys bailed on us so it was just going to be the three of us; John and Justin had other priorities as well.
So Brit Stuart and I headed off to the nearest mine site not far out of Hawthorne. We drove high up the hillside and at the top we found several mines and another flat tire. Brit changed the tire while Stuart and I checked out all the open adits we passed along the way. Coming up empty handed we both made our way back to the truck as Brit was finishing changing the tire. Not feeling defeated just yet we continued carefully on up the mountain. We found an adit that looked promising and heading for it bringing all of our vertical and repelling gear just in case. Inside the mine we find an ore chute that read the name CAMCE 2004 on the side. Close to the ore bin is a winze going straight down with a chain ladder reaching the next set of wooden ladders. I was reluctant to go down this one because it was obvious that people had been down there. Brit on the other hand was stoked about going so we sent him down first. I soon follow and land on a small level with yet another winze going down. He is already down and was super excited about something and had me tell Stuart to get more rope because he found yet another winze. I did and Stuart ran back to the truck to get the 200’ rope. 25minutes later he is back and heads down to where I am. We both make our way down the second winze to where Brit says the third winze is. We follow the drift and gasp at what we found.
We came to a station with a 100 year old mule whim in the middle. The room was circular so the mules could walk in a circle and pull the cable up and down the winze. Truly the most amazing thing any of us have ever seen underground. There was even and old cart there was well. Finally we found something worth going to Nevada. Excitedly we rig the winze and Brit goes down first then Stuart and finally me. We meet up together and start exploring. We noticed the change in air flow and quality and felt that it has gotten better which meant that we were close to an entrance so off we went looking. We must have walked a mile just to the entrance and along the way we found fellow mine explorer names on the walls. When we finally made it outside it was close to 11pm.We took off down the road thinking we would get to the truck and come back in the morning to retrieve our ropes. Moments later we realize how dumb we were for walking DOWN the hill and how we actually had to go up the road to get to the truck. The idea of going back to the mine in the morning was not sounding great so we just decided to get it over with go back the way we came, through the mine. So back we went through the haulage tunnel, up the first 170’ winze, over to the 30’ winze and finally up the 100’ one. It took us a little over an hour to get everyone up and out of the Mable mine.
Exhausted we headed back to town to get a room for the night. Driving fast on the dirt roads, jolting back and forth was making me feel sick and as soon as we stopped at the motel I rushed out and threw up in the closest trash can. I thought it was just food poisoning from the El Cap but such was not the case. I got what Stuart had; the stomach flu. The next two days we were driving back home and I was in pain the entire time and slept very little.
Stuart can tell you about what we did Thursday and Friday. That's another experience in itself, I'd continue but looking back at the pictures he took I remembered very little.
All pictures are on the gallery!
10am the famous Brit Eaton picked us up from PH and we sped off to our destinations; Goldfield, Tonopah and Hawthorne. The first ghost town we visited along the way was Rhyolite just outside of Beatty. Beautiful buildings are still standing everywhere and the BLM even turned it into a fun little tourist spot equipped with public restrooms. Each building had a fence and signs saying STAY OUT but much better than being torn down and buried. When we got our fill of pictures we continued on to our desired destinations.
Hours later we finally arrived in Goldfield and met up with some crazy characters named John and Justin. John is a 76 year old man who knows just about everything about anything. He has mining claims all over the state and has worked in a lot of the mines in the area. Justin on the other hand is a 24 year old man who works for John doing assay work and anything else John needs, both are geologist enthusiasts.
The first mine we went to that way was the Gold Point, about 20 minutes outside of Goldfield. It consisted of three shafts and one adit. Stuart dropped the shaft that looked the most promising but it ended up being very small with no drifts or treasures. Meanwhile Brit and Justin ran off to check out the adit nearby. It ended up being very small as well but had a winze inside. Being very excited to try out his new vertical gear Brit gears up. Once ready we realize that he didn’t have any ascending devises. He only had a hand ascender but no chest piece! Reluctantly we let him run off to the winze and hope he gets out somehow. Not too long after, he is out again and tells us that the winze was full of every dead animal in the state. A few hours later we realize the entire area is a bust so we move on to the next mine shaft. Hauling fast down the bumpy dirt road, Brit managed to get his 2008 Tundra air borne!
5 minutes later we are back in Goldfield and heading straight for the Mohawk Mine. We stopped and looked at several nearby mines but nothing really caught our interest. Once at the Mohawk Shaft we get ready to drop it, we rigged to the truck because this mine looks like a small sinkhole. No supporting structures or anything, just a 400’ hole in the ground. I was the first one to go down and everyone on the surface had to be extremely careful not to let loose rock fall down the shaft. Luckily I made it to the first level without incident and safety got off rope. On my way down I noticed ladders all the way down the shaft in good condition, which meant that someone had been down here before us. Sure enough when I started exploring the first level I found survey tags all over. In a few minutes Brit joined me then Stuart and eventually Justin. Hours later we explore all the way to the water level and start to climb the ladders out to the surface. The wind in Goldfield never quits and started blowing more than 60miles an hour! Rocks were constantly fallen on us as we ascended up. Poor John was at the top the whole time and was about to call Search and Rescue for us, we neglected to tell him that being underground for 5 hours is normal. Eventually we all made it out and headed into Tonopah for dinner and a motel.
Tuesday:
Stuart didn’t sleep well that night and was constantly on the toilet or throwing up. Once morning came I knew he was sick, really sick. I had Brit take me to the grocery store and bought him some meds and a little bit of food. We ended leaving Stuart at the motel the entire day in hopes that he would be feeling better enough to do some exploring Wednesday. So off we went again Brit, John, Justin and I. First stop was an old mill site out in Candelaria. After poking around for a few minutes we left on a lead that there was a mine not too far away that look promising. The mine was an incline with a cute little door leading down into it. We explored the whole thing in about 20minutes and found lots of pack rat nest. I did find someone’s business card tucked away in a corner.
So off we went again to another mill site that has a really promising lead. Racing through the Nevada back country we made it there and spent very little time poking around. After being disappointed we head off on another lead in Marietta several miles away. Marietta is a town or place of residence with a population of about two-four people. More mules live there than people, as we saw 5 mules and no people. In the town we saw a collapsed stable and an old stone building. There were some buildings up on the hillside so we made way towards them with hopes of finding something interesting. Not too far up the rocky mountain road we popped a tire on the front passenger’s side. When the tire was changed we made a decision to head to Hawthorne to get a new tire. We went there because Brit made acquaintances with the tire shop guys last time he was in NV and hoped he could get a deal on a new tire.
On our way to Hawthorne we stopped by Willey Buffington’s home in hopes of getting permission to go inside his mine. Brit really wanted to repeal down an incline that look promising. It took some patience and talking to Willey’s wife Zula to convince him to take us to the mine. We all decided that once the tire was fixed we’d come back later in the evening and explore. Hoping that Willey understood we made a mad dash to Hawthorne before the tire shop closed. Once there we met Tracey the owner and his gang. Everyone was riding around on adult sized tricycles made for the parade that weekend. Apparently the men ride on a race track and drink one beer on the first lap, two beers on the second and one beer and a shot of whiskey on the third. I guess most don’t make it far after that. . . Tracey showed us pictures of the mines he has been into and all the artifacts from them made me drool. We made a plan to meet up with them in the morning and check out a winze that no one had been able to go down. Finally Brit got a new tire for a sweet deal and off we went again to Willey’s mine.
To our surprise when we pulled into his driveway he was coming out the door flashlight in hand. I rode with Willey to his mine and he told me about how he used to work at the mill in town and about the ore he is trying to sell. Once at the mine named Boston, Brit, Justin and I geared up in our repelling gear. Justin borrowed Stuart’s since he was not with us. This mine was particularly interesting because Willey is currently leasing it out to some universities and they have a seismograph set up all throughout the mine recording earthquake activity. The mine also had electricity with lights running through the whole haulage tunnel. About 600’ in, we made it to the winze and rigged to some eye hooks in the wall. Brit went down and kept knocking rocks down on himself making him irritated. At the bottom of the winze he became sorely disappointed as the winze ended with no other drifts or workings. So after being defeated for the 100th time that day we headed back to Tonopah and hoped for a better tomorrow. Stuart was feeling much better but still not good enough to leave and eat dinner so I went without him again. We all meet at the Tonopah Station along with two other skeeters Brit dragged along. That was the most decent meal I ate the entire trip.
Wednesday:
8am we woke with Stuart feeling much better and packed our bags and got ready for our next adventure. We checked out of the motel and through the bags we didn’t need for the day in Brit’s truck and put everything else in with John and Justin. Brit had his own agenda for the day so he pawned us off on John and Justin and the four of us went out close to Hawthorne to meet with Tracey and his buddy and employee Calen. The place they had in mind was called Silver Dyke, which was funny because no silver was found there only tungsten. John said they named it that to get investors; people will invest in silver but not necessarily in tungsten. The road going up to the mine became too rocky for the vehicles so we resorted to walking. It was actually a really nice day out so we didn’t mind the quarter mile hike to the mine. John hung out by the trucks and picked up rocks with ore. We passed a lot of old buildings which would have been the mill site. It was a really pretty area with lots of trees and a stream. Stuart was carrying the 600’ rope weighing about 50pounds because we thought we would need it and I had all the rigging as well as a 192’ rope. When we entered the mine they took us straight to the winze, Stuart took one look at it and said it was a waste of time to drop. We wanted to go to an area no one else had gone before, when they asked why he said because of the ladders in pristine condition. Tracey said no one he knew would go down that and started arguing with Stuart, meanwhile I was poking around and found a small candy tin. Inside the tin was a note written in 2001 telling someone to go down to the 7th level and pull the artifacts out that the previous person left. Case Closed.
We left the mine and hiked higher up the mountain in hopes of finding another shaft that they knew only boy scouts had been down a long time ago. Well we didn’t find the shaft we were looking for but we did find another so Stuart and I rigged it up and he dropped down. The rest of us stayed on the surface and poked around, Tracey left to go find the other shaft he was telling us about. An hour later Stuart finished the mine not finding anything note worthy except for a cardboard fuse box from the 1930’s. We left the mine on our way to find Tracey. We ended up following his tracks all the way back to the truck, needless to say that ended our outing. We all decided to head to Hawthorne to get something to eat and find another mine to explore.
Tracey and Calen had to head back to close up the shop and other things so we decided to meet at the El Caption casino and restaurant. Not knowing the next time we’d eat Stuart and I got some burgers and waited for everyone to show. After a lot of miss-communication we learned that the tire guys bailed on us so it was just going to be the three of us; John and Justin had other priorities as well.
So Brit Stuart and I headed off to the nearest mine site not far out of Hawthorne. We drove high up the hillside and at the top we found several mines and another flat tire. Brit changed the tire while Stuart and I checked out all the open adits we passed along the way. Coming up empty handed we both made our way back to the truck as Brit was finishing changing the tire. Not feeling defeated just yet we continued carefully on up the mountain. We found an adit that looked promising and heading for it bringing all of our vertical and repelling gear just in case. Inside the mine we find an ore chute that read the name CAMCE 2004 on the side. Close to the ore bin is a winze going straight down with a chain ladder reaching the next set of wooden ladders. I was reluctant to go down this one because it was obvious that people had been down there. Brit on the other hand was stoked about going so we sent him down first. I soon follow and land on a small level with yet another winze going down. He is already down and was super excited about something and had me tell Stuart to get more rope because he found yet another winze. I did and Stuart ran back to the truck to get the 200’ rope. 25minutes later he is back and heads down to where I am. We both make our way down the second winze to where Brit says the third winze is. We follow the drift and gasp at what we found.
We came to a station with a 100 year old mule whim in the middle. The room was circular so the mules could walk in a circle and pull the cable up and down the winze. Truly the most amazing thing any of us have ever seen underground. There was even and old cart there was well. Finally we found something worth going to Nevada. Excitedly we rig the winze and Brit goes down first then Stuart and finally me. We meet up together and start exploring. We noticed the change in air flow and quality and felt that it has gotten better which meant that we were close to an entrance so off we went looking. We must have walked a mile just to the entrance and along the way we found fellow mine explorer names on the walls. When we finally made it outside it was close to 11pm.We took off down the road thinking we would get to the truck and come back in the morning to retrieve our ropes. Moments later we realize how dumb we were for walking DOWN the hill and how we actually had to go up the road to get to the truck. The idea of going back to the mine in the morning was not sounding great so we just decided to get it over with go back the way we came, through the mine. So back we went through the haulage tunnel, up the first 170’ winze, over to the 30’ winze and finally up the 100’ one. It took us a little over an hour to get everyone up and out of the Mable mine.
Exhausted we headed back to town to get a room for the night. Driving fast on the dirt roads, jolting back and forth was making me feel sick and as soon as we stopped at the motel I rushed out and threw up in the closest trash can. I thought it was just food poisoning from the El Cap but such was not the case. I got what Stuart had; the stomach flu. The next two days we were driving back home and I was in pain the entire time and slept very little.
Stuart can tell you about what we did Thursday and Friday. That's another experience in itself, I'd continue but looking back at the pictures he took I remembered very little.
All pictures are on the gallery!
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