Tecopa mining district

[silverstate55]

That "other area" was turned over to the Park Service as of January 1st, and a concessionaire will be contracted to eventually open all those facilities for tours. The old caretaker left on New Year's Eve and will be replaced with NPS personnel in the meantime, until an outside vendor wins the contract to start prepping the place for future tours.

This comes first-hand from the previous caretaker, when my father & I contacted him about the possibility of one last private tour before the hand-over on Jan 1st, but they were too busy to accomodate us.

So the good news is that someday soon we will finally get to tour the place legally.

Nice photos BTW, thanks for sharing!!

[rhartill]

Here's a map of the addition spoken of:

http://faultline.org/files/CDPA2010maps/RyanCamp.pdf

And a detailed history of all mining in Death Valley National Park... search "ryan" for details on the history of this area:

http://www.scribd.com/full/4108346?access_key=key-191zhq0kgeqpg5y9kuo3

[tails]

That "other area" was turned over to the Park Service as of January 1st, and a concessionaire will be contracted to eventually open all those facilities for tours. The old caretaker left on New Year's Eve and will be replaced with NPS personnel in the meantime, until an outside vendor wins the contract to start prepping the place for future tours.

This comes first-hand from the previous caretaker, when my father & I contacted him about the possibility of one last private tour before the hand-over on Jan 1st, but they were too busy to accomodate us.

So the good news is that someday soon we will finally get to tour the place legally.

Nice photos BTW, thanks for sharing!!

Well thats the end of that. The minute the NP service takes control the remaining mines will be capped and they will prob rip up the tracks within their boundary. This is a real shame especially since the trestles are all within the proposed boundary. The NP service is always for returning areas to their natural state. They will leave Ryan alone since it has some history, but the tracks heading out of there towards the trestles are very dangerous because the mountainside has started to collapse. Its great fun to explore if you know what your doing but the park service will be forced to close it so that some parents pushing a stroller don't try and head down the grade and get injured.

[Joanne]

I may be doing a motorcycle ride to Tecopa & Shoshone this weekend. Weather is supposed to be nice so a few friends may head out. Too bad I won't be able to go mine exploring...

Joanne

[silverstate55]

Well thats the end of that. The minute the NP service takes control the remaining mines will be capped and they will prob rip up the tracks within their boundary. This is a real shame especially since the trestles are all within the proposed boundary. The NP service is always for returning areas to their natural state. They will leave Ryan alone since it has some history, but the tracks heading out of there towards the trestles are very dangerous because the mountainside has started to collapse. Its great fun to explore if you know what your doing but the park service will be forced to close it so that some parents pushing a stroller don't try and head down the grade and get injured.

Hopefully not, but I fear you are closer to the real future than what the previous caretaker was passing along to my Dad & I. But I guess even a tame tour of the Ryan facilities is better than none at all. I just hope that it's not completely emasculated for the limp-wristed urban masses (the stroller-pushers you mentioned). After all, if some schmuck blindly follows GPS directions into treacherous conditions and becomes stuck in their Not-So-Smart-Car, then obviously the GPS programmers are to blame for incorrect Shortest Distance directions, eh? What have we come to?!?

[Therrin]

I may be doing a motorcycle ride to Tecopa & Shoshone this weekend. Weather is supposed to be nice so a few friends may head out. Too bad I won't be able to go mine exploring...

Joanne

HOW CAN YOU GO TO TECOPA AND NOT GO IN THE MINES????

(sorry for shouting... I feel strongly on this issue)

[silverstate55]

[Joanne]

Forgive me father for I have sinned.....

[Therrin]

as an ordained minister now for over a decade, I shall forgive thee, my daughter.

*Therrin waves his hands around wildly and cries out *

Dominus noster Jesus Christus te absolvat; et ego auctoritate ipsius te absolvo ab omni vinculo excommunicationis et interdicti in quantum possum et tu indiges. Deinde, ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Go now, my child, and sin no more; never passing the darkened entrance of the underworld through which you have the chance to explore the inner sanctum of this earth, apart from many and accepted by few.