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(had to get this over in the right spot)
TL;DR version : we had a great time.
I just realized that I didn't bother to take any pictures or video until the very last day when I was doing area scouting while running solo.
Once you hit your 8th or 9th trip in an area, you're just not as hot on the camera as you used to be.
I got there Friday, around 1PM, and met up with Matt who was already on-site. We went inside War Eagle, to inspect some ore cars, with the idea in mind of pushing them down through stopes into the next lower level, which was more easily accessible and had lots of tracks. Unfortunately, we found that that our plan was somewhere between "impossible" and "pipe dream". The upper incline is only accessed on the rear entrance level by a passage which a human body must slightly contort to squeeze through; and ore cars aren't well known for their contortion skills.
As far as going down a stope.... that remains to be seen, but the two areas we explored down to the next level we wanted them at were led to by constricted silt-filled ore chutes and ladders, and the physics involved was more than my brain could handle.
And besides, nothing in War Eagle has wheels on it, which serves to greatly complicate the issue.
That night the kids showed up: Vito, Julia, and Adam. And Joanne & Bill showed up as well. Everyone was trying to stay dry and warm till the downpour ended which had started earlier in the evening. It ended sometime in the morning, and a nice sunny sky came out of hiding, though the temperature was hesitant to rise to the occasion.
After introductions and breakfast commenced, I snagged Joanne and Matt to hit Columbia, while Bill and the kids made a very thorough trek out of the entire lower levels of War Eagle, hit the bottom of the upper incline (yay twisted rails!), then headed up through Grant from War Eagle, walked over to the Cave, dropped down through the bottom of the Cave, connected up to the rear incline in Noonday, and came out through Noonday; at which point I believe they came back down through Grant, to War Eagle, and back to the rear entrance.
Meanwhile...
Matt took the lead in his truck, and Joanne and I followed in my truck. We made it over to the mill area of Columbia, to find.... disaster had struck!
Some [s:f36fd53604]***********************************s[/s:f36fd53604] less-than-fantastic individuals had removed all of the large storage tanks at the mill site, stripped out all the other metal, and had somehow knocked the multi-ton motor off of its mountings, and left it lying on its side.
Which goes to prove that nothing is sacred.
We finished throwing our gear together and hit up the small adit southeast of the burned-out haulage incline, and we took the manway incline down to the first vertical. I set two anchors and dropped the first incline, then came Joanne, then Matt. This followed with the second vertical, as well as the third "vertical" across from the ore chute, which lead down to the large stoped area.
(Note: there appears to have been some seismic activity since the last 4 times I've hit up Columbia. The verticals were considerably more stilted, one was missing its wall boards in an entire section, and several had collapsed in a section of the vertical where they didn't used to be. The 'working level' also seemed quite a bit hotter than it usually is.)
Upon reaching the bottom of the large stoped area, we explored around a bit, found the timber car (because it's truly not an ore car), and pushed Joanne up to the headframe at the lowest incline. Had lunch.
Matt and I, ever the gluttons for sweat and misery, entered the drift just across from the headframe incline down on the 'working level', and went back several hundred feet to the lower ore car frame which had WHEELS (YAYYYY!). The only problem being that which ever idiot had installed the water pipe down that drift, had done so right down the middle of the ore car tracks. Throw in a bit of ventilation piping, and we soon were reduced to pushing/pulling/lifting/sweating profusely/cursing/panting/complaining as we tried to move the lower ore car frame closer to the drift entrance by the headframe. We got it a few hundred feet closer before returning to the timber cart area to meet back up with Joanne and collapse, like the overzealous, overworked adults that we were, realizing we still had to climb back out first.
On the way back up through the large stope, Joanne and I took turns, and at some points assisted eachother in moving a SEVENTY POUND WHEEL up through the stope system. For fun. Because we weren't tired enough already. The "fun" quickly wore down after we rose about a hundred vertical feet up through the stope, and we decided it looked gorgeous right where we left it lying.
The idea was to create rolling stock in War Eagle. I have a sneaky suspicion that War Eagle will remain wheel-less, likely forever at this point.
Everyone agrees that the squeeze going through the ladderway opposite the ore chute, above the large stope, is.... very, very tight. Nuff said.
Back up the verticals, Joanne up the lower vertical first, I second, then Matt. I took the 200' rope from that and immediately headed up the next vertical while Matt and Joanne brought up the rear. Upon reaching the top, I immediately went up the 150' incline ladder, and out to the truck, to drop off my 60' rope, the 200' rope, and most of my gear. Quick clean up and a change of shirts, grabbed a blanket. Matt met me outside and had to leave, as he was late getting back home. I headed back down the 150' incline to meet up with Joanne, and took her some water, and followed her back out to the truck.
(Note: I mistakenly went back inside without my helmet on, and now have a very tender, small gash on top of my head to prove it. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR HELMET!!)
Back to camp, exhausted, and re-upping my love/hate relationship with Columbia.... again. My fifth Columbia run.
The next day I took Joanne, Adam, and Bill through the "interesting parts" of War Eagle, as Joanne had never seen it. Bill still needs to get his Columbia run in, but those of use with vertical access experience were too exhausted for another run, two days back to back; and the other two kids need to show up to a rope training before they can attempt it.
Joanne made AMAZINGLY SCRUMPTIOUS dutch oven surprises for us. Green chile enchiladas for dinner, and peach/mandarin orange/pineapple cobbler topped with cinnamon rolls for dessert. We were all in Heaven; and we unanimously decided that Joanne is not only welcome to accompany us on further trips, but that it should be a requirement. (and I think one of the youngsters proposed to her)
Bill headed out, and Joanne. The kids and I ran a few experiments consisting of a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Nuff said. Other shennanigans ensued, till I decided that at 27, I'm actually over the hill, and no longer have the energy to keep up to the shennanigans of younger folks who can shennanigan non-stop without breaking a sweat.
This was Sunday night, at which point they soon left me to my own devices; the sole inhabitant of the War Eagle tailings pile.
Monday found me waking to a GORGEOUS day. So gorgeous that I took my time packing up my campsite, and plopping down in my chair to read a book for a couple hours, lazily making breakfast and contemplating life, the universe, and everything. (At which point I decided the answer is not 42 after all).
All packed up, and it's only 11am. I pulled out some Tecopa information I've been amassing, and started plugging coordinates into my GPS, determined to get some solo scouting done till sundown.
Ended up hitting 5 locations all afternoon on Monday. I'd get to a site, txt my Dad with gps coords, then re-txt him with the "I'm out safe" after checking out various sites.
Found one MASSIVE site that I've never been to before in Tecopa. There was an adit which turned to false floor after about 50 ft, shored in over the beams supporting a stope system. The boards were greyed, very lightweight, and creaked threateningly under my weight, which is why I never ventured all the way to the other side of them. Saw ladders descending to the depths below, down in the stope. Took video via GoPro. Climbed the mountain to the ridge, and found I think NINE other shafts, in various states of disrepair, as well as a crumbling ore bin and large tailings pile.
After that headed over to Gunsite. Skipped the main adit right above the large ore bin, and instead headed up the outline of the tramway that leads up the mountain. Made it to a path and followed that up a ways, finally understanding the Tecopa Mines book, and its description of the treacherous trail that they had been escorting mules over, laden down with ore bags, till the tramway went in.
Found the Suttro Tunnel!!!! Went back a couple hundred feet, took pics with my phone as my GoPro's batteries had died. Came back out and spied an adit across the valley from me, with a sizeable tailings pile under it, and a small trail leading around to the Gunsite main area, which was not visible from down on the main site.
Attempted to head over to Tecopa Copper Mine from there, but the road has been washed out severely enough that Mike S's jeep wouldn't be able to even cross it. Ended up driving up to Shoshone to the Crowbar Grill. Got the beef fajitas and ate the ENTIRE PLATE without any trouble. Delicious! I love that place, their cactus salsa is very tasty. Headed across the street to the Chevron station and picked up the other book that goes along with the "Tecopa Mines" book.
Got back home around 11pm on Monday evening.
TL;DR version : we had a great time.
I just realized that I didn't bother to take any pictures or video until the very last day when I was doing area scouting while running solo.
Once you hit your 8th or 9th trip in an area, you're just not as hot on the camera as you used to be.
I got there Friday, around 1PM, and met up with Matt who was already on-site. We went inside War Eagle, to inspect some ore cars, with the idea in mind of pushing them down through stopes into the next lower level, which was more easily accessible and had lots of tracks. Unfortunately, we found that that our plan was somewhere between "impossible" and "pipe dream". The upper incline is only accessed on the rear entrance level by a passage which a human body must slightly contort to squeeze through; and ore cars aren't well known for their contortion skills.
As far as going down a stope.... that remains to be seen, but the two areas we explored down to the next level we wanted them at were led to by constricted silt-filled ore chutes and ladders, and the physics involved was more than my brain could handle.
And besides, nothing in War Eagle has wheels on it, which serves to greatly complicate the issue.
That night the kids showed up: Vito, Julia, and Adam. And Joanne & Bill showed up as well. Everyone was trying to stay dry and warm till the downpour ended which had started earlier in the evening. It ended sometime in the morning, and a nice sunny sky came out of hiding, though the temperature was hesitant to rise to the occasion.
After introductions and breakfast commenced, I snagged Joanne and Matt to hit Columbia, while Bill and the kids made a very thorough trek out of the entire lower levels of War Eagle, hit the bottom of the upper incline (yay twisted rails!), then headed up through Grant from War Eagle, walked over to the Cave, dropped down through the bottom of the Cave, connected up to the rear incline in Noonday, and came out through Noonday; at which point I believe they came back down through Grant, to War Eagle, and back to the rear entrance.
Meanwhile...
Matt took the lead in his truck, and Joanne and I followed in my truck. We made it over to the mill area of Columbia, to find.... disaster had struck!
Some [s:f36fd53604]***********************************s[/s:f36fd53604] less-than-fantastic individuals had removed all of the large storage tanks at the mill site, stripped out all the other metal, and had somehow knocked the multi-ton motor off of its mountings, and left it lying on its side.
Which goes to prove that nothing is sacred.We finished throwing our gear together and hit up the small adit southeast of the burned-out haulage incline, and we took the manway incline down to the first vertical. I set two anchors and dropped the first incline, then came Joanne, then Matt. This followed with the second vertical, as well as the third "vertical" across from the ore chute, which lead down to the large stoped area.
(Note: there appears to have been some seismic activity since the last 4 times I've hit up Columbia. The verticals were considerably more stilted, one was missing its wall boards in an entire section, and several had collapsed in a section of the vertical where they didn't used to be. The 'working level' also seemed quite a bit hotter than it usually is.)
Upon reaching the bottom of the large stoped area, we explored around a bit, found the timber car (because it's truly not an ore car), and pushed Joanne up to the headframe at the lowest incline. Had lunch.
Matt and I, ever the gluttons for sweat and misery, entered the drift just across from the headframe incline down on the 'working level', and went back several hundred feet to the lower ore car frame which had WHEELS (YAYYYY!). The only problem being that which ever idiot had installed the water pipe down that drift, had done so right down the middle of the ore car tracks. Throw in a bit of ventilation piping, and we soon were reduced to pushing/pulling/lifting/sweating profusely/cursing/panting/complaining as we tried to move the lower ore car frame closer to the drift entrance by the headframe. We got it a few hundred feet closer before returning to the timber cart area to meet back up with Joanne and collapse, like the overzealous, overworked adults that we were, realizing we still had to climb back out first.
On the way back up through the large stope, Joanne and I took turns, and at some points assisted eachother in moving a SEVENTY POUND WHEEL up through the stope system. For fun. Because we weren't tired enough already. The "fun" quickly wore down after we rose about a hundred vertical feet up through the stope, and we decided it looked gorgeous right where we left it lying.
The idea was to create rolling stock in War Eagle. I have a sneaky suspicion that War Eagle will remain wheel-less, likely forever at this point.
Everyone agrees that the squeeze going through the ladderway opposite the ore chute, above the large stope, is.... very, very tight. Nuff said.
Back up the verticals, Joanne up the lower vertical first, I second, then Matt. I took the 200' rope from that and immediately headed up the next vertical while Matt and Joanne brought up the rear. Upon reaching the top, I immediately went up the 150' incline ladder, and out to the truck, to drop off my 60' rope, the 200' rope, and most of my gear. Quick clean up and a change of shirts, grabbed a blanket. Matt met me outside and had to leave, as he was late getting back home. I headed back down the 150' incline to meet up with Joanne, and took her some water, and followed her back out to the truck.
(Note: I mistakenly went back inside without my helmet on, and now have a very tender, small gash on top of my head to prove it. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR HELMET!!)
Back to camp, exhausted, and re-upping my love/hate relationship with Columbia.... again. My fifth Columbia run.
The next day I took Joanne, Adam, and Bill through the "interesting parts" of War Eagle, as Joanne had never seen it. Bill still needs to get his Columbia run in, but those of use with vertical access experience were too exhausted for another run, two days back to back; and the other two kids need to show up to a rope training before they can attempt it.
Joanne made AMAZINGLY SCRUMPTIOUS dutch oven surprises for us. Green chile enchiladas for dinner, and peach/mandarin orange/pineapple cobbler topped with cinnamon rolls for dessert. We were all in Heaven; and we unanimously decided that Joanne is not only welcome to accompany us on further trips, but that it should be a requirement. (and I think one of the youngsters proposed to her)
Bill headed out, and Joanne. The kids and I ran a few experiments consisting of a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Nuff said. Other shennanigans ensued, till I decided that at 27, I'm actually over the hill, and no longer have the energy to keep up to the shennanigans of younger folks who can shennanigan non-stop without breaking a sweat.
This was Sunday night, at which point they soon left me to my own devices; the sole inhabitant of the War Eagle tailings pile.
Monday found me waking to a GORGEOUS day. So gorgeous that I took my time packing up my campsite, and plopping down in my chair to read a book for a couple hours, lazily making breakfast and contemplating life, the universe, and everything. (At which point I decided the answer is not 42 after all).
All packed up, and it's only 11am. I pulled out some Tecopa information I've been amassing, and started plugging coordinates into my GPS, determined to get some solo scouting done till sundown.
Ended up hitting 5 locations all afternoon on Monday. I'd get to a site, txt my Dad with gps coords, then re-txt him with the "I'm out safe" after checking out various sites.
Found one MASSIVE site that I've never been to before in Tecopa. There was an adit which turned to false floor after about 50 ft, shored in over the beams supporting a stope system. The boards were greyed, very lightweight, and creaked threateningly under my weight, which is why I never ventured all the way to the other side of them. Saw ladders descending to the depths below, down in the stope. Took video via GoPro. Climbed the mountain to the ridge, and found I think NINE other shafts, in various states of disrepair, as well as a crumbling ore bin and large tailings pile.
After that headed over to Gunsite. Skipped the main adit right above the large ore bin, and instead headed up the outline of the tramway that leads up the mountain. Made it to a path and followed that up a ways, finally understanding the Tecopa Mines book, and its description of the treacherous trail that they had been escorting mules over, laden down with ore bags, till the tramway went in.
Found the Suttro Tunnel!!!! Went back a couple hundred feet, took pics with my phone as my GoPro's batteries had died. Came back out and spied an adit across the valley from me, with a sizeable tailings pile under it, and a small trail leading around to the Gunsite main area, which was not visible from down on the main site.
Attempted to head over to Tecopa Copper Mine from there, but the road has been washed out severely enough that Mike S's jeep wouldn't be able to even cross it. Ended up driving up to Shoshone to the Crowbar Grill. Got the beef fajitas and ate the ENTIRE PLATE without any trouble. Delicious! I love that place, their cactus salsa is very tasty. Headed across the street to the Chevron station and picked up the other book that goes along with the "Tecopa Mines" book.
Got back home around 11pm on Monday evening.
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