Hi from San Diego, CA!

[hoodrat]

Hi! My name is Frank, and I found this site whle reading an article on exploring abandoned mines on the Forbes.com website. The article was dated October of '08. I have been exploring abandoned gold mines here in the mountains east of San Diego, CA for the last few years. I've also explored a couple mines in Death Valley and outside of Las Vegas. I film most of my adventures with a small digital camera, and have posted several of them on the Hidden San Diego website. I really enjoy the history of these mine sites as well as finding relics and leftover remnants of mining structures and equipment. I also like using topographic maps and GPS to go bushwhacking "off the beaten path" to find some of these forgotten sites. By joining this forum, I hope to meet other intrepid adventurers and explorers who, after getting acquainted, might want to safely check out the many, many abandoned mine sites throughout southern California and Nevada and western Arizona. Hope to talk to many of you soon!

[ryan162]

hey Frank!

glad to see another socal explorer is joining the ranks of MU. have you been out to the bridge to nowhere? any big mines other then big horn in the San Gabriels? there is a fair amount of us from socal on here. its our job post up huge mines from time to time to make the Utah guys jealous :P

[Derek]

Welcome! You will find many like minded people on the forums here and we would love to do another adventure to SoCal when time and money permits. Earlier this year we went to Tecopa with the undergroundexplorers.com guys and had a blast. Of course right now even if time and money permitted I would like to wait until the temps cool off in the Mojave Desert before going down there.

[hoodrat]

hey Frank!

glad to see another socal explorer is joining the ranks of MU. have you been out to the bridge to nowhere? any big mines other then big horn in the San Gabriels? there is a fair amount of us from socal on here. its our job post up huge mines from time to time to make the Utah guys jealous :P

Hey, Ryan! No, I haven't been to the "bridge to nowhere." What is that exactly? And where? I've only explored the abandoned gold mine areas around Julian, CA in the Laguna Mountains. And a couple in Death Valley and near Las Vegas. I'm a relative newbie to the whole thing even though I've been doing this for about three years or so on a very limited basis. I've only ventured into three mines so far since 2006, and they were horizontal tunnels with easy access. Since those early days I've become much more educated about safety while exploring abandoned mines and have acquired the proper safety gear. I'm ready to graduate to the next level and go deeper into more mines. It's difficult, though, finding like-minded people who have the same zest for adventure. Let's face it -- many people think we are crazy for wanting to poke around inside an abandoned mine that's been sitting untouched for a century or longer! Through this forum, though, I hope to meet similar people who have the same passion and interest in exploring abandoned mines.

[hoodrat]

Welcome! You will find many like minded people on the forums here and we would love to do another adventure to SoCal when time and money permits. Earlier this year we went to Tecopa with the undergroundexplorers.com guys and had a blast. Of course right now even if time and money permitted I would like to wait until the temps cool off in the Mojave Desert before going down there.

Thanks for the reply, Derek! I'm all up for road-trips, so let me know when the next "easy" mine exploration is in your area, and perhaps I'll head up that way. Never been to Utah, but I know it's a really scenic state with lots of open space. It's definitely on my "to-do" list.

[ryan162]

hey Frank!

glad to see another socal explorer is joining the ranks of MU. have you been out to the bridge to nowhere? any big mines other then big horn in the San Gabriels? there is a fair amount of us from socal on here. its our job post up huge mines from time to time to make the Utah guys jealous :P

Hey, Ryan! No, I haven't been to the "bridge to nowhere." What is that exactly? And where? I've only explored the abandoned gold mine areas around Julian, CA in the Laguna Mountains. And a couple in Death Valley and near Las Vegas. I'm a relative newbie to the whole thing even though I've been doing this for about three years or so on a very limited basis. I've only ventured into three mines so far since 2006, and they were horizontal tunnels with easy access. Since those early days I've become much more educated about safety while exploring abandoned mines and have acquired the proper safety gear. I'm ready to graduate to the next level and go deeper into more mines. It's difficult, though, finding like-minded people who have the same zest for adventure. Let's face it -- many people think we are crazy for wanting to poke around inside an abandoned mine that's been sitting untouched for a century or longer! Through this forum, though, I hope to meet similar people who have the same passion and interest in exploring abandoned mines.

34°16'59.80"N, 117°44'48.80"W is where the bridge is. you can google it but i think it was part of those government work projects during the depression. they built this one bridge hoping to connect to wrightwood but the road was washed out and they abandoned it. it think there is a small road tunnel there too.

the big horn is a good easy mine. its 99.9% horizontal and theres maps available. expect alot of traffic there. i think we were in there for 3.5 hours and in that time we ran into three other groups inside. ill pm you all the details of that one. ive heard it may be the largest horizontal mine in California. ill pm you all the details

and yeah lol most of my friends think im nuts