Desert Trails

Remains of the narrow gauge railroad that connected the railroad siding of Ivanpah, located on the Union Pacific Railroad, to the former mining town of Barnwell.

This gold and copper mine dates from the 1880s but continued operation until the 1940s.

The Rings Trail (35.04237, -115.39551) •There isn’t a park fee for the Mojave Preserve •Total trail is 1.5 miles. Except the climb, it is a very easy trail •Total elevation gain is 100 feet •The trail does require some arm strenght as you have to pull yourself up iron rings •Camping at Hole in the Wall along with a nice visitor center.

A large mine in the Mohave Desert. Discovered in 1882, gold, silver, copper was mined.

Another mine that I have never been to but been wanting to visit. I was surprised that the tunnels and shaft were still open because of its close proximity to the I-15

In 1924, in recognition that its pilots needed more help finding their way, the Post Office began erecting combinations of large concrete arrows and lighted beacons along its established airmail routes. Here is one of those sites. The start of this video talks a little about one of these air mail runways. https://youtu.be/7N14A4WtbpQ

One of the impressive mines in the Sandy Valley Area. I will be back to finish the explore of this mine.

Even though I have lived in the desert for 25 years I am still amazed what you come across when you just wander.

I take you to a mine area that I have never explored and never scouted out. The outcome is completely unknown. I am bringing you on this journey to see that not every location has something interesting to explore.

Though the tunnels were sealed, one was open enough to allow access, though brief, we were able to explore it.

This is a small mine in Death Valley near the Keene Wonder Mill site. No much is know about the mine, but it has been on "Need to Visit" list for the past 5 years.

Milford Mine in Sandy Valley Nevada. This mine was sealed by expanding foam. This is a very toxic way to seal a mine, also it closes off the mine destroying habitats for animals that were using it.

A small copper, gold, silver mine located 10 miles north from last weeks explore. Not as impressive, but it is nice to get another mine site checked off my list. Link to last weeks explore: https://youtu.be/UDDzyAtV9LE

I explore a mine site that I have been wanting to check out for the past 5 years. I was surprised on how much equipment was still at the site.

Outside the small town of Arivaca Arizona are small gold, silver, tungsten mines. Many are collapsed, but the few that are still accessible, though small, are really fun to explore.

Located in Southeastern Death Valley is a former gold silver mining area from 1880s. Later it was the central location for talc mining that took place in this area back in the 1930s.

This was a very large zinc, lead district in southern Nevada. Went out with my friend to explore one of the mines in the region. Many more trips will be planed. Friends YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLoo9uykPpBwntjAhGtf9hg

Tungsten mine camp from 1913

High on the side of a mountain sites this little mine. It produced gold and silver starting in 1903. There was a short revival in the 1930s and again in the 1960s but from the looks of things they did not have much in the way of production. Was not planning on visiting this mine on this trip so I was not prepared. It is funny how changing ones mind and heading up a different mountain pass sometimes plays out.

In the Panamint Range in Death Valley, close to the ghost town of Skidoo are the scattered remains of a 1940s gold cyanide mill and mine. The weather was cold and windy with a little bit of snow flurries falling.

In a remote canyon in Panamint Mountains of Death Valley are a set of petroglyphs that tell an interesting story.

This is a former lead and silver mine that first appeared on record in 1915. The original name of the mine is unknown, we called it the wheelbarrow mine because they used a wheelbarrow bucket for the tram bucket and we found several wheelbarrow frames through out the site. Check out my friends channel came with me on this trip, Broken Roads and Abandoned Mines. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLoo9uykPpBwntjAhGtf9hg

Located in the Weepah district in western Nevada is this small gold mine. Been unable to find much information on the mine, so we went to explore the shafts. The main shaft had collapsed which was sad, this also meant we could not be explore the shaft safely. We did explored a small exploratory shaft higher on the side of the hill.

This mine, along with 11 other Talc mines in this canyon, was original located between 1931 and 1935 by Louise Grantham and Ernest Huhn. These talc mines stayed in operation all the way into the late 1970s.

The Empress Lead/Zinc Mine is near Darwin, California. Historically the site has been associated with the Modoc Mining District which is now part of the Death Valley Wilderness.