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Caving in
a gold mine?
Wednesday June 21st, my two kids and I went caving at California
Caverns, located in Mountain Ranch Ca. We were guided through the cave by
Cody Anne, the assistant manager from Moaning Cavern. She had previously worked here
before transferring to Moaning Cavern. We all had a good time exploring the
cave and afterwards while I was cleaning all the very muddy gear. John Fairchild,
the Manager of California Caverns stopped by to see how the trip went... and during
the conversation he mentioned a new attraction the company was starting up. This
is an adventure trip through a historic hard rock goldmine that was mined in the
late 1800`s. During the conversation I realized that as a teenager I had visited
this goldmine a few times and admittedly in very poor fashion. We went through the
parts of the mine that were negotiable without ropes with up to six of us sharing
only one flashlight between us. So hearing about this new adventure tour brought
back old memories and curiosities from the past and it was then that I knew I had
to go back to the mine at least one more time... and this time with the right gear
and a few years experience under my belt.
I did not realize at the time that it would be so soon. Just the
next day I finished work a little earlier than I had expected, so I had some
free time. I drove out to Moaning Cavern to check with them to see when the next
the trip to the mine was scheduled, and discovered there was one the same day at
1:00PM. After some quick phone calls, Bruce Brand, the manager of Moaning Cavern...
who was also going on the tour, had me hooked up. Seems that Eli Fairchild, who was
to be the tour guide for the day quickly said "Yes, the more the merrier"
So it was done, now all I had to do was go to my house and grab my gear and meet
back at Moaning Cave at 12:30PM. The mine is located only about fifteen minutes
from the Moaning Cave parking lot so the company is going to stage the mine tours
from there until a building can be constructed on the mine property. Once
I arrived back at Moaning Cavern I met up with the two actual "Paying customers",
two very nice women from Oregon and Bruce... Eli and Sierra, the backup guide arrived
a short time later and we all jumped in the company van and went to the site.
After we arrived at the mine parking area we gathered our helmets
and other gear, and Eli told us about the history of the mine. About ten minutes
later we were on our way into one of the mine's many entrances. It starts out as
a low crawl for about fifteen feet and then quickly opens up into a fairly large
room. The mine is not what most people picture in their minds with square
passageways and large wood timbers holding the walls and ceiling up. Instead, this
mine was cut out of solid hard rock following quartz veins which makes it self supporting
and much safer than other types of mines. The tour is not overly difficult, but does
require good balance and some upper body strength to help you make it up and down
the knotted ropes which take you up and down the different slopes to the various
corridors and rooms created by the miners in their pursuit of gold. You also get
to cross a flooded 5100 ft deep shaft in a raft to an extension of the mine, and
then proceed ahead, gradually making a loop back to the spot where you first entered
the mine.
After exiting you go back to the van and take a quick water break
and shed your coveralls if you want and then take a short hike over to another side
of the mine where you come to the edge of a large pit which has another tunnel at
the bottom. Descending down a hand line for about 70 ft into the pit through the
canopy of trees, you get the feel that you are in a small rain forest. There you
walk down around another 100 ft to the tunnel entrance, and after a sort of dirt
skiing/sliding maneuver for about 40 ft, you end up at a small seasonal lake
which you can wade thru the left hand side and stay fairly dry, at least right now.
( In the spring it will probably be a short swim to get across to the rest of the
tunnel.) At the top of the slope across the lake you find some nice calcite flowstone
deposits. ( We had noticed quit a bit of calcite in the other parts of the mine as
well, along with small ribbons and soda straws scattered throughout the mine's walls
and ceilings. After the final exploration of the tunnels we headed back across
the lake and up the slopes and back to the van.
The whole tour is going to be set up to last approx. 2 1/2 to 3
hours on site at the mine. Our tour was informative, and very well put together.
There is talk of a possible rappel being added to the tour which would be a great
addition. For information on this tour, or any other of the Sierra Nevada
Recreation Corporation's attractions, you can go to our "links page".
Mike
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