Yosemite Ghost Towns

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Messages 1 - 20 of total 44 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
YosemiteSteve

Trad climber
CA
Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 20, 2014 - 08:52am PT
Ever since I was little kid, I've always been fascinated by old mines and rock quarries. I've never really understood why. The first time I hiked up past Gaylor Lakes to the old mining site of Dana Village, I just knew that someday I'd make a video about the place.

Here it is.

[Click to View YouTube Video]
Dapper Dan

Trad climber
Menlo Park
Nov 20, 2014 - 08:57am PT
cool vid Steve , are you into exploring CA and NV mining sites as well ?

Of course we all now Bodie and Cerro Gordo , but they are literally hundreds of abandoned towns and mining works out there . Finding them and exploring them is a thriving pursuit and hobby for a lot of folks .
Rockies Obscure

Trad climber
rockiesobscure.com....Canada
Nov 20, 2014 - 09:22am PT
I love ghost towns as well, and starting being taken to them as a child up in Canada. Very nice video thanks!
Peter Haan

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
Nov 20, 2014 - 09:30am PT
Thanks for that Greg and Steve.
YosemiteSteve

Trad climber
CA
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 09:49am PT
Dapper Dan - yep, I always find myself driving long and bumpy roads throughout CA and NV looking for old mines and such. This video is a bit of stretch to even call Dana Village and Golden Crown "towns", but alas, that's the best Yosemite can do!

Speaking of cool old mines, have any of you ever explored the maze of tunnels in the old pumice mine along hwy 6 between Bishop and Benton? Very unique vibe in there.
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Nov 20, 2014 - 10:02am PT
Gotta love Ghosthauntsploring!! Thanks man!!













YosemiteSteve

Trad climber
CA
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 10:04am PT
Here's my favorite pic from Dana Village

YosemiteSteve

Trad climber
CA
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 10:39am PT
Here's another cool thing we found up at Dana Village. It's a Minerals Management marker, most likely from the 1800's. I think this might be the oldest benchmark in Yosemite.


I like how it's been set in place with what looks like molten lead.


It's still marked on topo maps too

Bruce Morris

Social climber
Belmont, California
Nov 20, 2014 - 11:41am PT
Hiked up to Dana Village from Gaylor Lakes one hot day in October and saw some of the mining equipment that the NPS video says the miners hauled up there on sledges:


Rough work! Horse power!


YosemiteSteve

Trad climber
CA
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 11:49am PT
Actually Bruce, I've always suspected that piece of equipment at Dana Village was NOT from the epic sled trip from Lundy, but I'm pretty sure the stuff down at Bennettville is. Then again, who knows for sure?
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Nov 20, 2014 - 11:50am PT
Here's Survival's old place in New Mexico...
That dude is older than dirt!

YosemiteSteve

Trad climber
CA
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 12:35pm PT
There's a great story from the old Homer Mining Index in 1881 (published in Lundy) about an explosion in one of the stone cabin's in Dana Village, the result of trying to thaw frozen nitroglycerin on the woodstove.

Here's an exerpt of the article from the book "Ghost Mines of Yosemite"

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/ghost_mines/explosion.html
whitemeat

Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
Nov 20, 2014 - 12:50pm PT
RAD!! I need to go hike up there someday!
YosemiteSteve

Trad climber
CA
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 01:39pm PT
The rusty machinery at Bennettville is super cool - the patent date on this blower is from 1873!


Crazy to think that this equipment was brought up on sleds, in the winter, from Lundy 130 years ago.
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Nov 20, 2014 - 01:48pm PT
Great video. I remember a cool mine a bit further south, by White Fang and Baldwin. Rock there was like crystals.
le_bruce

climber
Oakland, CA
Nov 20, 2014 - 04:42pm PT
Speaking of cool old mines, have any of you ever explored the maze of tunnels in the old pumice mine along hwy 6 between Bishop and Benton? Very unique vibe in there.

Hmm this sounds like something to look into. All of Hwy 6 is magic, pure magic.

Here's my favorite pic...

That slowly traversing shot inside the cabin that brought the peak into perfect frame was beautiful.

PS - My 5 year old daughter has watched the Monarchs episode about five times now. Last weekend we walked over to one of the dried out patches of milkweed in a meadow that (I think) you filmed. She was excited. Hell I was too.

Is that frazzle/frizzle ice still the most views your Nature Notes vids have clocked? Love your stuff, keep it coming!
YosemiteSteve

Trad climber
CA
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 05:10pm PT
Is that frazzle/frizzle ice still the most views your Nature Notes vids have clocked?

Yep, the Frazil Ice episode is the hands down winner at 4.5 million views. Glad your daughter likes the "Monarchs & Milkweed" episode. Until I made that video, I never realized how much insect action was going on in those milkweed patches.

Here's a pic of that pumice mine.


It's pretty cool cuz it's basically a grid of passages, carved into a pumic layer that has lava above and below, so they used more of a hardrock mining technique. The only thing is that the walls look like they were just scrapped off w/ a shovel. From some of the left over stuff at the "mill" there, it appears the pumice was used as a turf ammendment for golf courses.
nita

Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
Nov 20, 2014 - 05:24pm PT
*
All my old favorite hiking haunts. Always wondered, tooo lazy to look up the info..now i know...Super Fantastic..Thanks so much Mr Steve...(-;

Hey Miss Lynne....Check this out.
Spider Savage

Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
Nov 20, 2014 - 09:19pm PT
Great stuff! Thanks for posting. MORE when you get it.
looks easy from here

climber
Ben Lomond, CA
Nov 20, 2014 - 09:21pm PT
Love the ghost town pics and love the videos. Thanks.
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