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YosemiteSteve
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 20, 2014 - 08:52am PT
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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]
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Dapper Dan
Trad climber
Menlo Park
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Nov 20, 2014 - 08:57am PT
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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 .
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Rockies Obscure
Trad climber
rockiesobscure.com....Canada
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Nov 20, 2014 - 09:22am PT
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I love ghost towns as well, and starting being taken to them as a child up in Canada. Very nice video thanks!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Nov 20, 2014 - 09:30am PT
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Thanks for that Greg and Steve.
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YosemiteSteve
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 09:49am PT
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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.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Nov 20, 2014 - 10:02am PT
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Gotta love Ghosthauntsploring!! Thanks man!!
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YosemiteSteve
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 10:04am PT
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Here's my favorite pic from Dana Village
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YosemiteSteve
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 10:39am PT
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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
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Nov 20, 2014 - 11:41am PT
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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!
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YosemiteSteve
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 11:49am PT
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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?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 20, 2014 - 11:50am PT
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Here's Survival's old place in New Mexico...
That dude is older than dirt!
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YosemiteSteve
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 12:35pm PT
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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
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whitemeat
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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Nov 20, 2014 - 12:50pm PT
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RAD!! I need to go hike up there someday!
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YosemiteSteve
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 01:39pm PT
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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.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Nov 20, 2014 - 01:48pm PT
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Great video. I remember a cool mine a bit further south, by White Fang and Baldwin. Rock there was like crystals.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Nov 20, 2014 - 04:42pm PT
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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!
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YosemiteSteve
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 20, 2014 - 05:10pm PT
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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.
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Nov 20, 2014 - 05:24pm PT
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*
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.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Nov 20, 2014 - 09:19pm PT
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Great stuff! Thanks for posting. MORE when you get it.
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Nov 20, 2014 - 09:21pm PT
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Love the ghost town pics and love the videos. Thanks.
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Nov 20, 2014 - 09:23pm PT
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Nice! thanks YoSteve!
There are the remains of old cabins for the miners all over the high country. It is kind of wild how far back in time so many of these activities run.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Nov 21, 2014 - 07:42am PT
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Super! Excellent video. I've become pretty fascinated with the western mining frontier.
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caughtinside
Social climber
Oakland, CA
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Nov 21, 2014 - 08:57am PT
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Enjoyed that, thanks!
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10b4me
climber
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Nov 21, 2014 - 09:32am PT
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Have you been to the Log Cabin Mine? North of 120, and west of Lee Vining.
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YosemiteSteve
Trad climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 21, 2014 - 09:59am PT
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Have you been to the Log Cabin Mine?
Yeah. That place is pretty crazy, ton's of stuff to check out there. Log Cabin Mine was active until fairly recently (1950's or so) and they also pumped ore slurry uphill to all those cyanide leach ponds up on the little pass there. I think the Boy Scout camp there might actually own the mine. It's got a sketchy vertical shaft that I think goes down real deep, based on the pile of tailing.
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frank wyman
Mountain climber
montana
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Nov 21, 2014 - 10:17am PT
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I am surprized no one has talked about Hites Cove, A old minning town near El Portel. We always went up there in the spring for the vast array of wildflowers and to check out the old mining stuff laying about. Sadly the last time I was there (early 70's) A lot of digging for artifacts using metal detectors, Holes all around...
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BurnRockBurn
climber
South of Black Rock City (CC,NV)
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Nov 21, 2014 - 11:42am PT
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Very nice video. Amazing stuff
Shawn
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Nov 21, 2014 - 06:12pm PT
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Thanks, Nita. Great thread.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Nov 28, 2014 - 07:17pm PT
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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Nov 28, 2014 - 07:24pm PT
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Super neat - but I have to admit that at first I thought this was about Oakhurst on a Wednesday night.
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Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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Nov 28, 2014 - 09:14pm PT
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I have a very fond appreciation for the Yosemite Ghost towns. Thanks Steve. I once hiked up to Mono Pass and decided to take a hard left near the top and started a slow climb diagonally toward Mt. Gibbs. Rumor had it that there was a log cabin up there. I suddenly found a stage road (trail) that slowly climbed up into the cleft of the west face of Mt Gibbs. The trail (road) was in pretty great shape and easy to follow. The trail sputtered out in some really nice high meadows with no sign of the coveted log cabin or any other debris. The decent down the drainage of the western slope of Mt Gibbs was a garden paradise full of big gulps of clean water that flowed in the creek and over the red rocks.
Unexpectedly, it was at this spot high up there resting for a moment that I looked across Tuolumne Meadows, Dana Meadows, Cathedral Range, and the Tuolumne Domes landscape before me and made several life decisions with very little difficulty.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Nov 28, 2014 - 11:38pm PT
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hey there say, yosemite steve... really love seeing this thread...
say, added note:
i will go read-up on dana village, now, :)
great pics, here!
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Nov 28, 2014 - 11:50pm PT
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hey there say, yosemiteSteve... say, i just noticed you mentioned about your video, monarchs and milkweed, i will go look for it...
my yard, has milkweed here, that i brought over from a few blocks away from my old place, that i had rented (year back)...
and yep, me too... UNTIL i had my own, i never knew of all the insect life going on... sadly, this year there was less, than usual, :(
i usually would see the milkweed beetle, as well, during it's mate cycle...
but i loved the monarchs, the best!! they, and other butterflies, flourished around these milkweed pods... :)
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Srbphoto
climber
Kennewick wa
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Nov 29, 2014 - 08:44am PT
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the backside of the buildings in Pyro's photo
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crankster
Trad climber
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Nov 29, 2014 - 08:47am PT
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Good stuff
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jan 15, 2015 - 08:55pm PT
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jan 15, 2015 - 09:01pm PT
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jan 15, 2015 - 09:03pm PT
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RP3
Big Wall climber
Twain Harte
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Jan 15, 2015 - 09:27pm PT
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Steve, that was amazing. Another masterpiece!
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jan 17, 2015 - 06:11pm PT
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Dapper Dan
Trad climber
Menlo Park
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Mar 16, 2015 - 08:25pm PT
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any love for Cerro Gordo ? largest silver producing site in CA , and the town that made LA...
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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
Leading Edge of North American Plate
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Mar 16, 2015 - 08:28pm PT
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Abandoned drill at Bennettville Mine
Steam engine used to operate the ore cart??
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| Messages 1 - 44 of total 44 in this topic |
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