Lost Mines of the Angeles National Forest

[teotwaki]

Full Story here: http://suntothenorth.blogspot.com/2015/11/lost-mines-of-angeles-national-forest.html

Lots of things have been going on in my life the last couple of months and I am finally getting a chance to update my blog. After dropping in on the islands of Fiji I was able to go on a long planned hike to a location that had eluded me for quite a while.

Our own local mountains hold many fascinating secrets, many of them fast disappearing due to vandalism, forest fires and misguided USFS officials who actively destroy these old sites. This difficult hike was to one of the very remote mines, protected by the reality that it is so far off of any paved road that the average meth-addled city idiot will never venture there.

Here is Alan pointing out the first leg of a long and steep descent in remote terrain. It was quite a hike to get to this point above the canyon that jealously guards the old mine's secrets.

 

[teotwaki]

A nice old 1920's straight-eight gas engine was just one of many fascinating artifacts that we discovered.

After a lot of cross-country exploring we found the main site!

 

[teotwaki]

The crudely rebuilt radiator of an enormous Ingersol Rand air compressor that was driven by a gas engine.

The mine adit

 

[teotwaki]

This is one of my more interesting safety devices for mine exploration. A small RKI model GX-2001 multi-gas monitor. The GX-2001 simultaneously monitors combustibles, oxygen, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide while providing displayed percentages as well as audible alerts. I have to thank Arclight for educating me about these devices.

Read more about it here: http://www.rkiinstruments.com/pages/gx2001.htm

 

[SDDiver5]

That's just awesome! Something so hidden in a city so huge.

 

[huerta32]

That's very cool, where is that? I think my wife would love to hike up to that

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[SmoothLC]

^ Hint: Read the blog post.

 

[huerta32]

^ Hint: Read the blog post.

Southern California and Angeles national forest doesn't narrow it down much

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[teotwaki]

Southern California and Angeles national forest doesn't narrow it down much

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Hi Huerta,

Happy Thanksgiving! I don't publish the location in hopes of two things:

That anyone who figures it out on their own will not damage the remaining structure.
That the USFS won't barge in there with a dozer and "clean up" all of the history.

Out in the Mojave some dim-bulb burned down a huge timber headframe of a mine, destroying not only the history but also filling the mine shafts with toxic fumes.

In numerous places in the Angeles the USFS has torn down structures and hauled away the mining equipment.

It is not impossible to figure out the location but it does require some homework on the Internet. In the course of your research you will also find the well known locations and have many weekends of interesting hikes ahead of you.

Best regards,

 

[huerta32]

Hi Huerta,

Happy Thanksgiving! I don't publish the location in hopes of two things:

That anyone who figures it out on their own will not damage the remaining structure.
That the USFS won't barge in there with a dozer and "clean up" all of the history.

Out in the Mojave some dim-bulb burned down a huge timber headframe of a mine, destroying not only the history but also filling the mine shafts with toxic fumes.

In numerous places in the Angeles the USFS has torn down structures and hauled away the mining equipment.

It is not impossible to figure out the location but it does require some homework on the Internet. In the course of your research you will also find the well known locations and have many weekends of interesting hikes ahead of you.

Best regards,

Yea, that makes sense, there's always a knucklehead who will ruin it for the rest of us. I guess I have some homework this weekend

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