NICK: "Getting in is always tight but it
opens up nice." So Nick makes the initial entry here at this abandoned mine.
And then Traci is going to go next, and I'll bring up the rear.
This has an erosion pile in it that we have to slide down. Back in the day when this mine was
in operation this pile wouldn't have been here -- all this dirt -- and you could just
walk right in here standing upright. Okay, I'm going to go in there next.
Okay, so here we go sliding down the erosion pile. I'm going to have to go on my back.
It smells in here. It's smells like earth. It's got an earthy smell,
and the tunnel makes a sharp turn there to the left.
Okay, so turning to the left.
So maybe this right here was the vein they were following. You can see it in the ceiling there
right in the center of the frame. That might have been what they were following in this tunnel.
Right here is the vein.
The packrats drag in everything!
So we just came from that way and right here is a little
nest. This is probably a packrat nest or one of those mice we see living in these mines. I don't
think that's a bird's nest because we're too far inside the tunnel for that to be a bird's nest.
Here are remnants of cross-ties where the ore cart tracks used to be,
and there's some ore cart tracks right there.
Some collapse is here, too.
Here's a big number three.
This is probably a collapse that came from right up in there.
There's some animal scat here.
Maybe from a fox or something.
You can see the vein here on the side. You can see the line of demarcation right where my light is.
There are different layers right there.
Here's
another rock layer that's composed of little pebbles
and stuff like that. It's only about a couple inches wide and is sandwiched between these
massive rock layers. You've got that layer of pebbly stuff, and that runs all the way back.
So that's interesting! It almost looks like that might have been
water at one point because all of the little pebbles
that are in it. I think it's over here on the other side, too. Here is the same layer.
Here's an alcove that doesn't go anywhere.
Yes, so here's the face or the end of the tunnel. There is more animal scat back here,
so something comes in here and probably sleeps here. Maybe a
fox or something does that. There are a lot of good-sized droppings here.
We are headed back out. This was what? A couple hundred feet long or something? NICK:
"Yes, it was a decent-sized mine. Yes, 200 feet seems about accurate."