Vegas Day Trips.

VegasUnderworld

Adventurer
It may seem to some that my sharing of these pictures is meant to encourage entering them, but I would never do that. I constantly tell people to enjoy the pictures, but stay out of the mines. I was offered a job last year by a local tour company to guide tourists into the mines. I was surprised anyone would even suggest sending someone with zero rope experience into a mine. They offered a large salary and the lady seemed offended that I declined the offer.

There are so many ways to die in a mine. Even with the best of gear and years of experience, accidents still happen. It's best to enjoy the mines from a safe distance.

Here are a few more pictures.
 

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VegasUnderworld

Adventurer
Here's something curious we found inside a mine recently. While descending an incline shaft in a mine, my light reflected on a pair of eyes next to my hand. I froze focused on the eyes. It took me a moment to realize it was a tortoise. I was preparing myself for a snake bite. What an odd place to find a tortoise. It would have to climb up the side of a mountain, then deep into the mine where we found him. We left him alone and descended further. Then we found another tortoise, then another. They were everywhere. We stumbled upon a tortoise hibernation den. It amazed me that they were able to find the mine. There were mines closer to ground level that would have been much easier to locate and enter. I'm wondering if they are similar to sea turtles returning to the same beaches year after year.

Before anyone gets upset that my wife was handling that tortoise, we never touch them and maintain a distance to leave them undisturbed. That tortoise was an exception. In the darkness of the lower mine, he wandered over a ledge and fell several feet into an area he would not have been able to get out of on his own. Nearby was the shell of another tortoise that got stuck there years ago. We placed him in an area above the drop and stacked rocks to prevent others from falling. He seemed uninjured and is resting comfortably.
 

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Pacific Northwest yetti

Expedition Medic
This is so cool! Thank you id vote to keep the thread going. I enjoy caving and exploring as well. I have experience and am confined space rescue certified, keep it safe and never stop exploring!
 

roverrocks

Expedition Leader
Here's something curious we found inside a mine recently. While descending an incline shaft in a mine, my light reflected on a pair of eyes next to my hand. I froze focused on the eyes. It took me a moment to realize it was a tortoise. I was preparing myself for a snake bite. What an odd place to find a tortoise. It would have to climb up the side of a mountain, then deep into the mine where we found him. We left him alone and descended further. Then we found another tortoise, then another. They were everywhere. We stumbled upon a tortoise hibernation den. It amazed me that they were able to find the mine. There were mines closer to ground level that would have been much easier to locate and enter. I'm wondering if they are similar to sea turtles returning to the same beaches year after year.

Before anyone gets upset that my wife was handling that tortoise, we never touch them and maintain a distance to leave them undisturbed. That tortoise was an exception. In the darkness of the lower mine, he wandered over a ledge and fell several feet into an area he would not have been able to get out of on his own. Nearby was the shell of another tortoise that got stuck there years ago. We placed him in an area above the drop and stacked rocks to prevent others from falling. He seemed uninjured and is resting comfortably.
Wow! Fascinating beyond anything I have seen lately. Thanks!!
 

VegasUnderworld

Adventurer
We've seen quite a few tortoises out in the desert and valleys, but never would we expect to see one that far up the side of a mountain. We've seen them in the summers just inside mine portals (horizontal mine entries), but never inside. Probably trying to escape the heat, but those mines were always near the ground level. We've seen many bats deep within the mines. We've even seen a few coyote, but they were also just inside the portals in the shade.

I do hope the Bureau of Land Management reconsiders sealing the mines. I'd be pretty upset if I woke up and found that someone glued my bedroom door shut.
 

VegasUnderworld

Adventurer
Here's this weeks underground update. This was an entertaining mine to explore. We would enter a portal and come out nowhere near where we went in. Unfortunately, this one is unsafe and we probably won't be returning to it. The miners followed a fault line too wide and there were many cave-ins. We saw a burial notice on a wall near a cave-in which was not uncommon in this area. There are many miners still buried in there.

My guess would be this mine was closed for safety reasons and not lack of producing. Just a couple hundred yards away is another gold mine that is still producing to this day. Being that close, it likely shares the same gold pay streak.
 

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SirCampalot

Adventurer
Wow these pics are amazing! I'm too much of a chicken to ever go into holes like that... but these are awesome. Thanks for sharing and stay safe.
 

VegasUnderworld

Adventurer
I'm happy you're enjoying the pictures, but your instincts to stay out are right. I have a fear of heights, but I enjoy getting on rope in the mountains and underground. I still get butterflies every time I put my weight on rope. Having a healthy fear keeps you alive. When people have accidents, it's often because they lost that healthy fear and became too comfortable with the routine.

If you ever find yourself in Vegas in want to have a look at a few mines, there is still plenty to see above ground.
 

SirCampalot

Adventurer
I'm happy you're enjoying the pictures, but your instincts to stay out are right. I have a fear of heights, but I enjoy getting on rope in the mountains and underground. I still get butterflies every time I put my weight on rope. Having a healthy fear keeps you alive. When people have accidents, it's often because they lost that healthy fear and became too comfortable with the routine.

If you ever find yourself in Vegas in want to have a look at a few mines, there is still plenty to see above ground.

I'll definitely keep that in mind. Maybe I'll go in with a GoPro attached to the end of a 10' pole. =]
 

lqhikers

Adventurer
visting mines

thanks for your stories and i'm glad you do not give the locations .
i feel anyone who likes this type of exploring should do the research on their own.

when i saw the red sighs it reminded me that this is how we find a lot of mines on the back roads,we stop and
glass the hill sides looking for the sighs they show up a lot of time when the mines do not! so it kind of defeats
the safety factor,but saves a lot of hill side scrambling!

thank again for your post.

Les,lqhikers
 

VegasUnderworld

Adventurer
Actually, I freely give out locations and coordinates. I have no issues with giving or receiving coordinates. For me, the best part of finding a new site is that moment of discovery. I don't think providing coordinates minimizes that at all. I'm appreciative when others provide coordinates as well. It makes planning so much easier.

I've received emails from people saying that me giving out coordinates is the reason there is so much vandalism. Anyone can go to the library and check out a book with maps to mining sites or get more detailed information online. The people who vandalize aren't online researching places they want to spray paint. Others have said that I shouldn't provide coordinates for safety reasons. I don't believe it's my place to protect people from themselves.

The vast majority of people researching historical sites online have a genuine interest. I see providing coordinates as no different than any reference text.
 
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VegasUnderworld

Adventurer
Here is another recent mine we visited. The sheer size of this mine made it one of the most impressive we've seen in Southern Nevada. You can see our Jeep Commander in a couple of the pictures for size reference. This one spanned many levels following an obvious fault line. Many pillars and columns were left in place for support.

After some research, we found reference to this mine in Naval Facilities Engineering Command documents. Sometime in the 1960's, plans were made to make this mine into a National Fallout Shelter. Not long after someone parked nuclear missiles off the Florida coast in Cuba. Interesting how our mining history tied in with our world and military history.
 

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VegasUnderworld

Adventurer
Thanks again, Rover. Glad you're enjoying them.

This is the Ninety Nine Cabin about half an hour southwest of the Strip. It was home to men working the Ninety Nine Mine nearby. Just a short walk from the cabin was a barely noticable cemetary. The mine closed sometime in the 1920's.
 

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