The last hurrah?

Today was the last trip..........in summer mode. It seems that Fall is trying to kick summers ass out the door and succeeding, So I figured I would take one last topless jaunt into the woods. The trip started cold with rain and hell..... yes hell! My blog, my choice. By the time we reached Salt Lake, Mr sun had appeared and began to warm up the day. Just for shits and giggles, I did drain 2" of water out of the Jeep before we left. We hit Stockton and took the power line trail across to dry canyon to begin our trip to Jacob City. There was plenty of mud and and loose rock but Old Yellow didn't miss a beat. We arrived at the bottom of the town and entered an open mine there. As you can see it was gated but someone cut a hole in it. Thank you whoever you are.
An interesting site that is starting to appear in the old mines is the formation of stalactites. These little guys have been forming for over 100 years and they are still just tiny. I wish I could have gotten into my favorite mine. It had bigger ones back in the late 90's so I am sure they are at least 4" now..ha ha ha. There were a few in this here mine and this one turned out the best foto wise. Kinda hard to shoot fotos in pitch freaking black darkness. But..... as you can tell I did have my camera and flashlights so I was prepared. This particular mine still had the mine cart tracks in it and who knows what else!
I did have to laugh at someones art work. It appears that there has been some deep exploration in this mine and someone made sure they knew the way back. The total darkness in a mine is or could be quite a frightening experience. I can only imagine how the miners from this mines time period used candles. Be a scary thing to have your candle blow out.....
After exiting the mine we snooped around and Kurt wandered off to see what I have seen many times over. I was staring at the ground looking for whatever and look what I found! Is it gold? I'm sorry to say no, its not. We stopped at an historian that lives in Ophir and he declared it Pyrite with Lead and Silver. Cool beans! I again asked him if his books are finished and again the answer was no. The wait is killing me. I am a history buff when it comes to mines, ghost towns and the American West. To end, a poem

I'm a Jeeper, and I'm always revving up

I'm a Jeeper, I can never get enough

I'm a Jeeper, it's something in my blood

I'm a Jeeper, wouldn't change it if I could!

Jeep on my friends!