1 good day outta 3 ain't too bad.....

 Hello again, and welcome back to my adventures. As you can see by the title, this one wasn't quite as successful as I had wanted it to be. Oh well, all part of life I suppose. Day one, the only success of three, had us back in the Park Valley Mining District to finish up the trails and see what else was there. Our first discovery was that someone is actually mining the area. As you can see above, he has his tunnel locked up so no one can go in. He also has cabin and storage garage nearby. There was some signs of ore carts used, but I'm thinking he isn't using them now. I would really love to go and take a tour of what he has going on in there. 

 We continued up the mountain and came across this old engine. It is very old and I couldn't see any manufacture markings on it. It ran, and I am pretty sure I am right, the machine below. It has 4 cylinders and judging by its design, I am thinking it had a ton of power. The cylinder walls are huge so I am guessing it was designed to run machinery and not your mama's Desoto. This would be a fun project to return to running condition. I'll be damned tho as how to get it off the mountain. 

This apparatus was run by the above engine. I am not 100% sure as to what it is exactly so I will keep quiet on it till I know for sure. I do know it was made by the Fairbanks Morse company and they are still in business. I just put in a call to them so when they confirm my guess, I'll add a note to this blog.

 If you are my friend on Facebook, you saw the 3 houses in the cul-de-sac. Even tho there were 3 houses, they shared a common shitter. As you can see, its a genuine 2 holer and its not in working condition at the moment. I don't know how long it has been on its back, but I'm guessing a few years minimum. Now I know this sounds gross, but had I had the time, I would have dug where it once stood. Back then, when you threw away your garbage, you chucked it down the shitter. The human waste is long gone. The garbage on the other hand could still be there. Lots of people have dug up all sorts of things including coins where the outhouse once stood. Who knows, maybe I'll head back and try my luck.

 After we finished the PVMD, we went north and west into Idaho to the town of Twin Falls. Emily wanted to see the "falls" so we went there. Shoshone Falls is quite spectacular. The river is low so we didn't get the full effect, but what was running is always pretty. Early spring is the best due to the runoff. The foto above is the most awesome part of the whole area at this time. It would be really cool if you could somehow get closer to it. 

 The Perrine Bridge at Twin Falls is a sight to see. It spans the Snake River Gorge as almost a work of art. It is 1500 feet across and 486 feet above the river. Perhaps the most unique feature of the bridge is the fact that it is LEGAL to base jump and bungee cord jump off of. In the past I have seen it done, but as our luck would have it, no one did while we were there. Base jumping I  get. Bungee cord..... oh hell no! It might be a rush to someone to see that river coming strait at you and suddenly bounce back just before it happens, but not to me. Just imagining it gives me the willies. With my luck I would not only meet the river, but I would probably meet the bottom of it too. 

In the top left side of the foto above, there is a mound of dirt climbing from level ground up, as to form a type of ramp. This is what is left of the Evel Knievel stunt of jumping the Snake River Canyon. On September 8th, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump the canyon using a steam powered rocket. The parachute deployed prematurely and even tho he made it across, the wind pushed the rocket back into the canyon where it landed on the rivers edge. Rumor has it his son wants to do it himself somewhere in the near future. 
The next two days of said trip were the strikes. We headed into Nevada to search out some new old mining areas and didn't find one. We got permission to cross the San Jacinto Ranch property to begin our quest and it went to hell from there on. Though we did see some cool things, we took no fotos. I got on Google Earth and retraced our tracks and we missed by a mile. So, it now appears that we will have to do it again. Sux to be me! Jeep on my friends.