Bill, Eileen, Dick, Arturo, and Vicky left Wendy’s at 7:45 for a short ride to the hike location. We parked off FR 143 close to several hillsides covered with target debris. All was quiet at 8:30 when we started the hike.

We hiked the road. It was clear and even drivable to the first fence crossing. Past the Mine Mountain Spring Wash the road had frequent washouts. We continued to follow horse tracks as the road grade increased.

As we approached the pre entered GPS location for the mine we all noticed a huge round boulder with a non-weathered square on is east face. From a distance it looked like a large whitewash. As we got closer we could see the drop-off.

The rate of climb increased and road condition deteriorated. We continued upward. The “nav” arrow showed we were moving away from the mine location. After the horse prints stopped we bouldered our way up to “L”, where we enjoyed lunch with scenic views of the valley with its distant gunshots below.

The size of the boulders and the rate at which we moved through them were factors in canceling our attempt the reach peak 5162. Before giving the hunt for the mine another attempt, we follow a second branch of horse prints up hill to “E”, where we found a steel cable.

This time Bill followed the “nav” arrow and discovered the mine tunnel. Oddly enough it was just east of the white squared boulder. We walked to where, maybe, there may have been a covered up vertical shaft. No leftover mine junk.

As we headed back, Arturo educated us on the art of gold prospecting and the nitty-gritty of the group he has joined. We checked Dick’s forehead several times as we think we was catching gold fever. As we neared the car, the air was filled with gunshots. Bill and Dick chatted with some of the target shooters as they showed off their arsenal.

Thank you to Eileen for driving.