Thursday, September 22, 2011

I was wrong about Skyline

Uh-oh. I awoke this morning to the sound of rain drumming on the roof again. And it's Thursday, our Senior Trailblazers hiking day! I think many of our members heard the same thing and turned over and went back to sleep, because when I arrived, rain gear already on, only Al and Mike showed up. At the last minute, Marjan and Frank came to see if we might decide to go somewhere local and skip the drive before spending the day hiking in the rain. But I really wanted to go anyway, whereas Mike and Al were dubious. I said that the weather forecast said the rain would change to occasional showers and then it would be MUCH more fun than a local hike. I was wrong, as you can see from the summit shot of Al this morning. Marjan and Frank went home instead of joining us on Skyline Divide in the rain.
The flowers were as abundant as we have seen on our previous hikes this year, but we didn't get a chance to enjoy them all that much. The rain that I was SO SURE would let up was still going strong on the summit when we had the added enjoyment of high winds. Great: wind AND rain.
After conferring with my two other cohorts, we decided to get down out of the wind and have a quick lunch and then go exploring. Al had downloaded a couple of GPS coordinates to find an old abandoned mine in the neighborhood, so we headed down to the car and set out to find the old road that would take us to the Great Excelsior Mine. And guess what! We found it!
By this time the rain had pretty much stopped, and the day was much more exciting when we found this old abandoned gold mine after some bushwhacking for a mile off the road. We inspected it as much as we felt comfortable doing. As you can see, it's boarded up right inside those old uprights, and it's got warning signs to stay away and all that. We did go look through the holes to see if we could see anything, but instead we found that there is a strong breeze coming through those holes, and the air is at least 10 to 15 degrees colder than the outside air.
See the holes with the chains? Those are the ones that had the air coming through so strongly. Mike is looking inside his pack to see if he has a flashlight to see what we might see, but no luck. It was an exciting find, and it made the day well worth the drive up to Skyline Divide and a little bit of discovery to add to the day's enjoyment. On the way back down the road to the highway, we stopped to take a picture of Dead Horse Creek running into the Nooksack. It's the first major rain in a while, and I was amazed at how the white water of the creek ran into the coffee-colored Nooksack.
Our hike was a wet one, but I'm used to it by now. And I am so glad we went exploring and played in the liquid sunshine again today. That said, I am now ready for a little blue sky mixed with fluffy white clouds. The sun didn't shine anywhere near us today, but I am hopeful that tomorrow will bring a bit different weather. I had a great day, and I hope you did, too!
:-)

22 comments:

  1. That's awesome Jan! I've never seen a mine in person before. Neat find! :)

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  2. Wow, I'll have to start calling you Indiana Jan :)
    How exciting, I once went down an old gold mine in Cripple Creek, Colorado eerie and fascinating at the same time.
    You amaze me with your enthusiasm and zest for life !
    Wonderful photography ...
    `Jo

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  3. If you have the proper raingear , hiking in the rain is pretty good. The worst part is footing on the trail.
    Once was on a summit and a crazy little cloud nearby decided to become electric. There seemed to be static around us so we got off the peak in a hurry.

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  4. Wow...very cool mine. Very exciting find and certainly made trekking out in the rain worthwhile for you and your cohorts! I've never seen a mine. Thanks for sharing your cool find.
    Wishing you lots of sunshine for tomorrow.

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  5. Glad you had fun in the liquid sunshine and the wind--LOL! ;) That was really an interesting find. I don't know why I expected the entrance to be bigger, but it looked so small and unstable. I can see why they had it blocked off.
    Can you imagine actually going down into that mine years ago with an oil lamp? Brave or foolish, I don't know. I have a touch of claustrophobia, so you won't see me going down into a narrow passageway anytime soon. :)
    Been a good day over my way. We actually saw sun today!!

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  6. That sounds fun, playing in the rain! What zest for life you have!

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  7. Peggy, Ward and I hiked 6 miles down the beach and back here at Cape Kiwanda, OR. We talked about you heading off to Skyline Divide at about the same time. We had fog but no rain:) Looks like you made the best of a soggy day with your mine find. Ward thought the mine looked pretty neat.

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  8. You're gung-ho for just about anything, aren't you? :) I think it's so cool that you found the mine.

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  9. i am disappointed...i figured you would have found a way around the chains and hiked to the center of the earth...lol...you will not be deterred for sure...and it is a cool transition from the creek to the river...

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  10. Rain or not is sounds like you still had lots of fun. The old mine was a great find but apparently that one is pretty dangerous.

    You're having all the wind and rain but tomorrow, the first day of fall, we are looking at near ninety and dry. Quite a difference from one side of the mountains to the other.

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  11. Love it. Though I am not fond of mines. My father was an amateur gemnologist and we often (too often) camped beside old mines and slag heaps when I was a child. The rest of your work looked magical, rain or no rain. Thank you.

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  12. It's fun to at least try the hike in the hopes the weather might change. The mine reminded me of a trip into Carlsbad Caverns. It was so dark that I actually couldn't see my hand in front of my face. 0 photons of light when they turned the light off for a short while. Keep adventuring!

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  13. So you were the one opting to go, you gutsy hiker. You end up happy you went despite the weather. Amazing.

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  14. Great rainy day activity..I bet the snow was melting fast in the rain! The mine looked interesting..half the fun is in looking for something! Have a great weekend! :)

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  15. Hiking up and down mountains has to be something that makes you and friends happy. It must be like taking a "hit" on something that makes you feel good. I never take a hit or took a hit on anything I do like the way I feel on prescribed steroids. They are about to run out but boy does it make me feel good now.

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  16. You never give up, do you! LOL That looked like a good place to sit and eat lunch. I think I'd have called it a day after that!
    Here we have a beautiful day today (Friday) and it's very welcome because it's been a bit cold lately.

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  17. I was wondering if it was a gold mine or a coal mine. Guessed it was a gold mine because of the location. With so many mines collapsing, it was wise of you to stay out.

    Love all the flowers over there. That would've made my day.

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  18. I'm afraid I probably would have skipped out like some of the others... going out when I KNOW it's going to be raining all day? Ummm, no thanks!

    But I've learnt my lesson: you guys had a great experience from the sound of it! Finding a mine and all, cool!

    On a side note: found a group here I'll be doing my first local hike on Sunday! Hope my legs are up for it! ;o)

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  19. Oh, how I want to hear the sound of rain falling on the roof! We haven't heard that for some time now and today it was close to 100 here. Way too hot for the first day of Autumn. May I join you??

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  20. It was very warm and muggy down at sea level yesterday, a sticky day and night. Rain might have been more refreshing.

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  21. What a cool discovery! As always, I enjoy hiking with you vicariously!

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  22. When you can't change the situation change your attitude, right? I'm glad you stumbled onto an unusual adventure. The water picture is awesome.

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