High Sierra Topix

This last weekend Cat, Jim (he makes all the UPS deliverys for Mammoth), and I hiked to the Minaret Mine and Lake. Even though we were at 9800 feet, it was a bit warm out.

The Minaret Mining District dates back to the 1870's when large deposits of iron were discovered.

The Minaret Mine itself dates back to the 1920's. The main cabins at the site were torn down by the NFS to prevent squaters from moving in. This is a common practice of destroying historical sites by the BLM, NFS, NPS, and the Taliban.

The trail to the Minaret Mine breaks off of the JMT and is actually a road, hiking along the JMT we could find sections of the old road that led to the Minaret Mine.

If you plan to hike to the Minaret Mine, be sure to GPS waypoints off the topo cause the old road is overgrown and hard to follow in the forest. Be sure to look for the "blaze" marks on the trees, they mark the old road to the Minaret Mine.



Old Log Cabin, note the hand made shake shingles.



Minaret Mine log storage cabin



Some things just go hand in hand



Abandoned Ore Cart



Checking out the main shaft, it was very wet inside.



Mt. Clyde..........hey where's Mt. Bonnie?



Flowers were everywhere !

~Lewis

ahhhhhh - a good day in the mountain - nice to see you up in elevation - and with a hole to crawl in to also - that's a way to keep you coming back

Thanx for the pix Lewis. Im hoping I can get up to the mine on one of my upcoming Mammoth trips. Love your captions.