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Today's excursion takes us back up Mazourka Canyon just a little ways and then we turn south up a steep, open-gated and small dirt road. This road is not only steep, but it's rocky and only wide enough for one vehicle. Most of the road is Class II but it degrades to Class III in a few places and the last mile and a half is kinda scary with possible boulders in the middle of the road. There are many places where it's a very long ways down off the side of the road. Scary for the passenger on the way up, and for the driver on the way down. The whole trip is about sixteen miles one way. Then you have to come back down the same way. The last 8 miles has very few turn-around areas. After what seems like forever, we finally come across the first of three mining operations. The Alhambra mine and a fairly nice cabin. It would do in a pinch. Next we come to the Black Eagle. It's mainly some holes in the ground and I didn't want to get too close because of loose dirt around them. The last mine is at the end of the road. The Betty Jumbo. Because of boulders in the middle of the road I could only go close enough to get a fair telephoto shot of it's ore bin and the caved portal. I was able to turn around there and squeeze my way back around another boulder that had fallen into the road... Roger Mitchell mentions the boulders falling onto the road in his book. If you go, you may want to do the last mile and a half on foot. It just depends on the road conditions at the time. |
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| An adit at the Alhambra that isn't looking too good. | Up on top we find the head frame in disrepair. | A look down the shaft. It seems to be about fifty feet deep. | Inside a stope. Is this really all that's holding up the mountain? |
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| A look into some diggings. | More diggings in the area. | Another view of the headframe but with the cabin in the background. | What's left of the haulage tracks that run to the tailings pile. |
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| Looking down from near the shaft and headframe. | Heading up the foot trail to the cabin and more tailings. | Hmmm... Looks like everyone sleeps outside here. | Inside, we find a few calling cards from previous visitors. |
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| Time to write home to mom. | These slats are the new beds. Bring your air mattress. | Dang it! Somebody stole the stove. | Tabby says we can live here if we want. |
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| More diggings behind the cabin. | A look inside. | This adit has a door. But where's the door bell? | It doesn't go very far into the mountain. |
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| Coming back from the mine we get a view of the back of the cabin and the view of the Sierras. | An ore cart that didn't need tracks. We found it near some milling equipment at the Black Eagle. | A seperator as near as I can tell. I think they are also called shakers. | A feed bin for the seperator. |
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| On our way to the Betty Jumbo we look back at some of the road we've been traveling on. | More of the view. | The class III road we are supposed to take to the Betty Jumbo. | An ore bin and the caved portal of the Betty Jumbo. This is as close as I can get because of boulders in the road. |
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| A huge hole. I think it belongs to the Black Eagle. | On the way back, Tabby finds some shade. | Back at the Black Eagle we get another view of the Sierras. | A look back at the road we were on going to the Betty Jumbo. |