Exploring The White Mountains

Part III - Black Canyon

Mirage-Mariposa & The Hope Mines


Morning Coffee


Just east of Bishop in the southern end of the White Mountain Range lies Black Canyon and Marble Canyon. The Mexican Mine was discovered here in 1862. This exscursion is so close to Bishop that I had to go, just to get it out of the way and mark it off of my list of places to see. It turned out to be one of the more interesting mine excursions for me to date. As far as holes in the mountain go, this one was in pretty good shape .

Although it's not very far from base camp, the road very quickly deteriorates to class III and then class IV just beyond the mine. Being alone, and the dog is no help when it comes to being stuck, I decided to go no farther into the class IV stuff untill I have someone else with me in case I get stuck. So let's take a short trip to the Mirage-Mariposa Mine and then we'll do some boating and fishing at Convict Lake up in the Sierras. On the next trip I'll take the class IV road farther into the canyon if I can get someone else with another vehicle to go along with me.



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A prospecting hole we find early in the canyon. A look inside reveals that it didn't go very far. Main adit to the Mirage-Mariposa Mine. Tabby is getting ahead of me and that's not really a good thing. Some training is in order here.
Um, ok, which way do I go now? Same question? There they go holding up the mountain with sticks again. This is about as far as I want to go for now.
Off in another direction. This part of the mine seems to be deteriorating. Back we go, shooting pictures as we move along. More of the same with different lighting. As we leave, the road deteriorates to class IV. Lot's of loose rocks on a narrow and steep climb.
And this is where I decide to save it for another day with a second vehicle along. Just a little too iffy. Some rusty shot up stuff I found. Remains of an old miners dugout I believe. On the way out, I spot another test hole.
The test hole is filling up with debris. We stop at Pine Creek for a little break in the shade. Tabby checks out the creek. At Convict Lake we rent a boat for the afternoon. Maybe we oughta get in. But then again, it's nice here.
Tabby agrees. Later we make use of the boat... To go to another landing.... On the way home we stop at Tom's Place for a quick refreshment. Then back to base camp.


Part IV

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