The Fat Mule Flats Mine is located a few mines outside of the historic mining town of Tonopah, NV. Most of the mining around the area was for silver and gold.


Nevada has a lot of open, desolate land. Out here it goes as far as the eye can see.
The first fifteen feet or so is wood lined, then bare rock the remainder of the way to the bottom. Turns out this shaft was about 150 feet deep.
Kelly, my exploring partner, is ready to head down after me. She will stay topside until I take a look around to see if it's worth coming down.
We have rigged the rope and set up an edge protector so the rope doesn't chafe.
I reached the bottom after an uneventful rappel down the rope. Like a lot of mines, people have dumped garbage down the shaft. But this mine is different than any I've been in before. Yeah, SNAKES!
Not just one snake. Or even two snakes. There were snakes everywhere. Some alive and some dead.
I came to the conclusion that his was a snake mine. I didn't realize you could mine snakes, but obviously you can.
Time to get the heck out of this mine! I didn't calm down until I was about ten feet off the bottom.
I have never been so relieved to be out of a mine! This is one that I won't go back to....