Page 3
After a few hard days working in the mine, we head out to explore the area. This track is marked on the maps as a county road. Tony is checking to make certain that we aren't going to tear anything off. It's steeper than the picture shows.  
One of the things I love about remote areas in the high desert is the wildlife. Here a majestic antelope trots across the road in front of us.
This region of Nevada is pockmarked with mine workings. Most are the small workings of one or two guys hoping to strike it rich. This prospect only went down 25 or 30 feet before it pinched off.
Living conditions were tough for the miners. Living underground in the desert made a lot of sense since the temperature is much more constant. The miners used an old door to close off the drift and create an underground home.
Tony and Matthew planning the upcoming day. It's fun to share the adventure with friends.
We enjoy some tasty dutch oven food on every trip up to the mine.
Tony is hard at work. We pull up a load of dirt, dump it into the wheel barrow, then onto the tailings pile. It's a slow process and quite physical, but it's all part of working the mine.
There are bits and pieces of old equipment. This is a part of the old lift that we found right at the bottom of the shaft. Through the years about four feet of silt and dirt has washed into the lowest level. All of these bits were buried in the silt.
More wildlife! This trip we happened to coincide with a tarantula migration. We found a couple of them out in the desert around the campsite. This one decided to take a little stroll right through the campsite.
Another shot of the mine with our little headframe. I never tire of the view of the valley we overlook.
The ladder that leads all the way down to the bottom. We've replaced a lot of the rungs that were weather worn or just worn out.
Tony watches Gina as she practices her rope work. It's ideal since she can have her coach right beside her watching to making certain she doesn't make any serious mistakes.
At some point in the mine's history, someone bulldozed a deep trench between the mine shaft and the road leading up to the mine side. It seems like the perfect place to camp, so that's were we set everything up. Unfortunately the sides have slumped down making it difficult to move around the trailer.
On the next trip up to the mine we decided to do a bit of cleanup down in the trench. We pitched camp at the top of the trench and got to work.
We collected a bunch of rocks and started building a dry wall. The wall will hold back the slumping dirt and leave us a bit more room.
Progress! You can see how much wider the area is now.
It's a surprising amount of work to dig back all the dirt and set the rocks in place.
We are doing both sides. Yeah, I know. Gluttons for punishment.
We have placed a lot of rocks and it's turned out very nice.
You can see how much more room we have to move around the site.
On a bit of whimsy, Tony decided to add a little seat where we could sit and rest before starting back at working on the mine.