It's been pretty hot in California, as I'm sure it is where you are too, I mean, it is summer. So I thought it would be a great time to head into the Nevada desert t get away from "Civilization". Temperatures over 100 be dammed. Honestly, growing up in So. Cal. 100 deg. summers were common, but we still went out skating.
Anyway, I headed up to Tonopah, Nevada this past weekend to do some prospecting. I had located a mine from a video of a guy I follow on Youtube. Knowing mountain ranges and using Google Earth, it was pretty easy. Took me about 1 hour of searching to find the mine. Oh, here is the video and you should check it out because it's a really cool mine.
Even knowing the location of the mine, called the Wallstreet Mine, I wasnt sure I could get to it in a 2wd truck. However, Nevada has mines everywhere. Throw a rock there's a mine. I also knew of a nearby mine that a friend had collected some fluorite from. A buyer in Japan had bought a bunch of it from him and was selling it in their store in Tokyo. So, I set off for the area with a few mines on the radar.
I stayed the night on Friday in Bishop, CA., one of my favorite towns in California. It's an old town with gorgeous views of the Eastern Sierra Nevadas. There are also incredible rockhounding places all over Bishop.
The next morning at 6am I was off to Tonopah.
The drive takes you along the White mountains through valleys and summits, then the road drops you down into the high Nevada desert.
When you look at this area on the map it looks desolate, but you'd be surprised at the farms and mountain retreats surrounding the low, desert areas.
My first stop was to the New Potosi Mine. It was probably named after one of the Potosi mines in Mexico. This Potosi mine was a gold & silver mine.
I stopped by a prospect to relieve myself and poke around.
After I watered the rocks I looked to my left and froze.
He was sunning himself and put me on alert for the rest of the weekend. I'm always amazed when I see rattle snakes in the middle of nowhere. I guess having no predators have it's advantages.
Heading up the road a little more I came to the main mine.
It's really refreshing to get away from everything and just take in the majesty of our world. I think of all the mining, all the minerals, the rocks, they are all specs of dust just in our galaxy.
This mine was done using the tunneling and stope method. The mines just around the corner were open pit mines and dwarfed the Potosi mine. I'll write more about those and more in the next post. Until then, escape civilization! It will do you some good.
Thanks for reading!
