COMPASS MENTUS

I have finally realized that I’m participating in three separate outdoor activities on my little jaunts into the field. They are Rockhounding, Mountain Biking, and Hiking.

Garry, Woody and I decided to do a short trip to Lake Cushman and the Copper Creek trail.  We started out at the upper end of Lake Cushman.

Do we have everything?

The bridge abutment had been damaged so we rode our mountain bikes to the trail head.  Crossing the bridge I couldn’t help but notice the river coming out of the mountains.

Great day!

We left the bikes in the woods next to the registration box.  The registration sheet was soaked, but we were still able to add our names to the list of visitors.

Registration is not mandatory, but advisable.

The hike up to the old Brown Mule mine was only about a quarter of a mile.  The weather was gorgeous and the forest was peaceful.  We decided that we would wait till the trip out to check out the mines, and pick up any jasper we could find.

The trail is almost all up hill.  It follows Copper Creek for quite a ways before climbing the steep hillside toward the ridge.  It then curves back to the creek, where the old Apex mine is located.  The Forest Service says that the Apex mine is 1.4 miles from the trail head.  For an old duffer like me it seemed like 10.

Nature has a way of making you seem small!

There were plenty of photo opportunities along the way though, and I stopped often to check out the various rocks.

Lots of water in the creeks today.

It took us 2 1/2 hours to hike to the Apex mine site.  Going up hill didn’t seem so bad, as long as I took my time and stopped often.

When you have camera rest breaks come often.

Since most Rockhounds I know are always looking down, I couldn’t help but notice this interesting photo opportunity.

Decay?

We reached a spot where we could actually see Lake Cushman through the trees.  It was here that we got a confirmation of how far up we had climbed.

Lake Cushman.

From this spot it was still quite a ways to the mine site.  Once we reached the mine site we ate our lunch and explored.  Looking for the mine entrance or other evidence of activity.  There is a sign pointing out the old cabin spot, and we think we found where the diggings were.  This was a manganese mine and we found quite a bit of manganese in the trail, as well as at a spot that must have been the mine.  Although there wasn’t any mine adit like at the Brown Mule location.

I snapped one picture of the creek before we headed back down.

A lot of Devil's Club here.

I had told Garry that going down was going to be harder that going up, and it didn’t take long for this to become evident.  My leg muscles were starting to quiver before I had gotten very far.  By the time I reached the Brown Mule mine area I wasn’t in any mood to stop and pick up any jasper, although Garry did bring out a few pieces of manganese.

It only took us an hour to get down the trail to the bikes, where we were able to coast back to the trucks.

Not so much Rockhounding or Mountain Biking on this trip, but plenty of Hiking.

Thanks for joinging us.

chasfire