A walk in the woods.

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CALDIGR2

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Yesterday, a couple of diggin' buds talked me into going along on a walk in the Sierra forest to check out a long abandoned mining town. Believe it, or maybe not, but it was 20º warmer at 4500 feet than it was down in the valley. . I drove my PU because it has 2 seats and I didn't want to be crammed into a single seat truck. 15 miles up a dirt road after leaving the pavement 65 miles from home. We arrived at the site at 0930 and it was already 80º and that alone made me weak.

Shouldering our packs we set off for the 3/4 mile trek to the site. Les than a mile doesn't sound like much, but for me it is a LONG way. Here we are passing through a flowered meadow that had a nice spring that was full of deer and bear sign.
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Not long after arriving at the town site a stone lined basement was seen. nothing remained except for the collapsed stones and a few rough hewn timbers that survived 130+ yrs of time. Ancient cans, tin and riveted piping littered the forest floor, but little glass was evident. The mosquitoes were a serious bother to my friends, but they wanted nothing to do with me. I laughed as they slathered on the Cutters. I guess one good thing about exuding the chemo chemicals would be that biting bugs stay away. Anyway, they probed around and I rested on my butt watching their efforts. One little pit was soon found that had glass in it. Mostly busted, but a few did come out complete. No "heavies" this time, just common stuff. Here is an 1880s wine resting where it has for decades.
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The boys were getting entirely too dirty and the sun was a bother, so I walked back to my truck to rest in the shade. Lung cancer makes for some tough hiking conditions, but what the heck. You can't sit home and whine about it. After a while they also returned after stopping at the spring and washing up. They had 2 lousy bottles for all their digging effort, the wine and a 6" round unembossed med. They are more sentimental than I am, feeling that any bottles from a mining camp are keepers. I would have left those there. Sorry that there aren't more pics, but since mine was the only camera on scene, I was too lazy to bother with it.
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tigue710

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Sounds like my morning, cept we Didn't find anything. Heard you was out this way this morning, digging the tables
 

surfaceone

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Believe it, or maybe not, but it was 20º warmer at 4500 feet than it was down in the valley. .

Hey Mike,

I believe it, and know for sure. Why wouldn't it be in the medium High Sierra, you're that much closer to Old Sol.

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Man, good luck with the chemo. I hate that damn cancer!

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This is an evocative picture. Looks like some nice Ponderosa." Is that you?" he asked nosily.

I've spent many a day and night in similar spots a bit further north. The cool shade and not being tasty to the occasional black horde of mosquitos is a double bonus.

May your next one be loaded with colorful San Francisco or Sacramento sweetness.

Broemmels.jpg
 

CALDIGR2

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I'm used to finding pontilled schnapps, London Jockeys, J.T. Dalys, and other much older bottles, so seeing 1880s glass was a bit of a letdown. But, beggars can't be choosers, so finding anything is good. The elevation is dead center transition zone, and the trees are black oak, ponderosa and sugar pine, and douglas and white firs. Plenty of water this year, leaving meadows resplendent with flowers and springs flowing at this time of year. Even the soil is dust free at inches beneath the surface.

The town was solid 1850s to 1880s, with a heyday of 1868-75. This assures a possibility of finding quality, but a good detector will help in this search. So much of the area is under third growth timber and thick brush that walking can be difficult, let alone probing. A deep sounding detector will aid in finding dumps buried under a few inches to 3 feet of leaves and needles.
 

probe buster

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Hey Mike, good to see you and the boys out and about. Is that my old bud, Chucker, in the first pic looking like he's squatting to take dump?

Keep up the good search, sounds like a promising site. We'll see you in D'Ville.

Dwayne
 

California Dream N

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Mike..I am so sorry to hear about the Chemo..You have been one of my biggest helpers since I joined this site.. and I wish you a Full and speedy recovery...You have forgotten more then most of us will ever know about old bottles...Norene
 

CALDIGR2

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ORIGINAL: probe buster

Hey Mike, good to see you and the boys out and about. Is that my old bud, Chucker, in the first pic looking like he's squatting to take dump?

Keep up the good search, sounds like a promising site. We'll see you in D'Ville.

Dwayne
Yep, Dwayne, that's Chuck. Looks like hes squatting to adjust his pack, or maybe going for the repellent.
 

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