ebird checklist
Paul planned another fabulous ADH adventure. We started out with a 2.6 mile loop utilizing dirt roads and old miner's trail to the Cudahy “Old Dutch Cleanser” Mine. In the middle of this loop, we donned dust masks and explored some of the higher levels of the mine.
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| Our happy hiking crew |
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| Photo courtesy of Shawn Peters |
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| Lunch. Photo courtesy of Shawn Peters. |
These two links take you to some history of the mine, and views of what lies below where we ventured:
https://strayngerranger.com/return-old-dutch/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMNYk42TWzY
After our mine exploration we ate lunch at the upper end of the tramway before we headed down the old miner's trail and back to the cars.
From there, some of the group choose to walk up to Burro Schmidt tunnel, while other's drove.
We walked through the tunnel, the tunnel to nowhere, the tunnel with no purpose. Burro Schmidt's epic life masterpiece. The tunnel that made him a legend. How many of us can hope to be remembered by anyone 65 years after our death?
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| Burro Schmidt tunnel entrance |
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| The view from the mine exit. |
KCET did a nice article with good photos of Burro's house:
https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/william-burro-schmidt-and-his-tunnel-to-nowhere
Though house has deteriorated since 2011 and received more vandalism, it is still worth a look.
https://www.desertusa.com/desert-prospecting/burro-schmidt-tunnel.html has another nice article and a video of walking through part of the tunnel as well.
We didn't return through the tunnel. From the back side of the tunnel on an isolate bench high above the town of Garlock, Paul's route had us turning right and heading up and other the mountain and back to the cars. I choose instead to go left, as the views beckoned. And so I followed one of Burro's miner's trails. At each rise I could see more vistas and more miner's trail. Eventually, I ended up at Burro's cabin. It was a bit longer, but I enjoyed the historic sense I found along the trail.
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| Detail of Burro Schmidt's home construction. |
The dutch cleanser mine is really eerie and so very interesting!! I'm glad that you went there. What a place. I will look at the history link. Thank you and Shawn for the photos.
ReplyDeleteMy overwhelming memory of the Burro Schmidt tunnel is being inside a fault zone, looking at the walls of the fault and marveling at the turn it made in the tunnel.
What a great experience that was.
Thank you for sharing both experiences.