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| Hiking | 8.00 Miles |
1,892 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.00 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 1.33 mph |
| 1,892 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Started out at the second cattle guard on this road. I could have easily made it back to where the road branches off at the 25 to 25A. Plenty of camping back here. First off I would only take a 4WD truck or SUV back here or maybe an ATV.
Some of the trail info is a little confusing, especially for someone who hasn't been there. This trail starts at the actual sunflower mine and the road to sunflower mine is very vauge here in this passage.
To get to the 25/25A split take the Sycamore Canyon road to the west. You can easily find this because there is a big green sign that says Mt Ord one way and Sycamore Canyon the other. Once going on the Sycamore Canyon rd, travel until you see a road on the right hand side that has a cattle guard. Take this road back to the second cattle guard and immediately after the cattle guard take the first left. This is FR 25. Take this back a ways until you see a road going uphill and to the right. There is a place to park right here as well. This is FR25A. If you go left you will go downhill and cross a creek bed and then start going up hill. This is still FR25.
Take FR25A back. The first half mile or so is very rocky and requires 4WD or experience to negotiate. About a mile back you will run into the "Rock Garden" mainly because of the large size rocks you will be crossing. This area might have lots of water in it since it is the bottom of the canyon. (BTW I actually recieved a call from a friend on my cell phone back here and had good reception, I use Verizon!). Once you cross the metal bridge it doesn't get worse...it gets better.
Now the road goes back and just after the first "camp ground" (I am saying this in the lightest way possible because it must have been used for that because of all the junk and fire rings around) you will take a corner to the left and there is a mine shaft that doesn't go anywhere. Continue on this road for a while until you come to a junction of two roads. One goes straight and one makes an almost 180 and switchbacks up the hill. There is also another mine shaft here. Take the switchback up to the top. The road to the "rock tumbler" like contraption where they made the mercury from the Cinnabar is off to the left. If you go right you will just keep going. You really can't miss this because there is a large area at the top to park your vehicles and the road goes down hill to the mine.
If you continue straight past the parking area on the main road you will run into another area that goes left and right. There is another mine shaft at this place as well with several options to choose from. (actually there are three roads in this area) One goes to the hard right up hill. I didn't go up this road at all so I have no clue as to what is up here. Then if you choose the middle path it goes back to several mine shafts. If you choose the left I have no idea where it goes except it goes up hill. I didn't explore this path.
If you go back here I highly recommend you take plenty of water, let people know where you are going, and don't explore the mines. This is very dangerous because the mines might collapse, hide unknown dangers, like animals, people, snakes, or vertical shafts.
On that note, this is an awesome trip. One that I recommend you take a few days and explore if possible. |
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| Hi ho...Hi ho....it hand gernades I throw. |
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