Talk about a trip you took out to Anza Borrego
Hike through Banner mine district
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herofix Posts: 30
5/16/2012
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On May 6th I headed to Banner to check out what I could see of any abandoned gold mines. Having only passed through the area a few times I didn't realize that the route is basically an old fire road that heads pretty much straight uphill! But I drove a long way to get there and was undaunted in my quest. I was going to park at the Banner Store but it wasn't open yet and there were a bunch of signs saying "customers only", so I parked just off Banner Pass under an oak tree and started hiking up.
Here's a view from near the start...Banner Store is in foreground and the road to Julian snakes up the canyon beyond:
About 1/2 way to the top of the ridge I came across these blocks that looked like old cattle troughs of some kind. The top of the one on the left says "SHOOTING 1 MI". More on that in a moment:
It was a beautiful day, about 72-75 degrees without a cloud in sight. Lots of wildflowers and other plants were in bloom:
According to the Cal Topo map (thanks Daren), there are numerous mines all around this area, but most were not easy to see from the road. This side road pretty clearly led up to something, so I gave it a shot:
End of the line was just this open area, which may have had a structure on it at one time, but no mine opening was in evidence. Based on map comparisons, I'm pretty sure this was near the location of the Golden Ella Mine:
Back on the main road, I could see what I believe to be the still-active Chariot/Golden Chariot mines down below:
Through binocs:
I would have headed down there for a closer look but I didn't want to run into any gun-toting prospectors. I started back down and stopped by the "shooting" area mentioned earlier, as there was an overgrown old road nearby that looked promising:
There were tons of spent cartridges and clay pigeons all over the ground in this area, so I assume it's some kind of open-air range:
Anyway, I finally located a mine opening that I could reach. This one doesn't appear to be named on the maps that I saw:
The opening wasn't very large, so I had to stoop down to get inside:
I can't imagine trying to actually chisel ore out of solid granite while on your knees:
I didn't go in very far because I (stupidly) didn't bring a flashlight. What kind of dummy goes spelunking without a light?:
A little further along on my way down I found another caved-in mine opening; this one runs under the Rodriguez Spur Truck Trail near where it splits from the main road I was on:
All in all, it was an interesting hike, except for all the boring walking parts (which I left out). I didn't see much wildlife to speak of other than a few birds high above and garden variety lizards on the rocks. I didn't feel like I was violating any laws by going off the main road, since at no time during this trek did I see a single "private property" or "no trespassing" sign (I know that doesn't mean it's not private property, just saying). The road was actually quite busy, and I was passed by numerous 4x4's and Jeeps on their way up the hill. Toward the end I met up with some young dudes out exploring as well, except they were in a truck and when they jumped out to look at that last mine with me, one of them had a huge machete in his hand. He sees at me looking at it and he says "this isn't for you; it's in case of rattlesnakes". Glad to hear it, bro!
Sorry for the lame timestamps on the pics; I was using a borrowed camera. Thanks for reading!
<em>edited by herofix on 5/16/2012</em>
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