Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine (1)

It seems that a lot of readers are enjoying my series on local mining history, so I'll answer a couple of questions about the huge open-pit mine I've been showing you.

• Some chemicals are used to leech the gold from the crushed rock, but I'm not sure which ones; it's much more regulated these days than in the past.
• I was not using a telephoto for most of the photos, I was right there next to the crusher and the trucks, and down in the pit.
• The mine is not open to the public, but with advance reservations and a small fee a few people are given a tour several days a week. That's how I was able to see it all, and I think it's one of the best sightseeing bargains in the area.

On to my next mining post, about the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine. This is a former vertical-shaft gold mine, operating from 1891 to 1961, and now open for public tours. The only way down is in the two-level cage the miners used to ride; if you're claustrophobic or afraid of being suspended by nothing more than a single cable I don't recommend it, although the mine itself is surprisingly spacious. All photos are hand-held without flash.

Here's the sign when you get out of the cage at the bottom.

It's a multi-level mine, and this shows the bell system used to indicate how to raise and lower the cage. Yes, it's still run by a person, and the tour guide will ring the bells appropriately.

Here's a close-up of some growths on the mine walls. Next week I'll show you some of the tunnels.

Our World Tuesday

Signs, Signs

No Swimming!

Here's a scanned photo from a local hike back in 1995.

Signs Signs

Vintage Weekly

Water World Wednesday

Vegas Oddity

For the last of my Las Vegas photos, here's one of the strangest things I saw (and that's saying something) - a display in the Crystals shopping center with lots of LED numbers and mirrors. Here's a view from above.

Signs, Signs

Weekend Reflections

Aria, Las Vegas

These photos are from a few months ago when we took a short trip to Vegas. Here's the Aria hotel where we stayed. First, looking out the main entrance.

One of the advertising signs.

Lots of glass...

...and I'm bet that the signs are LED rather than neon.

Scenic Weekends

Signs Signs

Another Great Ski Day

The calendar may say spring, but I went skiing again yesterday - there's been two feet of new snow at the ski areas in the last week so the conditions were great on the mountain (although the powder was skied off). And there weren't any crowds - I didn't wait in a lift line once!

Let's go down this trail and see what it looks like.

Steep! (If you don't know about trail signs, a double-diamond is an expert-only run.)

I'll never tire of mountain views in the winter, and where better to get them than on the slopes?

Final statistics according to my GPS watch: 31.8 miles (51.2 km) covered including chairlift rides, maximum speed 33.84 MPH (54.46 kph). And lots of space to move!

Blue Monday

Our World Tuesday

Seasons
Signs Signs

Ferry in Maine

Here are some more photos from our ferry ride in Portland, Maine last summer, focusing on the boats we saw.

I've always loved being on the water.

I'd love to own one of these boats!

And for something completely different, I was amused by this sign in Massachusetts. Are you allowed to read or not? (It's not a great shot as it was taken from a car at twilight; I edited it to take out a period after the "NO".)

Our World Tuesday

Signs, Signs

Inside Arch

So, you ask, can you go to the top of the famous St. Louis Arch? Yes, and it's a very unusual tram system that takes you up, not for the claustrophobic or acrophobic. You climb into a small capsule with five tiny seats and not enough room to stand up.

It's a very unique system with several of these small capsules chained together; as they climb up the arch each capsule rotates to stay level, and the inside of the arch is visible through each capsule's small window. It takes about four minutes to get to the top, at which point you get out and climb the last few stairs.

The inside of the top of the arch isn't very big and looking through those windows you realize how high up you really are (630-foot or 192 m), with nothing between you and the ground. It was swaying noticeably when we were up there - it's designed to sway up to 9 inches in either direction while withstanding winds up to 150 miles per hour (240 km/h). But it's still an unsettling experience to feel it!

Our World Tuesday
Signs, Signs

Hollywood Sign

Here's the famous Hollywood sign, taken from the hills near the Griffith Observatory.

 And one final view taken from the observatory itself.

Our World Tuesday

Signs, Signs

Cold Red Rock Canyon

Continuing with photos from Red Rock Canyon, it was colder than those photos last week showed.

And this sign was from some terrible flooding the previous fall, which did serious damage to several city parks.

Our World Tuesday

Signs, Signs

High Skywatch

What's unusual about this ordinary Skywatch Friday photo?

It was taken on top of this mountain, at an elevation of 14,115 feet (4.3 km) above sea level. We took the cog railroad up there on Saturday - lots more photos to come from that trip when I get caught up. (The sign is outdated because the mountain is slightly higher than originally thought.)

Signs, Signs

Black Forest Park Post-Fire

Those of you who have followed my blog will know there was a terrible wildfire in my area each of the last two summers; each destroyed hundreds of homes and thousands of acres. The one last year burned within a few streets of our house. Here are some more photos from my walk in the nearby Black Forest Regional Park, parts of which burned in last year's fire.

The burned area can be dangerous because in places the roots burned away, leaving the trees subject to falling at any time. However, where I entered the park (in the far southwest corner) no evidence of the fire was visible.

It didn't take long to reach areas showing signs of ground fire; these trees survived.

Walking further into the burn zone, there is a mixture of destroyed trees and those that survived.

But deeper into the fire zone, everything burned. These areas will take decades to regenerate.

You can see new vegetation shooting up through the ground.

I guess it did make the Pikes Peak views easier to see.

Our World Tuesday

Signs, Signs

Seattle Market Signs

Here are some of my favorite signs from the famous Public Market in Seattle, from our trip back in March. First, the famous sign on a clear day, from a different angle than usually seen.

And here are a couple of signs from the market itself - you can see how busy it was from the first photo.

Visit the Signs, Signs meme for more signs.

Only In California

Here's a sign I saw walking around downtown San Luis Obispo, one that doesn't inspire confidence...

Ironically it was on the tourist information building! For those who use the translate function on the blog, it says: "Earthquake Warning. This is an unreinforced masonry building. You may not be safe inside or near unreinforced masonry buildings during an earthquake." Visit Signs, Signs for more interesting signs of all types.

OMG Grade Pears

I'm going back to last May for these shots from Seattle. These are from the famous market, and cover several memes. First, they're for Our World Tuesday.

Lots of flowers were for sale.

Seafood too, tastefully arranged!

And for Tina's PicStory theme of fruits, as well as the Signs Signs meme, here are some incredible pears, as well as ordinary apricots and cherries.

We always visit this market when we're in the Seattle area.

Mountain Lions?

Signs, Signs is an interesting idea for a meme, although I've not participated before. But when I saw this sign at a local trail-head, I had to take a photo and link it there. I'll post the rest of the photos from this hike later this week.

It didn't stop me from hiking with my dog Socks, and we both survived. I've seen bears (mama with two cubs within 30 feet of me on a trail), coyotes, and I'm pretty certain that we encountered a mountain lion this summer although it quickly moved off the trail. We've even had a bear walk through our front yard. It's a wild area in which I live!