Trail ride to an abandoned gold mine
Wow, has it really been almost 10 years since I've posted here? Well that's about to change! I'm not sure if I've shared here before or not, but one of my hobbies is prospecting for gold. It's definitely not a money making endeavor but it's a fun way to get out in nature and explore. And it's always cool to see the shiny stuff in your pan at the end of the day. At least once a year I try to take a week or so and go prospecting in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. Beautiful country over there. Lots of wildlife we don't get to see much on the west (wet) side of the state. It's pretty common to see big horn sheep wandering the hills around camp. Deer and wild turkey are often visitors in camp itself, and sometimes the free range cows wander through as well. As a gold producing region there are plenty of active claims in the area, but lode mines are fairly rare. This year a group from camp decided to take a trail ride up to one of the abandoned min
