Ladies and Gentlemen,
It’s been a long time since I have had the opportunity to
write, and I must apologize that I am just getting to this now, even though it
has been some time since the actual adventures.
Part of the delay is that I had some… technical… issues with my camera,
resulting in the loss of many photos. I
took some time to collect some of the images from my companions to help provide
a complete picture of what transpired.
Before we get started, below are the links to my album, and a link of Adam's photos from this year and last (he has some spectacular ones, as his camera seems to performs about a zillion times better than mine under low light), and Joe's photos from this year (with a team lighting effort Joe took some amazing shots):
My Photos
Adam's Photos
Joe's Photos
Let’s be honest, this is our third trip to the mine, so
anyone who has been reading this blog for a while will already know the
basics. Things that differ were the
players, and the objectives.
This was the largest group that we ever had with six
people going into the mine and three non-mining participants. It was a good number, and a great group of
people. Due to mechanical issues with
the quad, we were once again forced to make the ascent on food. We opted for the familiar, and grueling, and
direct, route straight up the mountain (as opposed to the road) and made our
way to the level 3 portal.
Our objectives this time were threefold:
1. Explore
a mega ore cavern.
2. Find
the blue thing (to take a closer look than last year).
3. Climb
from one level to the next.
We didn’t have a ton of time, and we didn’t have a ton of
light, but we thought that the first two objectives were definitely achievable
and the third one was a definite maybe.
Taking an objective approach limited the time we needed
to explore the random tunnels (since we did a lot of that in Expedition 2) and
left us time for the things we wanted.
We had two people that were in the mine for the first time, so hopefully
there was still enough tunnel exploring to get their fill (and there was).
Clearing the Trail
Ready to go to the mine...
Climbing up to the mine...
Still Climbing
The Valley
Oh Yeah!
Walking in the Water
Objective 1 – Explore a mega ore cavern
Which one? That
was the real question. We would be in
one big one, but would always wonder, was there a bigger one? But what if we went too far, and there wasn’t? Then we would miss the objective. We picked a massive cavern, maybe or maybe
not the largest, and headed in. We had
to climb down to get to the floor of the cavern, and as could be expected, it
was treacherous. It didn’t help that Joe
had the Lord of the Rings soundtrack playing, giving us that ominous feel as
the drums of Moria echoed behind us.
The cavern was enormous.
We explored the main area and used the light to explore the third
dimension. The cavern had an impressive
XZ layout, but the Y was really amazing… it just kept going. Unfortunately our vision is rather linear,
which meant that when the cavern turned a corner our vision stopped, but the
cavern kept going… and going…
Some of the rock formations were incredible. The rock itself is beautiful with the quartz
crystals and pyrite scattered about, but we again found the strange phenomenon
of the “bleeding” rock. The colour was
sanguine, and it seeped like blood from a wound. Let’s be honest, it was likely a combination
of rust and other minerals gradually being forced from the crevices, but it
appeared that as the miners had wounded the mountain, the wound bled.
We scrambled up the bloody slope and into another
cavern. It wasn’t large on the XY, but
again it’s the Z and blows minds. In
that cavern we managed to find a number of excellent pyrite samples, and as we
dug through the dust, again, we were fools.
We looked around, explored what we could, and saw the
cavern. Along the way we also managed to
climb up into another cavern through the use of stubbornness and rope, and were
able to see many things that we missed in the previous expedition. Unfortunately for us, we left the vast
majority of the caverns unexplored.
Fortunately for us… we left the vast majority of caverns unexplored…
there is always Expedition 4.
Goal 1: Explore a Cavern
In the Cavern
Goin' Down...
Crossing the Cavern
Massive Cavern
Still Legible
Objective 2 – Find the blue thing
In the end, I was not right. Evidently my memory of the mine tunnels from
the last two trips is not great… I pray I never get stuck in those
tunnels. Fortunately, Ian had a better
grasp of what was going on, and we did make it back to the blue thing. The blue thing is a hole in the wall that
looks like a core hole. They must have
tapped into a crack, or vein, or something, because with the water comes out a
rich collection of minerals. When slowly
deposited over time, these minerals crystallize in a vibrant blue. Not only that, but they crystallize in a very
peculiar formation. Adam’s video from
last year will give you the best impression, but it is like layers upon layers
of crystal, but each layer is filled with water. Yeah… that is not an apt description, but a
video is a million words.
Goal 2: The Blue Thing
In Darkness
Icicle in the Dark
Objective 3 – Climb from one level to the next
We did not really pull this one off. We wanted to, but as we evaluated from the
outside, we determined that the distance between levels was rather… significant. We did find a few spots where we might be
able to attempt an ascent, but not a safe one (and thus we held off). I think that at some point we need to achieve
this one, but we need to wait to find the right passage.
Fortunately, we did get to climb through the caverns, and
climb up through narrow passageways to find new and unexplored caverns. We might not have gone from “Level 3” to “Level
2,” but we definitely made it up to “Level 2.8.”
Alas, something for next time, but thankfully we have
more time.
We did go up and explore a bit of Level 2 again, and took
a look at the glory hole, but as per usual, we ran out of light before we ran
out of mine, and using headlamps to explore the mega caverns just doesn’t
really work. So, that opens the door for
the next expedition, which will happen… sometime. Next time we will focus on Level 2 and we
will see what can be seen.
As a side note, Level 2 is the more explored level. People often drop in through the Glory Hole
and exit through the Level 2 portal.
There are paths throughout the mine from explorers, so we simply need to
take the time to explore them.
Paintbrush
Back at Camp
Camp
Tailings
Old Junction Box
Around Camp
Camping Dog
Hopefully these photos give you an idea of what we
saw. Photos on this post are a
compilation between Joe’s photos (he had the best camera and though it was his
skill behind the lens, there was a group effort with the lighting), Adam’s
photos (from this year and last… finally got to collaborating… and his camera
performs spectacularly in low light), and my photos (um… yeah… my camera doesn’t
perform quite as well in low light, but A for effort…
I don’t know when we will go in again, but this is just
the beginning of the Al’s Adventure Trust Adventures… so stay tuned.
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