[Rockhounds] Abandoned mine exploration

Tue Mar 9 13:19:45 PST 2021

I live in Nevada and once you are out of town or off the interstate, forget cell coverage. I have a Sat phone I carry. Not cheap, but my life is worth the cost. I make sure my partner knows how to use it. It's left just outside the mine if we enter. I also leave a GPS with it. The phone I have, Iridium has no way to track you. I also have the county sheriff's number preprogrammed into the phone. In 6 years I have never had to use it for an emergency. Its main use has been to check in with the designated contact to let them know when we arrived when we plan on leaving and when we do leave. Plus any other updates.

________________________________
From: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> on behalf of Glen Miller <miller3987 at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 9, 2021 11:45 AM
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors <rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com>
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Abandoned mine exploration

Thanks Linda. That info should be useful to many of us desert wanderers.

On Mon, Mar 8, 2021 at 9:34 PM <linda at middleearthminerals.com> wrote:

> Yes, I figured it was a few decades ago, but the same situation does keep
> happening to people when they're away from cell phone range.  And sometimes
> the extra time is a killer.
> Of course, a satellite messenger or phone won't do anyone a lick of good if
> caught inside a mine!  You need to have line-of-sight to satellites.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> On Behalf Of
> Paul van den Bergen
> Sent: Monday, March 8, 2021 7:37 PM
> To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
> <rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com>
> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Abandoned mine exploration
>
> Hi Linda - now days that is a given - but this was the early 90's...
>
> On Tue, 9 Mar 2021 at 13:24, <linda at middleearthminerals.com> wrote:
>
> > It's also a good idea to consider investing in a satellite text
> messenger.
> > Then a 30 km jog to a phone might not be needed.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> On Behalf
> > Of Paul van den Bergen
> > Sent: Monday, March 8, 2021 5:20 PM
> > To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
> > <rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Abandoned mine exploration
> >
> > I am perhaps my own worst enemy when it comes to 'stupid things' like
> > old mines and natural hazzards.
> >
> > I have to remind myself that I'm not the only one at risk - inevitably
> > someone will insist on putting themselves at risk to attempt to
> > recover my body - my wishes in that regard are moot since i'll be
> > dead, but  that's not what I want...
> >
> > so...
> >
> > always let someone know where you are going.
> >
> > The rule of three is very sensible - two friends were on a hike when
> > one of them crushed his ankle - his friend had to abandon him for a
> > 30km jog back to a phone then helicopter trip back to the slope where
> > he was left alone waiting...
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 9 Mar 2021 at 10:01, J. R. Hodel <jr50wv at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I watched a couple more of his videos, it's pretty interesting to an
> > > old rock-hound. My late rock-hounding buddy Danny Kebles would have
> > > loved it, would have wanted to do it so bad!
> > > But the second video I watched he was solo, in a mine by himself,
> > > going across 50-90 year old wooden floors around ore chutes, etc. So
> > > very dangerous, if you hurt yourself, you're probably dead before
> > > they
> > find you.
> > > Because no one appears to know in advance where he's going underground.
> > > First thing they teach cavers is "never go underground alone!"
> > >
> > > The people I went caving with had a 3-person team rule, that way an
> > > injured person would have someone with them while the third person
> > > went for help. Maybe the tradition with abandoned mines is "you're
> > > on
> > your
> > own?"
> > >
> > > Otherwise he seems like a guy who enjoys going into abandoned mines
> > > more than he's a mineral collector. A collector would have a rock
> > > pick with (and probably other rock-hounding tools like chisels etc),
> > > and containers for any specimens they wanted to bring out, as
> > > opposed to his
> > hip pocket.
> > >
> > > The one time Danny and I went out west to spend 3 weeks
> > > rock-hounding in Colorado and Wyoming, we found our way to an
> > > abandoned mine, about half-way up a mountain side north of Bonanza
> > > CO, with a talus slope to climb up to get to the adit. There was an
> > > old cable hanging that they had used to man-trip up and down, and for
> ore.
> > > But once we were up there and knew there was a mine, we had no
> > > lights, and no helmets. So we dug through the tailings around the
> > > mine face, I still have a couple of nice rocks from there. Finally I
> > > looked up from the rocks at the sky, which was suddenly dark gray
> > > billowing clouds, soon in late May it started snowing hard before we
> > > got off the mountain. "Uh, Danny, maybe we need to get down off this
> mountain now?"
> > >
> > > My little Ford Ranger had a lot of tools and supplies under the
> > > topper, so we had pretty good traction, and made it to our friend's
> > > mountain cabin where we were staying between rock-hounding trips.
> > > Built a fire in the stove late in the evening. Stopped in Salida for
> > > dinner on the way home. I will always wonder what if we had lights
> > > and helmets, what would it have been like in the mine? What kind of
> > > rocks would we have found? What would the weather have been like
> > > when we got
> > back out?
> > > I miss Danny, he was struck with Pick's Disease, which is a
> > > hereditary dementia, and died relative young in a VA nursing home. I
> > > don't go out collecting much any more, partly because I'm 70 now...
> > > & partly because Danny isn't here to poke me awake. Also Covid, of
> course.
> > > You all take care, best of luck with finding great rocks!
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> > --
> > Dr Paul van den Bergen
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