My boys and I went out to the Rinconada mine to stretch our legs and do some hiking. I decided to leave the "real" camera at home, since I didn't want to populate the Pac West forum with more of the same pics of the same old mine.

We did, however, stop by the house that's closest to to the mine and grab some shots. It's somewhat destroyed, but it looks like it might have had squatters or something living there recently. There is some random piece of mining hardware on the property, as well as an overgrown road that goes to the base of the processing site at the mine. This leads me to believe that it was part of the mine. All in all, a fun little jaunt with the kids.

1. The infamous pool of weird blue water : )


2. Random bit of mining stuff that was in better shape than the stuff up at the mine.


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6. My boys and I all have red hair and neon white skin. Naturally, we had to throw up some gang signs...


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9. This fallen fan reminded me of a dead bird.


10. There was a couple of walls with old magazines used for wallpaper. This one tells you "how to take a bath". Phew, finally!


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13. Obligatory chair pr0n


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22. Random briefcase


23. We should take this back up to the blue pond...


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25. The adding machine for the money that used to be in the case


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27. House from the back. It still had running water too!

That pool might have Cyanide in it. Water with Cyanide makes the prettiest blue water. Coming from someone in a mining based town.

Good to know! Naturally, we didn't touch it. The actual mine opening is pretty well sealed, except for the huge hole in the top that you can climb up to.

Nice shots! When we went, it was at night, so we didn't have the ability to look around. I didn't even know there were houses in that area!! Make sure if you go inside, you wear masks.

Very cool. Are there any other structures still standing near the mine, or is the house all that remains?

No, just the house. It was sort of a lucky find, since we were just intent on hiking that day. We just happened to see it on the way in, and made a note to check it out on the way back. What's cool is that it looks to be part of the original mine operation.

According to my research, there should be another mine out there up on the ridge line. It was called the "Mercury Belle" mine, but there is literally nothing left where the lat long says it was.

Did you find a few different sealed up entrances? There used to be a way into the top, a way into the bottom that could get up to the main part, and then a way into the main part (that I believe is the original main entrance).

that water looks like a bottle of gatorade glacier freeze

Yeah, we didn't touch the water at all. It was pretty though : )

@totensibush: The entrances were all sealed rather well. You would need to cut away the metal grating on the front of the mine to get in. You can still get in by rappelling from the top, but that would be the only way sans tools and vandalism.

I've got another mine spot that I have been researching. It was called "Valleton", and it still shows up on google earth. Besides the post office and train station buildings, there is nothing left of it. The remaining buildings are sitting on private land, and there is literally no trace of the original mine site or structures. From my research, even the rail system that went for miles up to the mine was tore up and sold to the Japanese back in the late 30's.

In hindsight, they were probably using the resources to build bombs to drop on us later during Pearl Harbor and WW2. Oh well, capitalism baby : )

Not far from there, I also found a potential "Chinatown" site that sits just off the rail line south of Bradley, Ca. It's just an empty field, but it would be fun to go over it with a metal detector(with the owner's permission of course!)

Needless to say, I've got some 'sploring to do!