EISPIRATEN

On some level the title makes sense, since this trip was indeed an attempt to reach Stanley-Miller Mine. On another level, I barely made any progress in this area. There's a lot of water in the river, and in a few spots in the Narrows, I was unprepared to cross.



At one point I did get far enough to climb up, but the slope was very steep and loose, and it felt like a very bad idea to ascend by myself.



So I hung out for a bit, and took some photos



Whose print is this?



If somebody wants to join me on another attempt on Stanley-Miller, PM me!

I then went back, and by this time the bridge was abuzz with activity:



Walking back a bit more, I felt unaccomplished. Looking West, across the river one could see a switchback from a trail I've always wondered about (strangely unpictured). I was pretty sure this was part of the trail that appears on the USGS maps. It seemed like a good time to check that out, so I descended, crossed the river, and climbed to meet the trail. Taco and AW described this in an older TR as well:

https://eispiraten.com/viewtopic.php?t=1500

The good news is that some of this trail sorta still exists. The bad news is that what you see from the road is ALL that still exists. The section of the trail most-visible from the road, as viewed from the trail:



In the process, I found an old stove:



and an old mine shaft (too busy bushwacking to take a photo). And the views from above are pretty good:



Mostly, the area is now full of animal trails and their poop. I also found some of the animals themselves:



Holy sheep! The terrain was relatively clear, and very easy to climb. I had no particular agenda past checking out the old trail, so I descended and followed the river back. And I found another mine! I believe it was the Horseshoe Mine.



So I failed in my mission, but the trip was still surprisingly eventful.

By far the most San Gabriel sheep I have seen in one photo. Very nice and very encouraging for the herd.
Thank you for posting.

That's the most sheep I've ever seen in CA anywhere as well! Holy crap!

The canyon walls look cool. Might convince me to try to climb up the right side. May be good enough for fun.

Amazing pic of those sheep dima. Holy crap.

That was not a failed mission.

this is the third picture Ive seen this month of bighorn herds. Yours of course takes the cake, that is a healthy looking herd. The other ones were [oh, wait, I remember I decided not to discuss locations of bighorn anymore after some hunter dude asked me for more details]. Anyway, I've seen them several times over the years but this is starting to feel like an unusual number of sightings. I hope it's a good sign they are healthy and doing well.

by the way, that last picture of a mine is stunning.

Adan
tallkan

I read somewhere years ago that the loss of habitat was forcing mountain lions and bighorn sheep closer together. As a result, the lions were feasting on the sheep. It looks like this herd has stayed one step ahead of the cats. Great pictures. Thank you.

love that picture of the sheep too...they are all uncollared too. I ran into em last year....they had me surrounded lol.

mine: I did try the old connector route a little ways past the bridge. I cleared some brush. I think I almost gained the Stanley-Allison trail elevation, but stopped at the top of the easy ridge part on the second picture....ran out of time.

Thanks for the pictures!!!!!!

Thanks for the report. I love these exploratory adventure stories.