When we’re driven out of the highest reaches of the Sierra Nevadas by snow, we must normally content ourselves with international trips or desert trips (the odd winter trip to Alaska notwithstanding)… However, we recently started looking into an area in the lower parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Feather River Canyon. We have flirted with the Feather River Canyon in the past (and actually had our worst mine exploring experience to date on one fateful evening there several years ago when visiting the Five Bears Mine). However, I had discounted the potential around Forbestown and other parts of the lower Feather River Canyon.

Sure, the area has a rich history of gold mining. However, this was so long ago that maps with accurate locations for historical mines and other sites are nonexistent or very rare. Furthermore, this area does not have the hard rock characteristics that keep the mines in the high country open more often. Instead, this area has thick layers of dirt that are created by the organic material of the dense forests. The dirt caves in and erodes old mines shut very quickly.

The southern reaches of the Sierra Nevada Mountains (the southern region of the Mother Lode) are far more developed though and so, despite also harboring an extensive period of activity during the Gold Rush, all too often, one will simply find houses or a fuel station where historical mines and other sites used to be. To thrive as a mine explorer in this type of environment, one must possess local connections and that crucial local knowledge. I do not. So, aside from a handful of successful trips to this region, I have generally left it alone.

The Feather River Canyon is not developed and, especially for California, is actually surprisingly remote and unpopulated. So, we have braved the numerous grow ops, thick brush and steep canyons to run down some great sites. It takes more work to find the mines given vague location information in most cases, but it has proved fulfilling to do so as these sites are simply not picked over like those in a place such as southern Nevada that are visited by hordes of people.

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You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L

You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD and here: https://bit.ly/2p6Jip6

Several kind viewers have asked about donating to help cover some of the many expenses associated with exploring these abandoned mines. Inspired by their generosity, I set up a Patreon account. So, if anyone would care to chip in, I’m under TVR Exploring on Patreon.

Thanks for watching!

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Growing up in California’s “Gold Rush Country” made it easy to take all of the history around us for granted. However, abandoned mine sites have a lot working against them – nature, vandals, scrappers and various government agencies… The old prospectors and miners that used to roam our lonely mountains and toil away deep underground are disappearing quickly as well.

These losses finally caught our attention and we felt compelled to make an effort to document as many of the ghost towns and abandoned mines that we could before that colorful niche of our history is gone forever.

I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!

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