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Asbestos Point (warning: 27 pictures!)
Lens: Sigma 12-24 II, 50mm macro Camera: SD1 Merrill Photo Location: Sierra Ancha Experimental Forest Aperture: F8 
Posted By: scratchpaddy, 09-23-2013, 10:24 PM

Two weeks ago, I went on the my first hike in about a month. I was tired of waiting around for summer to end, so I drove far away, up into the mountains east of Lake Roosevelt. It's a two hour drive, but it's worth it to feel 60° temperatures for the first time since May.

The hike I chose went up a forest road to the top of a mountain, where there was an abandoned asbestos mining installation.

If you're an experienced driver with a serious off-road vehicle, with oversize tires, four-wheel-drive, and locking differentials, you could drive all the way to the top. I have a Monte Carlo, so I walked. It's only 3.5 miles to the top, anyway.

(click any picture for full-size)
#1


#2



This was the first sign of the old mining operation I saw. I've never seen a riveted steel pipe like this before. The mine opened in 1915, and first started producing in 1917. Could this culvert really be that old?

#3



There were a few more unidentifiable rust heaps along the way, and different trails branched off in several places. I just kept to the main road. When the top came, it came suddenly. There was an open trench mine...

#4


...followed by nothing. Just the edge of the mountain and a grey ceiling sky.

#5



The trail branched off in all directions at this point. I went left first, since, from what I had read, that was the least exciting thing to see. There was a nice view, but I quickly came to the promised dead-end. Nowhere to go but down. Way down...

#6



When I got back to the nexus, I spent some time examining the first thing that had caught my attention. It was an old crane, minus the boom.

#7



A stamp on its engine block said it was patented on January 11, 1927. That's not a manufacture date, but it was probably built within the next decade. That makes it around 80 years old. It was almost certainly brough up the mountain in parts, and assembled at the top. 80 years on top of this mountain. When the work was done, it was too big and old to make the treacherous trip down the mountain worthwhile, so here it remains.

#8



The central trail followed an artificial shelf carved out of the side of the mountain. This is where the action was.

#9



By the end of that road, I had only spotted one mine opening. Some of the cliff above it had collapsed in the intervening decades since the mine's closure, so it was half-obscured by a pile of rubble.

I haven't been in a cave since the '90's, and that was on an elementary school field trip to Ruby Falls, in Tennessee. I was too young to remember much besides the fact that it was cold, wet, and cramped, but oh so fascinating.

This was different. This was a hole in a cliff in the middle of nowhere, abandoned for more than half a century, where they used to mine asbestos, the use of which is now banned or heavily restricted in nearly every civilized country. Still, curiosity got the better of me, and I went in.

#10



It was cold in there. I was still terrified. The asbestos was only a small part of it, as it takes years of exposure to cause a significant risk of mesothelioma and cancer. No, I was worried about a cave-in. I did my best to make no sound. It was dead silent in the cave; every little scrape of shoe on rock was like the loudest thing I had ever heard.

The corridor came to an intersection. The way forward was blocked by rubble; ditto to the right. That made things simple: go left. That pathway ended shortly. It wasn't a cave-in; it just ended in a blank wall. There, I found this little vein:

#11



Asbestos is a shiny mineral with tiny, hair-like crystals. It shone in the light from my flashlight. There had been a few piles of it scattered about around the nexus, but this was the only sample I saw in its native environment.

I didn't have a flash beyond the on-board unit, and I didn't have a tripod, but I had some rocks to put the camera on, and a flashlight to pain the tiny corridor with light. Good enough!

#12



Back out in the world, the sun had come out, though only briefly. These are the limestone tailings from the mine. They're visible for many, many miles. I had seen them several times while driving to other hikes in the area.

#13



This is looking south, with Highway 288 and Lake Roosevelt in the distance.

#14



On the way back to the nexus, I realized that I had missed another cave opening. Part of me was thrilled; the sensible part was horrified. But curiosity could not be denied. How could you turn away from this? Look, this one even has a door frame.

#15


No door, though. I was grateful for that. Imagine, walking down a cramped corridor into an abandoned mine shaft, and, without warning, the wind blows the door shut behind you.

#16



But hey, at least you'd have a cozy bed to sleep on.

#17


A tunnel led off to the left, but it ended shortly in a pile of rubble. Back in the antechamber with the bed, there was a secondary doorframe leading deeper into the mine. The doorway wasn't much more than five feet high. A startled bat flew by as I crouched through the doorway. The hallway beyond wasn't much higher. I had walk hunched over.

The corridor ended at a wider chamber supported by old wooden beams wedged between the floor and ceiling. Two corridors continued off into the indeterminate distance, growing ever smaller as they went; one more forked off to the right. I decided to take the right one, as it was closest.

#18


The tunnel made a 90° turn, beyond which no trace of light from the entrance penetrated. No sound, either. It was black as pitch, and my flashlight was my lifeline. The tunnel dropped in to a smaller, intersecting tunnel. To the right, there was a door, and beyond that door:

#19



A cave-in. Looking the other direction, the tunnel went on further than my flashlight could reach, growing ever more claustrophobic as it went.

#20



I'd had enough. I've played too many video games, seen too many movies. This is where you get lost, or fall into a pit, and the undead start coming out from unseen corridors. No, that's enough. Out in the main corridor, the light at the end of the tunnel beckoned.

#21



Out in the world once again, I started heading back to the nexus again when I saw yet another cave. Why!?!? Okay, just a quick look.

#22



Okay, big chamber with lots of dark, branching corridors. Enough of that. Out we go.

#23



And yet, there was still another mine I had missed. A rattlesnake at the mouth told me not to come in. I heeded his warning, and moved on. For real this time.

#24



Back at the nexus, there was a third trail leading up to the summit. On the way, we saw a flock of wild turkeys, but Skippy chased them away before I could get a picture.

The view at the top was somewhat limited.

#25



The hike back down was pretty uneventful, except for a little bit of rain. It was just a light drizzle; not a problem. Oh yeah, and I saw some junipers.

#26



Sorry for the really long thread. If you made it this far, thanks for looking! This was just the most interesting thing I've done in a long time. I don't think I'd want to do it again, though.

#27

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09-23-2013, 10:53 PM   #2
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Great description and photos. Don't think you would have caught me heading into the mines though.
09-23-2013, 11:02 PM   #3
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Quite the adventure! Beautiful landscape and excellent pictures, I like your wide angle and improvised light shots.

The colors look excellent, are those straight out of the SD1 or did you tweak?
09-24-2013, 06:00 AM   #4
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Nice captioned storyline along with the photos.

09-24-2013, 07:13 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by camerons Quote
Great description and photos. Don't think you would have caught me heading into the mines though.
Thank you. As for going into the mines, I haven't decided if it was bravery or stupidity yet.

QuoteOriginally posted by hcarvalhoalves Quote
Quite the adventure! Beautiful landscape and excellent pictures, I like your wide angle and improvised light shots.

The colors look excellent, are those straight out of the SD1 or did you tweak?
Much appreciated. "Straight out of camera" is not technique anyone should use on the SD1. I tweaked the crap out of these pictures. A lot of it was creative choice, though, like oversaturating the sunlit pictures, darkening the rainy sky, desaturating the cave shots, etc. It's all about making the pictures feel the same way I felt when I was actually there.

I will say this, though: I only added a tiny bit of sharpening (~10% in Lightroom).

QuoteOriginally posted by Colbyt Quote
Nice captioned storyline along with the photos.
Thanks for the kind words, and for taking the time to look!

Last edited by scratchpaddy; 09-24-2013 at 07:20 AM.
09-24-2013, 07:22 AM   #6
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Really enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time. Keep it up
09-24-2013, 07:40 AM   #7
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I enjoyed seeing your trip. TFS.

09-24-2013, 10:44 AM   #8
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What an adventure well photographed thanks for sharing.
09-24-2013, 01:09 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by carrrlangas Quote
Really enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time. Keep it up
Glad you enjoyed it. I did too. This won't be the last.

QuoteOriginally posted by jnguyen Quote
I enjoyed seeing your trip. TFS.
And thank you for looking!

QuoteOriginally posted by daacon Quote
What an adventure well photographed thanks for sharing.
Thanks Dave. All those awesome landscapes you've been posting were making me restless.
09-24-2013, 02:33 PM   #10
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Thanks for this visit ,much appreciate these pics .
09-24-2013, 02:58 PM   #11
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I enjoyed the pix and story.

I'm not sure I'd have entered the mines but that harks back to a childhood when some bigger kids took me into an underground canal and left me in the dark with the rats.

The blue asbestos mining town of Wittenoom in Oz is pretty much verboten to tourists over fears about cancer Wittenoom, Western Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A lot of asbestos was used in the manufacture of a product called asbestos cement sheet or fibrous cement sheet (commonly known as fibro in Australia) and it was widely used in home building, especially for exterior cladding and, in corrugated form, for roofing. Fibro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Today there is much hysteria about it and regulations in place for its removal and disposal.
09-24-2013, 03:44 PM   #12
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Nice adventure en well told!
09-24-2013, 07:54 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by Hippone Quote
Thanks for this visit ,much appreciate these pics .
I appreciate the comment.

QuoteOriginally posted by Fries Quote
Nice adventure en well told!
Thanks!

QuoteOriginally posted by p38arover Quote
that harks back to a childhood when some bigger kids took me into an underground canal and left me in the dark with the rats.
Those jerks! I would be scarred for life.

Thanks for that link about Wittenoom. They make it sound like Chernobyl or something. And three people still live there... It looks like the situation there was a lot worse than here. This was a pretty small-scale operation, and all the recent rain kept any dust out of the air. The mines themselves were pretty much cleaned out.

Growing up, all I knew about asbestos was that it used to be used in buildings, and it was bad. I thought it was made in a lab somewhere, as that's where nasty substances usually come from.

It's actually a pretty, shiny crystal found in a cave!



Fuzzy, too. That fuzz is what's not good for the lungs.

Last edited by scratchpaddy; 09-24-2013 at 07:59 PM.
09-24-2013, 08:25 PM   #14
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Great series and commentary - like I was right there with you!

Curious as to what country this was - or if in the US what state.....?
09-24-2013, 09:12 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by stormtech Quote
Great series and commentary - like I was right there with you!

Curious as to what country this was - or if in the US what state.....?
Thanks, Stan! That makes me happy, since if I can put you in my shoes, I feel I've succeeded.

It's Arizona, baby! This is what makes me so happy to live here. It feels worlds away from all civilization, but this is in the Tonto National Forest, just two hours northeast of Phoenix. There are trails on mountains inside the city, too, but they're deadly during the hotter months, literally. People die on them every year from heat stroke and dehydration.

It's fairly easy to find in Google Earth, as the tailings shown in #13 (and that Skippy's standing on in #14) are clearly visible in their satellite pictures:



Here's the place. You can even find the old crane if you look close enough:

Google Maps

Forest Road 489, which I hiked up on, comes up from the other side of the peak, to the north. Roosevelt Lake, to the southwest, is the largest in Arizona.

Last edited by scratchpaddy; 09-24-2013 at 09:18 PM.
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