Earlier this year, I was talking to On1Wheel about some mines I had heard about in the high country. He responded by saying "I'm not sure if I should tell you this, but there is a vertical mine shaft located on Thornberry Mountain near your "Hunting Season" (GC4X023) cache. Apparently, instead of taking the dirt road to my "Hunting Season" cache, he had taken the steep, direct route up the moutain. During his hike, he stated that he had stumbled upon said mine, and that it was toward the top of the hill.
Determined to find the mine, I set out on an expedition a few days later. After wandering around the area and scaling up the steep hillsides, I was finally able to locate the mine. Since locating it, I considered about hiding a 5/5 cache in the mine, but since I didn't feeling like dying and I don't want any cachers dying, I instead placed a 2/3 hide. The cache container was kindly given to me by MRC1925T at a flash mob event.
The cache is hidden close to the mine, but not close enough to put any cachers at risk. If you wan't to check out the mine, walk about 50' west of the cache and you will find the vertical shaft. My USGS TOPO map stated that the mine was called "Prospect Mine". Be extremely careful when walking around the rim of the mine. The edges could cave-in and send you 6 feet under (or farther). A few months after locating the mine, Sierra Star posted an article detaling Tony Krizan's excursion to locate the mine, entiled "Hiking Adventures Close to Home" - check it out. In the article, Tony also mentioned that is another mine in the area, but I wasn't able to locate it with his directions. Maybe an adventurous cacher will make the the discovery!
The cache contains a few small swag itmes, two travel bugs I picked up in Utah, and 15' of 550 paracord for the FTF. Have fun and stay safe! 