Subject: [ParanormalNevada] Our Investigations Of Ophir Hill & The Territorial Enterprise - 12/19/15
Date:1/8/2016 1:25:04 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: LordOfThyNight@aol.com
To: ParanormalBuffalo@yahoogroups.com,  ParanormalGhostSociety@googlegroups.com,  paranormalghostsociety@yahoogroups.com,  ParanormalGhostSocietyConnections@yahoogroups.com,  TheParanormalGhostSociety@yahoogroups.com,  SupernaturalFlorida@yahoogroups.com,  ParanormalCalifornia@yahoogroups.com,  ParanormalNevada@yahoogroups.com,  Paranormalflorida@yahoogroups.com,  sierraparanormal@yahoogroups.com,  PGSPhantoms@yahoogroups.com

Every year around the holidays I try to make it down to Virginia City of course being I live near there for me its not a far jaunt and I do go up here often. Its still one of the best preserved semi ghost towns in the US and perhaps one of the most haunted. Every locations has a ghost story eventually I am going to buy a book about the ghost legends that way I can kind of fill in the blankets on our website when it comes to the many places we have investigated over the past few years here.

 
Ophir Hill
Spanish Ravine
 
Technically you can drive to the top of the peak but its a rough run especially through Spaniard Canyon. The canyon is so steep that when your in downtown Virginia City it looks straight up and down high up at the top of the range. As you pull on up to the road its very rocky in this case it was full of ice and snow. We would have to rough it on foot which is great because it would allow me to experience the mining district piece by piece.
 
On one side of the canyon you have Mount Davidson the tallest mountain in the Virginia Range. On the other side of it you have Ophir Hill. The two really are not that different elevation and if you want some of the best views for over 100 miles then stand on Ophir Hill if you think you can handle the steep climb to the top. The views are worthwhile but with it beginning to snow visibility was diminishing! Generally in the morning deer and wild horses graze but this was not the case. The creatures of the Virginia Range were in hiding knowing a storm was amidst.  
 
I like to do extreme adventuring the harder it is the better it is I do not care if someone does not agree with me on that. But in this field I find it better to work for something then for nothing at all. We hiked the road on foot there was rocks, ice, snow and it was slippery. So it was a bit of a challenge but the sun coming up made it worthwhile. I watched the sun come up over the Carson Sink or rather great basin it does not get any better then that as it begin to gleam over Virginia City.
 
It was brisk I mean the sun was just coming up and we continued to push on. There are dump piles from mines but as we could see the peak in sight there was no entrances into them. We found one small hole in the side of some rocks that led into a mine but it was fenced off and very small. But back in the day this canyon was riddled with miners some of those mines were so deep that they had 1500 shafts that had tunnels which connected to places like Chinatown.
 
The weather was getting really terrible we could see the storm coming in fast the same one we seen over the range while driving in. First the dark clouds swept through the canyon then came the snow with each second falling hard and of course high windows whipping through. Not ideal for a breakfast picnic and to make matters worst Virginia City vanished in the storm. Yeah we could not see more then a few feet out in front of us we were in a winter storm!
 
The road up ahead nearly went straight up its a very steep climb to get out of the canyon but nearly a direct way to get to the peak which we could see just beyond it. There was also a road that split that jets back towards Virginia City but higher up in Spaniard Canyon. I assume if we took this way it would once again switch back on top of the ridge and take us also to the peak.
 
I decided instead to climb up the side of the canyon to the ridge which is really grueling on my bad knees and back. You have to push through sage brush some of its dry and dead. There was also more snow on the sides of these mountains which create this canyon. When the storm was coming in I was being battered by it hitting me hard in the face.
 
Tammy waited at the bottom of the canyon for me the reason being is she said I am a much faster climber and can get to the ridge to get some photos. Unfortunately no matter how fast I climbed slipping on the side of the mountain or having to climb over rocks it was nature that won this time. When I stood on the ridge leading to the peak Virginia City, Washoe Valley, Sierras, Great Basin and Mount Davidson were completely invisible. That includes Tammy I could no longer see her I was standing above Virginia City in a storm.
 
I thought that was a very cool experience LITTERALLY lol! I came down off the side of Ophir Hill fast but it was extremely slippery I know I was skiing a few times. I could see Tammy but visibility was poor. I did not waste my time journeying to the peak because I could not see an end in sight to the storm passing through. Even if I continued for another twenty minutes to get to the top I knew that my camera would only reveal a wall of white within the canyon and I was right. Therefore I did allot of filming at this location instead during the storm.
 
I met back at the bottom of the road where Tammy was waiting for me. She told me she could see me for a short time then I disappeared. I did actually succeed at one thing while climbing and that was I found a dump pile. I never found the mine entrance to it most of them have been filled in here due to careless hikers. But one can imagine that if I worked as hard as I did to climb straight up through the canyon just imagine what the miners had to go through to work those mines. After they would work the mines they still had to hike out of here and trust me its unforgiving!
 
We begin to descent back down to the edge of Virginia City which is literally in the backyards of historical homes on the edge of town. The snow begin to taper off and their were brief moments we could actually see all of the town below. But where the sun was rising was now just a gray sea like a storm out over the ocean. An area filled with the clouds of mother nature that once was a visible vast sandy desert expanse.
 
We took the same path that Mark Twain once journeyed on believe it or not. I did this for a reason that is because after our trek here I had plans to investigate the old Territorial Enterprise one of Nevada's most successful newspapers. Mark Twain was an editor for the paper here its where his writing career took off. You can easily see from the top of Ophir Hill just about every single location I have investigated within VC. I never would make it to the top but I have plants to return because ill summit Ophir Hill then continue to follow the peaks ridge to Mount Davidson.
 
Such peaks in the area provide good recreation for the locals but from what I understand people like Mark Twain also was curious and had an interest in standing at the top of the Virginia Range. Back then though if you hiked through Spaniard Canyon all the mines would have been fully operational and off in the distance you would have heard the stamp mills crushing the ore. However today on a crisp morning such as this one not a human soul was anywhere to be seen.
 
I would began to descend to downtown Virginia City in my Santa Beard it was the holidays. If you walk downtown all the shops have Christmas lights and trees. The streets had some snow in them it kind of looked like a postcard seriously! We went to the Christmas shop and bought another Virginia City ornament for our tree. They have a few and their all hand crafted very beautiful.
 
It was still early but the shops were all open for business the candy and fudge shops smelled good in the AM lol. I like to shop this time of year in VC and sometimes you can get great deals. I had bought a Sheriff star for my son I know I wear mine all the time on my cowboy hat on some expeditions in Nevada. I bought Tammy some earrings they have this aqua colored gemstone its pretty. My son had gotten a leather belt and bought my other kid a ninja throwing star with metal alloys that give off a rainbow colored effect.
 
Each shop tends to carry something unique if you look around I mean after all I seen a giant grim reaper and even an alien skull not real but still very cool. I am sure I looked quite rugged walking into these shops Santa Beard, snow on me, wet pants from climbing in Ophir Canyon and me of course walking around with my pipe. Speaking of pipes I bought a new glass pipe at a shop that sells them downtown. The lady who works at the shop perhaps the owner told me she had ordered one just for her and it fell never breaking so I bought the same one. She was right one of my kittens was on my sink knocked the pipe onto the floor and guess what? It never broke and smoking my OG Kush out of it is pure I love it!
 
The one thing I love about Virginia City is that you get every walk of life here. People in these parts are like brothers and sisters. We talked to someone who plays in a band that we went to go see back in October. Everybody has a tale or a story and there is allot of culture here. I make new friends all the time and over the last few years many know who I am. Not everybody is allowed to walk into these shops wearing the Santa beard lol. I remember two years ago one shop owner said to me I am not suppose to let you in here but for you ill make the exception LMAO. That is the gods honest truth so Virginia City has always welcomed me no matter where I go to dine, drink, party or ghost hunt!!!
 
The weather was clearing up a few blue patches but still dark snowy clouds hanging over downtown. There was a brief patch of blue sky above Ophir Hill but I was not going to make a second climb at it within an hour or two. I just figured id come on back when the weather clears that way I can get some great photos of the Great Basin, Snowy Sierras, Slide Mountain, Virginia City, Washoe and Eagle Valley, One of the reasons I summit peaks is for the views without a view your defeating the purpose of having to climb such a beast!
 
After climbing mountains where mines are everywhere and smoking my pipe downtown Virginia City shopping around we were ready for a nice warm indoor investigation of the old Territorial Enterprise.

LR

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