The Gettysburg Mine

Boot showed me the stamp mill foundation and the crusher. This is where they would crush the rock and process the minerals out of it such as gold and silver. Then I am sure they would melt them down into bars somewhere nearby. That gold and silver could be shipped out at the Colorado River the area I did some photography and filming at for our site.

We were basically in the middle of the desert we had high mountains, boulders, and desert everywhere. We were on a very high lookout point but it was to dark to see anything but Boot told me it was a killer view. I walked on down to the crusher seen a lot of gold sparkles shining my light not really worth anything unless you mined thousands of pounds of it.

I had to direct Boot out of this place he had to turn around on this dead end road truck could have gone over that would not have been cool. At one end of the look out was two roads below it was a deep canyon and across was a giant mountain. Boot was like Rick we have to get over there if you want to see the mine I was like wow. The roads were deadly so we would not drive rather we would get a little closer then hike our way in.

We had a mountain to climb and an old trail used by miners which was steep. Before we went up it Boot showed us a dam serious a huge dam in the middle of the desert. He also showed us these cactuses they are tiny balls that fall of this tree like plant dogwoods I think. But Anyway's the needles can penetrate even a boot. Trust me I stepped down and a needle went deep into my foot. It stung and it hurt for awhile. I could feel a little blood on my foot. Boot had a tool to pull the needles out and he told me about the barrel cactus which turns bright red when you pour water on it like a glow in the night. We seen some that were 150 years old in the desert.

 We left and ascended to the Gettysburg taking a road up then a very sharp trail. We entered a very narrow entrance a lot of rats bring those cactuses in the mines using them to protect there nest but also they are very edible without the needles. We encountered hundreds of them surrounding the entrance to a mine I got to far ahead seen silver in a rock got so excited you guessed it got about 7 balls of needles stuck in my deck shoes and pant legs.

I still have needles stuck in the soles of my shoes and unfortunately I am so poor I wear slippers pretty much hiking and I suffer. The only reason why I do not fall down slopes, mountains, or cliffs is cause I got very good balance but basically with no traction its like walking on ice and everything I step on I feel lol.

So I sat down had to pull them out one by one then we went into the mine. It did not go far back it ended with a chute and collapsed area. Of course the shaft we climbed in a little ways and Boot told me it went right up to the top of the mountain which had a square peak. We took our time here for a bit then went to seek out the other mines.

I got ahead again found a bunch of old things left by miners in the desert you see water tanks, dynamite boxes, tin cans etc everywhere. We found an area which looked like the start of the mine and to the left was a steep steep mountain side with gravel and to the right was rocks to step on. I went straight up the mountain just ask June it was a pain in the ass. I was sliding down....grabbing onto the side of the mountain on all fours...when I got to the top June and Boot looked like ants. I directed them around where it would be easier but take longer for them to get to me.

Boot told me Rick go in the mine see if its something you want to explore oh yeah I went into it. I walked into the tunnel...climbed a 5 foot ledge that went up then split off left and right. To the right it was a dead end however to the left was a small tunnel I had to crouch down in then to the left of that was a shaft going into the darkness.

I climbed over a rock wall and into the shaft. I never in my life thought I would go down a mine shaft but I did. I climbed down this crevice that went down at a sharp angle. My concern was is if I slide down the thing will it drop off into a deep vertical shaft or pit.

The wood poles were holding up the ceiling and cracked. It was very narrow I was on my back slowly going down. I could sit up a little but not much. When I reached the bottom it looked like a dead end but honestly there was a tunnel that curved around I did not see.

I heard the team get to the mine my camera was not working something went wrong and I felt an ice cold spot hit me in the shaft. I felt something in the mine with me I was by myself in a shaft deep inside trying to fix my camera and hold the light all at the same time. Because I was sliding down I also got it in the ass. When I say I got it in the ass it means I was pricked in the ass. I was pricked so good that when I got to the entrance I had to pull needles that rats carry in there mouth deep in the mines out of my ass cheeks. It was not fun cause the needles do not want to pull out once they are embedded. I told June I am done I am toking one up I do not care if the world was ending.

So we toked one up Boot was outside of the mine he was like whatever your smoking sure smells good hehehehe then he came on in there to chill with us while we toked up. He cannot smoke cause as a tour guide they test him for safety but he complimented me on some good smoke lol.

We went to the final area of the Gettysburg and boot showed me a fault line within. There are fault lines all over El Dorado trust me this area is a disaster waiting to happen earth quakes do happen but if you were to mine along those lines it could pose a problem if one were to happen.

This part of the mine split off two different ways pretty cool the one side had a wood wall stepping up into another tunnel while the other way led to the bottom of that shaft I was sliding down. June could not get to the top of that shaft so it was nice to show her how I got into it and so she got to enter it from the bottom area.

After that we took on off we went skiing down the side of a mountain. I did some video taping while doing it but basically in simple terms the mountain is steep...a lot of loose rock and like Boot told June if it was daytime you would not enjoy how high up we are lol. We slid all the way down got back onto the trail and to the truck.

The off-roading was nice it took us sometime to get back but Boot had to turn on in and we still had more adventuring to do. Boot was a great person to have on the team he helped June climb cause she had a few oopsydaisies skiing probably is not her thing  and hell with the shoes I have one tumble forward and my keester would not have been eating chocolate chip cookies last night. June is a great person to hike with because when she falls she does not bitch about it she laughs and gets right back up. I told her your great because you do not give up you keep pushing on. I have had many men just stop and give up but in my society we take away the I cants and we turn them into do's!

At this point I still felt stabbed my needles and Boot gave me a needle from a barrel cactus just to show me how the dexterity is of them. I could barely break it nothing to mess with in the desert. Boot gave me some water in case I found one to pour it on there to see the glow. He also told me if I ever go partying to pick him up just watch your wives and gfs lol.

It was funny cause when we were sliding down the mountain and climbing....Boot started cracking TAPS jokes hahahaha I NEVER said a word about TAPS about how they visit all the places we already were at or did shows already about freaking hilarious. He was like you guys are the real deal not that TAPS stuff you see on TV hahahaha I almost fell down the mountain I laughed so hard. But yeah he had some pretty good rips on them so you see I am not the only guy in America who sees how much of clowns them dudes are. You can go out investigating and have fun without boosting ratings I am scared lets run please. You wont catch me running I told June if coyotes attack me I am playing soccer ill kick that bitch right off the mountain Lord Rick will shoot and score no running for this man especially after I had a needle go through my foot YEAH.

We did it we were back at base....we left Boot and it would be time to settle our score with Jubilee and Skull Mine.