Mercuria Mine

A former underground mercury mine. Discovered 1926 by Mr. William Reynolds.

Mindat.org data

This was a good one...

It was a tad wet. 2 foot deep water from a spring.

Getting to the mine was, ummm,,, precarious,, hahahaha... 4WD is REQUIRED. See vids.

WARNING: The use of profanity is everywhere

In this vid we almost roll the truck. The camera is LEVEL the truck in not. Notice the keys in the ignition also lean at the same angle as the camera.

The important part is that on the right of this picture is a 3000 foot drop if we fall off.

Here again the camera is level. The road and truck are NOT.

The long version, fun but long ( skipable )

There was the usual 100 year old mine debris scattered around. This was a mercury mine.

There used to be a house with a brick chimney, all gone now..

Greg,,, Um.... FELL 30 -FEET- into a ravine !  We thought he was dead. Turned out he was mostly fine. The most important part was that he somehow saved the open bottle of wine he was carrying and did not spill a drop. Later he was almost bitten by a 6 foot rattle snake.

The mine was great. These vids are mostly dark.

Part 1

Part 2 - this is long but GREAT - watch all of it.

Bats, mice, crayfish, frogs,,,, its got it all.

These photos were taken at this point in the video

Notice the bat... There were a lot of bats.

We continue

There was bear poop everywhere. FRESH bear poop.

We stayed into the night on a moonless night. It was great. We cooked hamburgers and enjoyed the evening.

It was a great trip. It was also a great mine. Its the track to the right.

33°58'26"N , 111°26'14"W  /   33.9739, -111.4372