It has been a long time since we have posted any adventures…..well we took what we thought was a great adventure. We went to Mackay’s Mine Hill tour which is in Mackay, Idaho. It is a self guided tour of old mining ruins. You can take the driving tour in your car, other sections require high clearance vehicles or you can do the entire tour in an ATV or dirt bike. There are a total of 20 stops on this self guided tour. I think we made it to all of them.

We went with our son and his family and their friends…….the weather was perfect and the scenery was beautiful. We stopped and had lunch and enjoyed the day. One of the most impressive things about this place was there was no trash, people picked up after themselves, there was no graffiti and old things were left in place and not disturbed….love it.

If you are ever in the area, I recommend checking this place out. I was also told they have amazing trout fishing here too! Maybe next we will try our luck.

The starting point of our adventure. Ore was first discovered in 1879 and production began in 1884 continued into 1980s. Almost a million tons of Ore have been removed over the years, yielding about 42,00 oz. of gold, 2,000,000 oz. of silver, 62,000,000 lbs. of copper, 15,000,000 lbs. of lead and 5,00,000 lbs. of zinc.

The first stop was the Trestle tour, which took us across the Shay Trestle…our rig just barely fit…but we made it 🙂

The trestle was built around 1901, it spans 105 feet and is 25 feet tall…

Next stop on the tour was Ore bin loading site. A pile of rubble and stone wall are all that remain. It was built about 1905 and the structure was about 40 ft. high, 10-12 ft. deep and 80 ft. across.

This stop isn’t numbered on the tour…..I don’t think this site is as old as the rest.

Next stop – Horseshoe Mine and Taylor Family Home and Sawmill site.

Next stop was Anderson Cabin and a nice lunch break.

We didn’t spend much time at this town site, there wasn’t much left. From 1901-05 some of the 100-400 men working the mines lived here, some with families. By 1917 they had a boarding house, post office, movie house, general store, pool hall, barbershop, restaurant, amusement hall and telephone service.

White Knob Peak – This 10,529 ft. formation of white and blue-gray limestone, intermixed with metamorphic, ore-bearing rock is devoid of vegetation and looms as the highest among the other peaks of the range.

This is Ausich Cabin site. The original log cabin was erected about 1889 by miners working the nearby mines and smelter at Cliff Creek.

I know this was a long post…..it is always difficult to pick some of the best photos to help tell the story…..It really was a great day with family and friends and would take the trip again. The scenery and company was awesome.