[Cairn]

Has anyone recently been to the Sunset Mines off of the old Trout Creek Road (near Index)? We hiked it recently and if we hadn't run into a couple of rough-looking characters who were camped off the road we wouldn't have found it. The rough looking characters turned out to be very nice guys and knew a lot about the history of the mine. Thanks to them we found the hidden path that leads to some of the mines but I'd like more information about them if anyone knows. I know we didn't get to all of them -- there is one adit apparently that is large enough that a 3-story structure can still be seen inside of it (according to "Discovering Washington's Historic Mines", OSO press) but we were not prepared to enter any of the mines and didn't. You can hike beyond the mines on the Trout Creek Road (the road doesn't show on Green Trails maps) but it becomes more trail-like. We stopped where a crossing of Trout Creek appeared very dangerous (3 skinny trees across a raging waterfall). Apparently (according to the guys we talked to) there are more mines beyond that crossing. Just curious about this place. There were no signs saying "Keep Out" or anything posted.

[-lol-]