[Roxann]

July 5 was a beautiful day for a hike. So Ice Girl, Bushwhacker, my hiking partner Terri (a non-member of nwhikers.net) and myself decided to take a little trip to Mineral City. Newbie Newt had done such a great job with his pictures we wanted some of our own. See post on Mineral City 6-23-02. The trail was in excellent shape and was an easy hike. The waterfalls still had good flow. We stopped at every single one and then some. Between the four of us I believe we had 8 cameras. The first mine was just too much for us. We broke out the flashlights and Ice Girl set out to explore it closer. She went in at least a 100 feet. I was more cautious and only made it in about 20 feet. The rest of our group declined. The next several mines we did not go in. But from the outside one looked to be only 10 feet deep and another was only about 30 feet and another had too much water on the floor of the mine to wade thru. Just before we reached our vehicles on the way out we ran into the Tim, Judy, and their two children. We stopped to talk to them. Tim is the owner of the cabin (mentioned later) for the last 16 years and some of the information that follows came from him. We were looking for the bus and a good thing to because it is easy to miss in the trees. The bus (this info is from Tim) was driven under its own power, into its present spot, jacked up, and the wheels removed back in the mid 70's. At that time they were logging in that area and they used a log skidder to get it around some of the corners. Further up the trail is the cabin owned by Tim and Judy. They said they enjoy having company when they are there and that they will be there the whole month of August and if any one is planning on hiking in please bring them some perishables like fresh fruit and vegetables and they will reimburse you when you stop by to chat. Very nice people. We reached the only blow down and could hear the roaring of the creek. So we explored the creek. This one had no bridge and would have been tricky to cross so we turned around and went back to the blow down area for a bit of chow before heading out. According to Tim this area is the former site of Mineral City. Yahoo!!!! Eureka!!!! We actually made it to the town site. I would post pictures but my husband is the computer geek and is presently having technical difficulties with my web site. Maybe Bushwhacker or Ice Girl would be kind enough to post some. The other group of people that we met on the trail mentioned something about searching the mines for garnets? Maybe Ice Girl found the motherlode when she went in the mine and is holding out on the rest of us? Who knows?

[Ice Girl]

Yea, i am now forever vacation in South of Florida. My other three hiking buddies are none the wise either. Will post new Florida pic soon... As for any others who know the truth, please keep it between us, i don't want to share the jewels i or anyone else found. Ice Girl