Chuck is the newest guy on my team, and this was his first time accompanying me and Paul on an expedition. I had been corresponding with Chuck for almost a year before meeting him in person, so I knew that he and his buddy Justin were no strangers to exploring abandoned mines -- they've been skillfully and safely exploring and documenting northern California mines and mining history for over a year now. Because Chuck was the new guy, Paul and I had some fun ribbing him and subjecting him to practical jokes on our recent trek. He was a good sport about it and took it all in stride!
The mines we explored in this video weren't that extensive but they were over 100 years old. While exploring them, we found some interesting things including a deep winze, ladders to unknown heights, and century-old, overhead timbers holding back tons of waste rock as we passed nervously underneath them. One of the portals was totally blocked with a collapse, so we plan on returning at a later date to dig that one out.
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