Starbuck's Exploring

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114 posts

Old Hundred Boarding House

Old Hundred Boarding House

Observant travelers heading east out of Silverton on the Alpine Loop might spot a large wooden building high on the west slope of Galena Mountain, as they approach the old mill site of Howardsville. It is an astonishing sight— the structure appears to impossibly cling to a sheer and inaccessible

Chemung Mine

Chemung Mine

The Chemung Mine tells two stories, and neither one ends well. The first is about phenomenally rich gold ore that someone discovered in 1909 – ore so valuable it ran "several hundred dollars per ton" in an era when that meant real money. The second story is about a

Pine City Overlook

Pine City Overlook

Pine City was never a city. Instead, it's a peaceful collection of pinyon pines and junipers scattered among granite boulder formations at 4,200 feet elevation in Joshua Tree National Park. This unusual concentration of drought-resistant conifers in the otherwise sparse desert landscape likely inspired early miners to

Greene Denner Drake Mill

Greene Denner Drake Mill

Tucked away in a small canyon just off of Emigrant Canyon/Wildrose Road, on the slopes of the northern Panamint Mountains at 5,020 feet elevation, sits the Greene-Denner-Drake Mill. Forever in the shadow of its more famous neighbor, Skidoo, this quiet spot sees few visitors. This little camp contains

May Lundy Mine

May Lundy Mine

Just northwest of Mono Lake lies Lundy Canyon, home to a Mono County campground, a large lake, and a small resort with a few cabins and campsites. Most visitors today come for the fishing, hiking, and fall color, probably unaware that this quiet area was once home to a booming

Tip Top Mine

Tip Top Mine

Big Emma Mine

Big Emma Mine

Hidden in the mountains just northwest of Mono Lake lie two of the most beautiful canyons in the Eastern Sierra, Lundy and Lake Canyons. Perched high on the wall of Lake Canyon, in a seemingly unreachable location, sits the remains of the Big Emma gold mine. This adventurous all-day hike