New addition to Outdoor Basecamp!

[wildbackpacker]

Well hello everybody! My name is Colton and I'm the newest member of the Outdoor Basecamp Forums! I'm located in Utah, USA. I love snowmobiling, dirt biking, snowboarding, rock climbing, abandoned mine exploring, and boating. But my real love is backpacking and hiking. I love hiking and the spectacular scenery you can see from doing it. You don't have to buy expensive vehicles, you can just go out whenever you want (especially when I have mountains 20 minutes from my house) and enjoy what Mother Nature has given us.

I look forward to posting with all of you and expanding my knowledge about the outdoors! Thanks you guys! See you on the trail!

[jason]

Greetings and salutations. Welcome to the site. I must admit, the mine exploring has me interested. How did you get started with it? Do you need to get permission from someone, all the ones I have ever seen have no trespassing signs. You ever find something really cool in them?

[wildbackpacker]

Mine exploration really is amazing. My brother got me into it after be joined a mine exploration and preservation organization, Mojave Underground. They, however focus on Utah and the western states. But they have a forum, videos, a wiki, photo galleries, and meetups about mines in the area. They are all into safety and preservation of historical (and safe) mines.

Most mines have been properly gated or sealed up for safety reasons (although not all of them are unsafe). But there are still handfuls that have not been closed or ones you can squeeze through the gate. You do have to be careful about trespassing on private property though.

Just last week I explored a mine a few hours from my house with some friends. I had a map of the mine and people have been going in it for over 50 years now (mostly college students). While exploring, we found a 75 foot ladder we had to climb up when we couldn't even see the top. We also encountered some vertical shafts you have to watch out for. In other mines, though, I've found tons of old mining artifacts. There are ones you can explore for hours and still not explore every tunnel. You can actually read more about that mine in my post on their forums.

Although there is a small safety risk, it really does give you a thrill. But I only go in mines that have been air tested and have no major cave-ins. I think it is more likely that you die in a car crash driving to the mine then actually being killed in the mine.