Friday Hike Day: Big Horn Mine, Wrightwood

Adventure Kids at the entrance of Big Horn Mine.

This is a fantastic hike! But let me start with the basics: Adventure Parking pass required! There are vault toilets & whoa-they were the nastiest ever! I mean N.A.S.T.Y! Like hold your breath and pray not to pass out cause you don't want to come in contact with anything in that bathroom. 

Watching the Adventure Kids explore the mine interior.

The drive was a little farther than usual...almost 1.5 hours but it turned out worth it.
We knew we were hiking a trail to a mine. I did a brief google search last night to get an idea.

What we didn't expect and were very excited to discover was...SNOW!  It was perfect for us Southern Californians. There were spots on the ground, in shady spots, with snow. It was slippery at times. The kids were so excited, of course, and this was before we even started the hike.

Obligatory pic. Amazing view.

It's definitely cooler than our neighborhood, but it wasn't that cold. As always--dress in layers. I had a light hoodie, short sleeve shirt with a tank under + yoga pants.

The trail itself is a mix of shade and sun. Some incline but not very steep.

Adventure Mom...in the snow.

The trail gets rocky at times. There are a few spots of flat clay and dirt then rocky again. Slippery type of rocky. Definitely NOT stroller friendly. A baby in a back pack could mess with your equilibrium in spots, I think. 

Big Horn Mine

The trail is not long at all, nor is it rigorous. You will come across a first mine. It is barred across the entrance, though the center steal bar is cut off or something, so one could actually fit through if they wanted. However, that mine was full of water today. We were not interested in soaking our shoes. That mine is NOT Big Horn Mine, so keep going.

Hiking Buddies.

You will know the mine when you get to it. It completely ups the adventure factor. Most of the original wood beams are in shambles. Collapsed and discombobulated. Use extreme caution if you decide to climb up to the actual mine entrance. 

The first mine.

The min entrance features a mangled steal door or gate that is not secure and swings right open. Behind that, are the same type of steel cross bars. Also the same--the middle one is not there and one can easily climb through and enter the mine. 

Discovering artifacts is a real possibility. DO not disturb if you do. 

The view from the mine is breath taking. It's a great spot to sit and have lunch. Or explore the interior of the mine. From teh entrance you can see the old rail car tracks. Not knowing much about it at all, we let 3/9 of our kids that wanted, enter in. There was a string attached to the barrier beams. We let them go as far as the string reached and then turn around.

Adventure Kids explore the mine.

The mind seem secure and our spidey senses did not discern any negative joojoo. There is absolutely no light inside. Bird used her Ipod as a flashlight.

We passed a few hikers on our way up and their way down. I happened to do an Instagram search of Big Horn Mine and found their pix of exploring the mine. Feeling jealous, we definitely want to return.

I'm a mom, often with other people's kids with us--I have to be extra cautious. There is also a historical cabin along this route, left of the fork. We tried to find it and found a broken down shack. We weren't sure if that was the historical cabin and someone had recently torn it down or not. Again, with the IG search, I found pix of another hiker's recent visit--providing us with even more excuse to return. 

SO...there was SNOW!

Kids and teens will enjoy this hike. It's beautiful, short, not too strenuous and the mine is like the icing on the cake! I love it for it's historical value. The trail head has signs for a few other hikes of various lengths and is part of the Pacific Crest Trail. 

All the pix are out of order for this post, sorry...blogger tweaks like that sometimes and doesn't always cooperate to let me fix the formatting. Next week is Thanksgiving...My post may be late but we'll still be hiking. Not sure where yet...Enjoy your week.