Burro Schmidt Tunnel
When I got to the tunnel entrance, I found a family of dirt bikers catching their breath. I walked up near the entrance just hoping to get a decent photo of the mine entrance. The bikers looked friendly, so I asked them if they knew about this tunnel. And they sure did. They told me that the tunnel was about 1/2 mile long, and that it cut through the mountain that I saw in-front of me. They told me that you could not get lost in the tunnel because it was a straight path. So I walked into the mine—without water, or flashlight. I mean, in total it’d be a 1 mile hike, so at most it’d take 20 minutes. I thought, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
With every step that I took in the mine, it got darker and darker. I did have my iPhone with me, so I used the flashlight mode on my phone to guide me through the tunnel—it wasn’t very powerful, but it was so dark inside that it worked just fine.
The rock you see above is called mariposite (thank you Google!) and was apparently used by gold miners to find gold during the gold rush!
After about 10 minutes of walking in the mine (surprisingly, my mind didn’t play too many tricks on me or get me too worried), I came out the other end. Though before I did, I did take this wonderful picture of the opposite mine entrance.
And when I stepped outside this entrance, this grand view of the valley below greeted me.
I was blown away with how beautiful everything was. I wish I could’ve stayed around to enjoy the view, but alas, I wanted to make it to camp before sunset. I quickly walked back into the dark—all the way back through the mine and out the other side.
This was a unique experience… I mean, how many people have walked a handmade tunnel through a mountain (besides Fellowship of the Ring)? This hike is one I want to share with my kids someday, though, getting them to agree to a seven hour drive will be the hard part.
What I Learned:
When exploring a tunnel, bring a flashlight. If my phone died on me, I’d been in a pickle.
I kicked myself for not turning on GaiaGPS to record this walk, to only realize later that due to the tunnel, the GPS would not have worked anyways.
I really should have packed water and food, just in case I wanted to walk back around the mountain (there was a trail so that you could make a loop).
I wonder if that mariposite vein I found really would lead to gold.
Hike Review:
This tunnel is flat and it’s about 1/2 mile long. If it wasn’t a tunnel, it’d be a boring, easy hike. But because you get to walk through a mountain, it’s the opposite of boring.
There were some abandoned mining tools in the tunnel, but nothing that really caught my attention.
Near the end of the tunnel, there’s a T-junction. I didn’t explore the left side, but I heard from the other hikers that it’s just a short dead-end.