Eagle Cliff Mine (Part 2)

Hey, thanks for hanging in with me for this two part post on Eagle Cliff Mine in Joshua Tree National Park. At the end of Last Week's Episode I was hiking the backcountry tired, hot, hopelessly lost with only about an hour of daylight left. OK, that's an exaggeration, I wasn't hopelessly lost (thankfully), but I was having a hard time finding the Eagle Cliff Mine area. So it was time to backtrack and make another attempt to find a trail or passage I must have missed, and I really was running out of daylight.

After backtracking about a half mile or so, I noticed a faint trail branching off and heading in the direction I thought was the right direction. Heck, no wonder I missed it, it was very faint and appears to get very little use. After about a 1/4 mile or so on this "trail", I started to wonder if I had made a wrong turn. About this time, I noticed a nice flat clearing flanked by huge boulders on either side. You can tell it's getting late by the way the rocks pick up that golden glow from the late afternoon sun.

This looks promising. You can see some stony rubble on the ground (mine tailings?). Sure enough, just beyond this spot, you can see the mine.

The Eagle Cliff Mine is partially hidden by an oak tree, and it's fenced off on the inside so it can't be explored. The mine dates back to 1895, and is said to be one of the oldest mines in this area. But the mine isn't what I was after. Turns out, there's an old miner's cabin built into the rocks. Totally cool and well preserved, and that's what I'm hoping to find today. 

Study the photo below and you might get a slight glimpse of a wood frame door that is the entrance to the cabin. Don't worry if you can't see it...

I breathed a sigh of relief, and danced a little jig, as I followed this passageway along the rocky walls and spotted what I knew to be the Eagle Cliff mining cabin.

Probably obvious that not all here is original. I read somewhere that the Park Service is restoring parts of this cabin. Also, this front entrance was originally roofed with pinyon pine branches and logs, which has long since disappeared. I wonder if the Park Service will try to replace this roof?

As I entered the cabin, I was blown away by the amount of cool "stuff" inside! I actually had kind of an eerie feeling that I was invading someone's privacy.

As you enter the cabin there is a beautifully built stone fireplace that I'm sure was used to keep the miners warm on some of those cold winter nights.

Wow, look at all the stuff!! I was absolutely impressed that a place like this, totally unsupervised and open to the public (if you can find it) has been left alone, intact, over all these years. No looting, no grafitti. A living piece of history.

Like the sign says, "take only photographs, leave only footprints". Excellent advice. Which brings me to another topic... I'm sure the old miners didn't make this sign. When I compare my photos to some older posts, I think there's actually more "stuff" here now! Are people adding to the collection??

Looking straight up, you can see the roof made from old sticks and perhaps flattened cans or old stovepipe. And some of it looks new. 

Home-made cooktop with some of the utensils still present!

Can you believe it? A six-pane window with all the glass intact!!! How did they manage to get glass out to this remote location all those years ago? 

Shelf space is at a premium!

Here's what the miner's cabin looks like from the other end (opposite the entrance). Pretty amazing, don't you think? This is well hidden behind oak trees and the casual hiker would not see it.

And here's the view from the Eagle Cliffs, about 75 yards from the miner's cabin. I bet the miners enjoyed this view on a regular basis after a hard day's work!!

The Eagle Cliff miner's cabin must have been incredibly difficult to build. Even by today's standards it is remote, and there is no way you are getting a vehicle in here. All supplies would have been packed in. It really highlights the work ethic and ingenuity that the old miners had, and it makes me happy that people have respected it over the years... leave only footprints, take only photographs! Perhaps the coolest thing I've ever seen in Joshua Tree National Park.

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