My wife and baby were in Michigan going to Jacqueline's high school reunion. They left me all alone in Norwood, so I talked to the music teacher at the school and he was down for a weekend hike. We both had Friday off of school, so I called him up early in the morning to see if he was game. He said he was and there was an area I had been wanting to check out. On the drive to Moab from Norwood, there is a canyon that cuts through the scenery and winds its way down to the Dolores River. This seemed like an excellent trip. After doing some research online, I learned that there were some old mines in that area. Seemed interesting, so we went for that. It was about an hour's drive from Norwood to where we parked the car at a big pulloff. We could see a road below us and the terrain did not look too crazy so I asked him if he wanted to just start from here. Jeff looked a little apprehensive, but we slowly picked our way down running into very few obstacles until we hit the road. You have heard the expression "Alpine Start" well this was a desert start. From that point we just followed the road. Almost immediately we ran into a waterfall. We never got a good picture of it though, as it was obscured by vegetation and we did not want to cross the little creek we were following. Jeff was very impressed by the canyon country and all the rock. It was not long 
before we began running into mines. We saw the first one up the hill, so we climbed up to it. I was amazed that it was actually big enough for us to stand up in. We were not able to go very far back because neither of us had a flashlight, but we went as far back using what we could muster for light. I did not have a camera either, so I relied on Jeff to take some pictures. We did not have to go far to run into our next prospect and we could
start to see why this area was hit so hard. With all the multi-colored rocks, we knew there were copper like material coming out of it along with probably much more stuff that you would have to be a mineralogist to know about. We were just appreciating the history that was in this area knowing that it must have been a much more thriving area when 
the mines were active here. Continuing down the road we ran into the first of the big mines which was the Cliff Dweller Mine. But the big one was at the end of the road and that was the Cashin Mine. There were dozens of buildings to house miners, many prospects, and a large mill that was still standing. We walked through the middle of it which was a little creepy. I figured if it could stand up in a Norwood windstorm, it would make it through a beautiful sunny October day. 
We climbed up on the cliff side to explore another prospect and you could tell that this one was the mother lode. It still had tracks running through it and we walked over to where there was a big vertical shaft. We were only able to go so far, but were glad we made it that far. As we c
ame out, we walked over to the mill. I was not going to walk the tracks over to it, though, as that would have been foolish. I climbed up a steeper slope to where there was another prospect. Jeff had started calling me Bear from that guy Bear Grills on the Discover
y Channel. This last one was not very exciting, so we went back down to explore some of the old falling down buildings. From there we headed back enjoying the stream and the beautiful fall colors. I thought about taking Jacqueline and Zyla back to this area. It would be a good off season hike. The hike back proved to be a lot quicker without all of the stops along the way. The climb out was not too bad either and we were left with much time to enjoy the rest of a much needed day off from teaching.
before we began running into mines. We saw the first one up the hill, so we climbed up to it. I was amazed that it was actually big enough for us to stand up in. We were not able to go very far back because neither of us had a flashlight, but we went as far back using what we could muster for light. I did not have a camera either, so I relied on Jeff to take some pictures. We did not have to go far to run into our next prospect and we could
start to see why this area was hit so hard. With all the multi-colored rocks, we knew there were copper like material coming out of it along with probably much more stuff that you would have to be a mineralogist to know about. We were just appreciating the history that was in this area knowing that it must have been a much more thriving area when 
the mines were active here. Continuing down the road we ran into the first of the big mines which was the Cliff Dweller Mine. But the big one was at the end of the road and that was the Cashin Mine. There were dozens of buildings to house miners, many prospects, and a large mill that was still standing. We walked through the middle of it which was a little creepy. I figured if it could stand up in a Norwood windstorm, it would make it through a beautiful sunny October day. 
We climbed up on the cliff side to explore another prospect and you could tell that this one was the mother lode. It still had tracks running through it and we walked over to where there was a big vertical shaft. We were only able to go so far, but were glad we made it that far. As we c
ame out, we walked over to the mill. I was not going to walk the tracks over to it, though, as that would have been foolish. I climbed up a steeper slope to where there was another prospect. Jeff had started calling me Bear from that guy Bear Grills on the Discover
y Channel. This last one was not very exciting, so we went back down to explore some of the old falling down buildings. From there we headed back enjoying the stream and the beautiful fall colors. I thought about taking Jacqueline and Zyla back to this area. It would be a good off season hike. The hike back proved to be a lot quicker without all of the stops along the way. The climb out was not too bad either and we were left with much time to enjoy the rest of a much needed day off from teaching. 
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