Buckley's Mine

Disclaimer: this adventure is fairly difficult and dangerous, and hiking and navigating experience is important to get to the mouth of the mine. Travel with friends, tell people where you are going, and make safe choices on the mountain! Also, most of this hike is pretty dry and exposed, so hiking it early or late might be a good idea in the summer. Starting from the Rock Canyon trailhead, continue for about a mile and a half to the first legitimate bridge crossing the seasonal creek at the bottom of Rock Canyon. 100 feet past this bridge, a large talus field is on you left, with moderate oak growth on top. The talus is very loose in places, so watch out for people above you and below you. After making it to the very top of this field (staying in the middle/right side of the talus field is a good idea, as the left starts out easier but gets very steep, muddy and shrubby really quickly), you should be able to make out a trail heading west and up squaw peak. Continue on this trail for a while, hiking through more talus and hugging open faces of squaw peak, until you come to the entrance to Buckley's Mine in about 2 miles ( a complete guess- it's probably significantly less far, but slow traveling, especially in groups). Here, two bars have been removed from the bottom and sides of the entrance, allowing you to squeeze through without much difficulty if you aren't above 275 lbs or so. Once you get into the mine, there are quite a few shafts branching up, to the left, and to the right, but in order to get to the best stuff, keep walking until you get to a massive ladder. The old wooden ladder is probably over 150 feet tall, and by going single file, you avoid much of the risk of knocking down debris on people climbing below you. Keep on exploring the cave, and be careful for a huge pit on one of the side tunnels! Flashlights are definitely needed, since you'll be in a mine, and if you can get up to the second entrance up top, it's pretty cool but also sketchy. We explored the mine for about an hour, and by the end, we were covered in dust and tired of crouching, crawling and ducking, but the mine was pretty awesome! Remember to head back in the light, though, since that talus field is pretty rough in the dark. Good luck!