bushwhacking – harrybiped

The Kitanning Mine is located not far from the tiny hamlet of Index, WA, and can be found just off the long washed out Index-Galena Road.

GETTING THERE

(Disclaimer: These directions are for novelty purposes only)

The washout makes for two different ways to reach the Kitanning; either from Beckler Road, just past Skykomish or by driving to the washout at the end of Index-Galena Road and hoofing it along a rough hewn path through trees, mud and some post-apocalyptic looking sections of washed out roadway.

In the wintertime hiking is sometimes the only way, and makes for a nice winter walk anyway.

Either way you go you’ll wanna end up at the east side of the wash-out.

♪♫Ooh, ooh, ooh looking out my back door♪♫

Maybe ½-1 mile or so east of the washout shore exists a curve in the road from which a faint trail leads off into the woods. Follow it and you’ll start gently gaining elevation.

At this point mine finding experience is a good thing to have. (A copy of Discovering Washington’s Historic Mines Vol.1 really helps too)

To the best of my recollection I followed the little trail until it disappeared beneath thigh deep Oregon Grape.

I found an ephemeral stream bed to my right and followed it up, staying left when an obstacles came and eventually began reaching small cliffs, working my way around the them.

When I first went some years ago the sight of the old cabin meant you were there. However I’ve heard in recent years the old Kitanning cabin has collapsed, possibly making the mine more difficult to find, and sealing the hodge-podge of relics and ancient pornography within.

THE TUNNELS

The first adit is right around the corner from the remains of the cabin, literally. It’s right there.

The tunnel is a couple hundred feet long and is blasted into what seems like pretty stable rock. Turquoise colored mineral staining can be seen inside, as well as a couple scattered artifacts.

The upper adit is approximately 500ft above you, amongst steep and sometimes cliffy terrain. An old miner’s trail fades in an out, occasionally leading the way.

This tunnel is a couple hundred feet longer than the lower one and boasts more impressive mineral deposits.

An interesting side note is that this adit does not have a corresponding tailings pile. Strange, no?

According to DWHM#1, the entire tailings pile was hauled off to the smelter by the Twentieth Century Alaska Copper company in the early years of the 1900s.

THE MINERALS

Copper was what was sought after at the Kitanning and is found in the ores; chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite and pyrite.

Since there isn’t a tailings pile, specimens are mostly limited to what you can knock from the veins inside the tunnels.

As always, leave it the way you found it (aside from some mineral samples perhaps)

Good luck and happy trails!

References:

Woodhouse, Phil; Jacobson, Daryl; Petersen, Bill; Cady,Greg; Pisoni, Victor, Discovering Washington’s Historic Mines Vol.1: The West Central Cascade Mountains. Oso Publishing Company, 1997

Had the day off today so I decided to head off into the hills in search of an old mine site I’ve been interested in locating known as “The Devil’s Canyon Claims”.

I’ve poked and prodded a little around the area before, in search of the same thing, however that time my search was seriously hampered by snow on the ground and even more coming from the sky.

Conveniently melted... — Conveniently melted…

This time there was only traces of snow where before there was a solid foot, at least near the valley floor.

I headed up an abandoned road toward the Cougar Creek drainage which is where Devil’s Canyon lies.

The main road/trail hits a distinct fork not too far in, at this time it is marked by the remains of a campfire. The logical way is to continue along the more clear path, which is what I did. The other path, or abandoned road I should say, is very overgrown by scrub alder, and according to old maps, terminates some distance away, around the headwaters of Lennox Creek.

Might be worth a bushwhack someday….

The road-less-overgrown steadily devolves into a trail the higher you get. I imagine there would be some views opening up around here, if today wasn’t socked in with clouds and a now light, but steady stream of snowflakes.

I just happened to notice the remnants of a Forest Service “Entering Wilderness” sign as I made my way up, interestingly it’s old enough that is says “Snoqualmie National Forest” rather than “Mt.Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest”.

Seeing this I got excited, I love finding abandoned trails!

I followed it up and up, the snow steadily getting deeper, obscuring the already decaying trail.

Aside from the sheer curiosity of wondering where in the hell this trail was going, I oughta mention that there is a surprising abundance of old growth here that kept me heading up, kinda like a rabbit chasing a carrot on a string.

Eventually the snow became deep enough to completely eradicate any semblance of trail, and compounded with the lack of visibility and not quite knowing exactly where I was, I decided to turn around.

Getting home and consulting the internet, DWHM#1 and the USGS Lake Philippa 7.5, all the pieces came together.

So the trail turned out to be the abandoned Dog Mountain Trail, which passes near Devil’s Canyon, and down below most certainly was the Cougar Creek drainage.

Considering today’s conditions, it would have been a pretty tall order to find my quarry, however it was a day well spent nonetheless.

Multiple trips make an area far more familiar, and also I find, sort of help “gel” the spatial relationships in a set area together in the navigation/homing center of my brain.

I’ll be back later, when the snows have melted as there are far more mining sites to locate in and around this drainage.

Happy Trails