| When you are ready for outdoor adventures, | | | | year-round streams (hard hiking and climbing |
| but want to try something new, you have to | | | | assures you that there won't be a crowd). |
| think in new ways. Forget the mountain bike | | | | Then you need to get out there and start |
| or the paid rafting tour. Here are some low | | | | exploring. I was out the other day swimming |
| budget interesting things you may not have | | | | in a nice pool below a nine-foot waterfall, |
| tried. | | | | and in the six times I have been in that |
| | | | canyon, I have never seen another person. |
| Mine Hunting | | | | |
| | | | Huckleberry Finn Adventures |
| A friend and I have been to Phantom Canyon | | | | |
| six times this spring, hiking in the hills | | | | Have you ever thought about building a raft |
| and exploring narrow gulches. Five of those | | | | and floating down a river like Huck Finn and |
| times we have found an abandoned mine or two. | | | | Tom Sawyer? This works best in wide rivers |
| Most were less than forty feet deep, and a | | | | that have long stretches without rapids. We |
| classic hole in the wall. One was discovered | | | | used to do it on the Manistee River in |
| by following a trail of beautiful quartz | | | | Michigan. |
| boulders uphill for twenty minutes, until we | | | | |
| found where the rocks had been blown apart | | | | Our rafting adventures usually started with |
| many years ago. There is a wall of pure | | | | parking the car downstream from a long wild |
| quartz there, perhaps fifteen feet high and | | | | stretch and walking up the river for a hour |
| twenty wide. I have never seen anything like | | | | or so, taking a shortcut that cut past the |
| it. | | | | big loops and bends. We carried snacks and |
| | | | water, a saw and hatchet, and scraps of rope. |
| Some of these are old claims on public lands. | | | | By afternoon we had built a raft of dead |
| We just like to poke around, but in recent | | | | trees and began the float back to the car. |
| years treasure hunters have been taking metal | | | | That's usually when the real fun started. |
| detectors to these old mines to work over the | | | | Here's a tip: have long poles for controlling |
| tailings piles. Occasional gold nuggets are | | | | the 1,500-pound pile of logs and humans |
| found inside the rocks there. To make this | | | | you'll be guiding around and under trees. |
| outdoor adventure more profitable and | | | | |
| adventurous, you need to find the mines that | | | | Fishing For Smelt By Hand |
| are five miles or more from any road, like | | | | |
| those in the San Juan mountains of | | | | In Northern Michigan and Wisconsin the smelt |
| southwestern Colorado. | | | | run up many streams in the early spring. |
| | | | People love these fish because they are |
| How do you find them? We started by going | | | | easily cleaned and when deep fried do not |
| online and searching "mines." We obtained a | | | | need to be scaled. One night I saw the back |
| list of 160 mines in Fremont County, Colorado | | | | of a pickup truck filled with the smelt from |
| alone. But only one of the five we recently | | | | one small creek. They are caught simply by |
| found was on the list. Just hiking in mining | | | | dipping a net in and scooping them out. |
| country and keeping your eyes open works too. | | | | |
| You can also find old mines noted on many | | | | It's nice to get outdoors at night (when the |
| topographical maps. | | | | smelt run), but for a bit more fun, try |
| | | | catching them by hand. Just lay on the creek |
| Searching For Swimming Holes | | | | bank and hold the flashlight over the water. |
| | | | When a smelt swims by, quickly pin it to the |
| Ask around and you might get directions to | | | | bottom and grab it. I have caught 40 in a |
| hidden swimming holes. We found a beautiful | | | | hour using this technique. They made a decent |
| one a mile down a small creek in this way. We | | | | meal for several of us. This last one isn't |
| also met fifteen other people there, jumping | | | | the most exciting of these outdoor |
| from the cliffs into a small pool. | | | | adventures, but it is satisfying to catch |
| | | | dinner with your own hands. |
| If you want to find less populated ones, you | | | | |
| need to get a topographical map and start | | | | Copyright Steve Gillman. Ready for a Treasure |
| searching. Look for narrow canyons with | | | | Hunting Adventure? |