Friday, November 22, 2013

Favorite Hikes, Number NINE, New Hemet Bell Mine

Ok, so it's been over a year since I updated this thing.  At this rate, I'll have my favorite hikes finished sometime after 2020.  I'm a person who likes to keep moving forward so going back and looking at the past is not easy for me.  Picking the best of these hikes is hard because there are so many I really like.  Sadly, there are also quite a few that are really mundane and boring.   Maybe once I'm retired I can try this again and have time to visit more interesting and exotic locales.

I really liked this hike and enjoy the entire area; it close but has a remote feel to it.  I went back yesterday and found the mines have now been closed by the National Forest Service so I'm glad I went when I did and was able to actually go inside the mines.  Supposedly, the USFS said they closed the mines due to the local bat population but I didn't see any bats when I was there.  We did see a frog, though.

I also found out that the mine is called the NEW Hemet Bell Mine.  I haven't been able to find where the OLD Hemet Bell Mine is so I guess my original title will do just fine.