Buca Della Vena Mine – Part 1: Most Awesome Mine I’ve Ever Explored

I have explored literally hundreds of abandoned mines now and some of them have been quite impressive on many levels. However, none have been as impressive as this abandoned mine: the Buca della Vena Mine… What makes this the best abandoned mine I have ever explored? It has everything we love in wonderful abundance - intact mining equipment left everywhere, complex underground workings (this isn’t just some boring haulage adit), a fantastic setting, interesting geology, multiple mining techniques on display, it hasn’t been picked over by a lot of people and isn’t under threat from American federal agencies that thrive on destroying historical abandoned mines, etc.

Often, there is a certain feeling of relief upon exiting an abandoned mine and becoming reacquainted with fresh air and sunlight. However, I was genuinely sorry to leave this mine and went back through parts of it again on the excuse of making sure that I hadn’t missed any sections. That said, I did not climb up into every single stope and I did not have the ropes that would have been needed in order to be able to access a couple of chambers. So, given how much was in the rest of this mine, there could still be incredible discoveries to be made up in those little chambers and pockets.

“Buca della Vena” translates literally into Italian as “hole of the vein.” “Vein” in this context is a reference to blood and, when you see the inside of this mine, I think you’ll agree that it was named well.

The information online regarding the location of this mine is inaccurate. So, with just a rough idea where it was, I parked at the bottom of the canyon below the mine and charged straight up the side of the cliffs. As it turned out, this was the most difficult way possible. I was fighting through thorn-infested blackberry thickets on almost vertical slopes and at one point I actually had to climb a tree to get up the canyon since it was so steep (Bear in mind, I’m doing this while carrying 50 pounds of mine exploring equipment in my pack). I eventually reached a trail that led me to the remains of a tram system. At that point, I thought I had reached the mine, but I had actually just discovered an old stone house high up on the cliffs that was served by the small tram. So, I had to backtrack down the trail and continue fighting and struggling up the canyon walls until I finally reached level ground where the ore cart rail for the mine ran. Of course, once I reached the Buca della Vena Mine, I discovered that there was an easy trail leading up to the mine that ended up starting less than a hundred feet from where I had parked. One silver lining to the rough route I took though was that I passed by several sites with ancient Roman workings.

I’ll talk more about the geology of the mine in the description for the next video...

*****

All of these videos are uploaded in HD, so adjust those settings to ramp up the quality! It really does make a difference.

You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD

You can click here for my full playlist of abandoned mines: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L

Thanks for watching!

*****

Growing up in California’s “Gold Rush Country” made it easy to take all of the history around us for granted. However, abandoned mine sites have a lot working against them – nature, vandals, scrappers and various government agencies… The old prospectors and miners that used to roam our lonely mountains and toil away deep underground are disappearing quickly as well.

These losses finally caught our attention and we felt compelled to make an effort to document as many of the ghost towns and abandoned mines that we could before that colorful niche of our history is gone forever. But, you know what? We enjoy doing it! This is exploring history firsthand – bushwhacking down steep canyons and over rough mountains, figuring out the techniques the miners used and the equipment they worked with, seeing the innovations they came up with, discovering lost mines that no one has been in for a century, wandering through ghost towns where the only sound is the wind... These journeys allow a feeling of connection to a time when the world was a very different place. And I’d love to think that in some small way we are paying tribute to those hardy miners that worked these mines before we were even born.

So, yes, in short, we are adit addicts… I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!

#ExploringAbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring

Видео Buca Della Vena Mine – Part 1: Most Awesome Mine I’ve Ever Explored канала TVR Exploring