Saturday my brother, a friend and I went down to Eureka–Utah! We wanted to explore a mine, capture some photos, and spend some time together! We decided to go into a mine that we already knew a little. We couldn't access it by driving. There was so much snow still! We had to walk about a quarter-mile, which isn't a lot, but we went on the wrong road! We went on a road that was around 75-100 feet below the road we wanted to be on. We started hiking up — in snow up to my waist — a steep incline to the other road. Hiking this all doesn't seem too bad, but the plan is to hike around in the massive mine inside the mountain, not the outside of the mountain.
Finally, we got to the mine entrance, slid inside, and started the journey inside.
We walked down the long rectangle hallway with rails on the floor for the minecarts to ride on, down 150 feet or so into the mountain; the shaft opened up into a large room with old electrical panels, large old oil barrels, and old mining tools, which was awesome to see! From that room the path split into two different shafts, one easier than the other. We took the left mineshaft and continued on our journey into the mountain.
The mine went deep into the mountain. We explored for hours, found multiple mine shafts similar to the first one. We found a newspaper from 1942, many shovels and tools, and pushed around some mine carts. We explored a small natural cave inside of the mine, which sadly other people have destroyed the stalagmites and stalactites. There were some small stalactites on the ceiling that were starting to form again. The biggest issue is that stalactites take a very long time to form. For example, "Limestone stalactites form extremely slowly – usually less than 10cm every thousand years" (BBC Science focus magazine)
One of the main reasons I wanted to go into this mine was to take some photos of the inside. The best way to do this was with long exposures. The problem is, there is no light inside the mountain. It was a fun time trying to see what I could do with flashlights and the camera! I hope you enjoy the photos!
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