Lundy Canyon & Lakes Canyon - September 2019

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Trails Through History

We had a Plan A and a Plan B. Both involved hikes to high country history. Plan A fell by the wayside when we found our favorite "Big Rock" campsite occupied near the end of Green Creek Road and the trailhead into the Hoover Wilderness. It was still early afternoon on Friday so we drove back out to highway 395 and headed south to Plan B. Mono County's Lundy Lake Campground was near empty and an easy walk to our trailhead so we secured a private site on Mill Creek that runs along the campground. We set up camp and relaxed. On all our many visits to Lundy we had noticed the old road bed on the south side of Lundy Lake that steeply climbs and then turns into Lakes Canyon. This was our objective for the next day, our Plan B.

The trailhead for Lakes Canyon is at the south end of the Southern California Edison dam on Lundy Lake that diverts water to a powerhouse and then into the aqueduct that supplies water to Los Angeles, it's northernmost water source.

Signs at the trailhead provide information on May Lundy Mine that sits high in Lakes Canyon and also warns of the lead and arsenic contamination  - a legacy of the mines - in the high basin.

 "Exposure to arsenic and lead has been determined to be hazardous to your health. Avoid unnecessary exposure at the May Lundy Mine Site by not camping or picnicking in the sandy soils present near the Crystal Lake Mill foundation or other areas of bare soil near the collapsed Hanna Mill. Avoid swimming and wading in Crystal Lake due to the contamination  in the sediments. Eating fish caught in Crystal Lake is not recommended."

The old road bed leads up to nice views.

Gold was discovered here in 1879. The settlement of Lundy grew quickly. Lundy's remains are part of the current small fishing resort, rental cabins, and private campground at the west end of Lundy Lake.

A few of the original buildings remain at Lundy.

Finally the old road turned into Lakes Canyon. We were still far less than half way to the mine ruins. An old stone toll house once stood in this area.

In places on the climb into Lakes Canyon the route was a trail.

And in places long sections of old road bed remained.

A few old telephone poles remain.

Notice that in places it was easier to attach poles to tree stumps than to dig a hole. The telephone was invented in 1876 and the Bell Telephone Company was founded in 1877. The wires for this line were stretched in 1882 from Lundy to the May Lundy Mine and then on to Bennettville near present day Tioga Pass. At the time it was celebrated as "The Highest Telephone Line in the World" as it crossed over the crest at 12,250 feet.

More signs were posted as we neared the mine and mill sites.

These signs were posted in numerous locations.

The foundation of the Crystal Lake Mill.

We climbed up to the large tailing pile.

The adit into the May Lundy Mine collapsed years ago, maybe with a bit of help from explosives.

The May Lundy Mine sits high on the ridge to the west. Tailings below the mine entrances are visible.

A tramway up to the mine was constructed in 1882 to bring ore down to the May Lundy Mill. We found the ruins of bottom tram tower.

We explored uphill to find other remnants of the tram.

The buckets were small and the bottom door had a counter weight to control the dumping of ore. Buckets and pieces of buckets litter the steep slope.

We climbed up to Oneida Lake that sits just above the mill sites. The remains of a log and earth dam still stand at the outlet of Oneida Lake, although the area behind the dam has filled in and the dam no longer holds back water.

We explored along the lake and then took a long break by huddling out of the wind on the lee side of huge talus blocks.

Go back in time before the current road (highway 120) ascended Tioga Pass up Lee Vining Canyon from the east. What were the older trails used to move through this extremely rugged terrain?

A trail to Bennettville (37°56.263'N 119°15.600'W) ran south from the May Lundy Mill, up past Oneida Lake, and then up and over Dore Pass down into the Lee Vining Creek drainage. Remnants of the old trail are faint but can still be seen on Dore Pass (37°58.954'N 119°15.758'W). Another trail climbed east out of the cirque to cross the Warren Divide. Traces can be still be seen on the ridge top (37°59.102'N 119°14.785'W).

We left Oneida Lake and returned to the ruins. Machinery and relicts cover the area.

The last mining activity took place up here between 1935 and 1941. In 1935 Thomas Hanna secured a loan from the federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation for $48,000. Hanna constructed a cyanide process mill to work the tailings from the previous mining. The ruins of a two story bunkhouse remain. 

Gold mining ended in 1942 when President Franklin Roosevelt declared it nonessential to the war effort. With Hanna unable to repay the loan, the operation was foreclosed on in 1942. Thomas Hanna was John Muir's son-in-law. He married Muir's daughter Wanda, in 1906. The resort at Lundy Lake uses their old residence as a rental cottage.

On our descent crossing a high talus field, we found the old trail that climbed up to the May Lundy Mine. Among the rocks, it was hard to see until we were on it.

We continued our long descent out of Lakes Canyon and worked our way back to our camp below Lundy Lake.

I want to thank my friend David A. Wright for turning me on to much of the history of the area. In 1999 David, a local historian, accompanied author Alan Patera to Lundy and showed him around the numerous sites. The result was the highly detailed book - Lundy - where much of the information I've shared can be found. David also shared with me information about the snow avalanches that destroyed both the Mill Creek Powerhouse - just above Lundy - and the Jordan Powerhouse - just out of the canyon - on March 7, 1911. We visited the ruins of the Jordan Powerhouse.

Eight people lost their lives in these avalanches. The victims are buried nearby in a small humble cemetery.

The headstones were fashioned from pieces of the marble switchboard salvaged from the smashed powerhouse.

I'm told that workers from the nearby Southern California Edison powerhouses hold an annual day of remembrance and keep the cemetery tidy.

You can also find additional information about Lundy on my friend Aaron Walton's website - Western Mining History.

Several of David A. Wright's photographs of Lundy can be found here - Ghost Towns

The 20 acre patented mine claim around the high May Lundy Mine recently came up for sale. It has since been obtained by the Forest Service and is now public land, part of the Inyo National Forest. I got a big chuckle out of the realtor's sale pitch - May Lundy Mine - All Offers Considered.

 

I should mention, but you already know this, we were also surrounded by natural beauty throughout the day.

After a quiet Saturday night at the campground, we packed up early Sunday morning and drove up to the trailhead. The Lady wanted to make an attempt at reaching Burro Lake from Mill Creek.

We started out from the trailhead.

Last October, with our friends Andy and SR, we had found what we thought was the beginning of a use trail up to Burro Lake. We started our climb on that faint trail.

Our plan was to climb this steep drainage.

There was no use trail. We found a few random stacked rock cairns, but they were meaningless. The thick vegetation was the challenge on this section. It was a tangle and when we broke out we took advantage of any clear passage we could find.

It turned into big rocks and thick brush to reach the small basin above the first cascade.

The vegetation  thinned as we climbed out of the basin. Extremely steep terrain was ahead. Again it was obvious there was no use trail up to Burro Lake.

A look at our topo map told us that if we surmounted that waterfall high above us, it was still a mile further up to Burro Lake.

We continued the climb. The views were incredible.

 

In the upper right of the above photo you can see our route of the day before up into Lakes Canyon.

Here is a zoom down to Lundy Lake and Mono Lake in the distance.

We stopped just below the falls. Good lord it was steep.

It was still worth all the effort to sit in this high spot. The steepness did not bother the bumble bees at all.

The ground was exceptionally hard. It was now impossible to kick a boot edge in to get a firm foothold. It was too dangerous for us to continue on this route. "If our objective was to find out if a use trail existed," I commented to the Lady as we snacked. "Today has been an excellent success. We found out here is no use trail."

"I should have never turned around and looked down slope," the Lady answered. "My god this is steep!"

We decided, wisely, it was time to carefully work our way back down.

On the descent I stopped to examine quartz from the quartz veins and wondered if it was related to the veins worked in the May Lundy Mine, where, if I remember correctly, three million dollars in gold was produced.

What a day this was, with the opportunity to climb high into rugged terrain.

Exiting the last tangle of stunted aspen, we rejoined the Lundy Canyon trail and returned to the truck.

We treated ourselves to fish tacos at Whoa Nellie Deli and then headed north to an old favorite campsite where we spent a wonderful quiet last night out.

Monday's dawn was perfect at this high lonely spot.

We walked with our morning mugs of coffee, a necessary ritual, as the sun warmed us and the land.

We were soon back home. Plan B had been outstanding. We can't wait to return and give Plan A a shot.

Please note: the photos of the cabins at Lundy, the powerhouse ruins, and the cemetery were taken on a return trip in October but are included in this story.