Our first hike from our new home location was in Black Diamond Mines
Regional Reserve. We planned the hike one day before, bought enough
food (two bagels for me, one bagel for Lumi, fruits, and some sweets)
and around 3l of fluids. The drive took less than an hour from Albany,
CA and parking costs 5$.
Trail navigation and hike description
Unfortunately we forgot our GPS at home, so this hike only contains a
description of the hike without height profiles and detailed GPS log. We
started off from the visitor center (map) and the trail head of the
Chapparral trail which then turned into the Manhattan Canyon trail.
After the short and steep incline we continued on the Black Diamond
trail where we enjoyed the view and stopped at the airshaft and at Jim's
place. Both places were just holes in the ground and not that
interesting. The trail continued to the Coal Canyon trail which lead us
to Nortonville (an old mine city that is now deserted, unfortunately the
early settlers took all the wood and iron with them, so there is not
much left of the city). Later we continued to Rose Hill Cemetery and
back to the picnic area where we had our late lunch.
Picture time
The following pictures were taken during our Black Diamond hike.
View of Summerville.
The old airshaft.
Lumi tries to hide.
The Rose Hill cemetery.
Special detour: entering the mine
After our lunch we went to the Hazel Atlas mine for the grand tour.
While we waited for the tour to start we strolled to the gun powder
depot that was nearby and accidentally found a GeoCache. The tour of the
mine was very interesting, although they only showed us the silica mine
that was mined to gather resources to make glass. The black diamond
(coal) mine is closed to the public due to structural instabilities.
The above image was taken at the entrance of the silica mine. The image
shows a collapsed part of the coal mine. The little dark layer in the
middle is all that is left from a coal mine shaft after the coal has
been mined. This is the reason why the remaining parts of the coal mine
are not open to the public. The silica mine is structurally more stable
and is therefore open to the public.
The above image shows the view into one of the cross shafts from the
main tunnel.
The picture above and below show old trains used to transport the silica
out of tunnel.
The above picture shows me touching the fault line that runs in the
tunnels below. Amazing feeling!
Another picture into a side tunnel that was used to dig out the silica.
The picture above shows the control room (or a replica thereof) with all
the old utilities and the old work desk.
Summary
All in all we enjoyed this fun hike and had a great time. The mine tour
made it very interesting as well, the last time I visited a mine was as
a kid! This hike is great for families too, maybe limit yourselves to
only the shorter loop, or up to the cemetery - the kids can play during
the hike and then enjoy the mine tour. Explore the park and the mines!