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!