Jan. 25 – Surprise!
We explored our newest campsite area, walking a jeep trail into the mountains. The trail narrowed to a quad track then disappeared as the terrain became more rough and steep. The promise of a view from a pass above spurred us onward and upward and we were rewarded with a surprise. We had discovered a short cut into Tumco! (Check back to Jan. 15, 2008 blog when we visited the same area) It was a new approach that brought us into the old gold mining area via the sand dunes created when a huge storm disgorged the sandy contents of the huge cyanide leach vats.
Robert and Mavrik approach the huge vats.
What’s amazing is that a picture on a reader board along the trail through the ghost town shows the vats standing on wood scaffolding at least 30 feet feet high! It must all be buried in the sand!
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Spring 1996, Volume 42, Number 2