As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of the locals in Juneau directed me to a nearby abandoned mine a short walk away from downtown. The walk was uphill, but pleasantly so, and getting there was well worth the trek. The place is sweet. Daryl and Mike told me later on the ferry ride back to Haines that this mine was bombarded by fire from battleships in the harbor when they closed it. To this day, there’s a lot of crumbled concrete and piles of sheet metal and other scraps laying about.
I had difficulty getting crisp shots in general, and of a giant cog in the ruins in particular. You can see it in the photo below (you may have to click to view the full size version), inside the structure on the right-hand side. I really wanted a good picture of that, but I was unwilling to scrabble up the scrap — especially in the rain — to do so.
Optical Illusions of Doom
This structure was a hop and a skip up the mountain from the main path. There was a branching path leading up to it, which had an interesting plant about halfway up. I say “interesting” because I realized, once my foot was hovering in the air above it, that it was not a plant. It appeared to be cut-off steel cables sticking out of the ground.
The only picture of this plant that came out well enough to be worth keeping is this one. Seen from the side as you go up the path, it blends in well with that grass to look like some unfamiliar, grassy plant.
Farther up the main path was a rock slide, followed by another structure of grander scale.
Signs of Life
Unfortunately, there was trash by both structures. Homeless people had left clothing, backpacks, and other crap by the first structure. The larger structure had some pretty intensive graffiti on parts of it. In front of the larger structure, pretty much right on the trail, was what looked to be a popular spot for bonfires and beer.
And, as is becoming common here, more pictures are up on Flickr.