Oro del Ray Mine-Deep Creek Range

[lobster68w]

The Oro del Ray is high up in the Deep Creek Range and other than having lungs of steel, it's about an 1- 1 1/2 hour ATV ride to get up to it. I was up here this spring in some not so friendly weather-but the pics turned out!! Thought most of you might find this interesting as it didn't look like a lot of people head up that way.

This is the overall view of the mine. There are multiple trams at this mine and the main adit is a little lower down.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.923801,-113.83853&t=k&sll=39.913889,-113.838333&sspn=1.099836,2.04895&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=39.920006,-113.840418&spn=0.023336,0.055747&z=15

The main tram-



Entrance-







I haven't made it in yet. I ran into a guy at Gold Hill who said he's been in it before. Told me it goes in about a mile. Someday by the end of summer, I'll hopefully get a chance to get up there with someone and explore it.

http://www.mindat.org/loc-38792.html

[Derek]

Great write up. I have been wanting to get out to Goshute Canyon for some time now.

[UnderUtah]

Very interesting area. A friend and I had visited about two years ago, riding up the extremely rocky terrain to the mines you have photos of. We found two more modern workings on the switchbacks that we explored - one turned-out to be a tunnel with a few things in it (a pneumatic winch, etc) and passed through the hillside and through a gorge and back into the mountain. We went into the adit at the end of the trail below the more modern metal paneled building and found that it was just a deep fissure running nearly vertically. We didn't go on. There are a number of old cabins near the bottom of the trail as well as an old old green pickup with the words "housing authority" painted on the side... pretty remote area, that's for sure. Thanks for the post!

[lobster68w]

Very interesting area. A friend and I had visited about two years ago, riding up the extremely rocky terrain to the mines you have photos of. We found two more modern workings on the switchbacks that we explored - one turned-out to be a tunnel with a few things in it (a pneumatic winch, etc) and passed through the hillside and through a gorge and back into the mountain. We went into the adit at the end of the trail below the more modern metal paneled building and found that it was just a deep fissure running nearly vertically. We didn't go on. There are a number of old cabins near the bottom of the trail as well as an old old green pickup with the words "housing authority" painted on the side... pretty remote area, that's for sure. Thanks for the post!

Interesting!

The day I was up there the wind had picked up to about 40 MPH and the rain and 45 degree temp didn't make exploring everything possible. The only other thing I found was an old outhouse about halfway in the switchbacks. I didn't poke around too much. There is also a mine down below, I believe it's called the Bueno Mine. Only goes in maybe 100' or so. I might head out there one of these weekends with the nice weather and see what else I can find.

[ExpUt]

Very cool... every time I pass the area on the PET I want to take the time to hike up there. Corey from GRE might be able to give you a bit of beta on the insides of the mine, he has spent some time exploring the Oro Del Ray.

Question, how driveable is the road to say a very built 4x4? Doable?

[lobster68w]

Very cool... every time I pass the area on the PET I want to take the time to hike up there. Corey from GRE might be able to give you a bit of beta on the insides of the mine, he has spent some time exploring the Oro Del Ray.

Question, how driveable is the road to say a very built 4x4? Doable?

If I remember, there are a few tighter spots, but you should be able to get up to it. There is about 3/4 mile of driving on just rocks that size from baseballs to bowling balls. I didn't even like it on my ATV. After that, the trail is in excellent shape.