One surprise after another, found hidden in a complex system of ABANDONED history | Utah backcountry
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- A further installment inside the rugged Oquirrh mountain range, I was surprised by what I found hidden up there, following the old Lion Hill Road, on a solo exploratory search. Inside Utah's most mineral rich mountain range, where most miss the hidden history because of remote and steep locations, unmarked land and other various reasons.
In this episode on @offroad801 on UA-cam, I do some off roading and hiking in to explore this little known trail above Ophir canyon, in the high Oquirrh mountains of UTAH. I'll be highlighting this adventure in and through and am inviting YOU to join me on this unique backcountry adventure. I've never explored this rugged & steep mountainous trail, so I don't fully know what to expect - other than some real scenic overlooks, and hopefully some abandoned mines, which will add to the mystique. I do believe it will give you a real sense of the isolation and hard work experienced by the miners who camped and lived here in the past.
This trek turned out to be a real fun-filled solo search even with the extremely rough dirt roads - with one surprise after another. In a complex system of abandoned history, finding hidden portals and epic views in the steep backcountry, is always worth the travel.
➡️ If you are just now finding @offroad801 OR searching for a new UA-cam channel to subscribe to, let us be your first. I mean... it's completely FREE, so why not.. right? We've been sharing our life journeys for 3 years now, and hope to be a valuable source for you - for SOME information and mostly entertainment, at home AND on the road. We are extremely grateful you took the time to read this, and who knows - maybe you just found a new outdoor adventure channel with @offroad801 Sit back and enjoy.. Cheers! And Have a Happy Halloween. Thanks. See you next week 😉
Curtis and Chantel | Offroad801 🚙🤙
#abandonedplaces #travel #exploration
#adventure #solo #utah #mountains
#portal #4x4 #explosion #mines
#history #exo #exploring #offroad
Tooele County every Wednesday end the day with a bang 😂.
The big mine where you flew your drone from was the Silverado mine and all those mines were in Silverado. Back in the early 90s there were still cabins being Suspended by cable up and down that canyon. In 1995 in the last cabin standing up there I found a old Winchester shotgun under the floor boards. By 1998 all the buildings had fallen and in the early 2000s the bars started being put up.
The other large mine tailings pile you were on was the Ophir mine . Multiple times they put bars up , but people kept pulling them out. So in the early 2000s they blew up the Entrance. But it looks like that wont stop every one either 😂.
It had 4 levels and in one of the levels it opened up into what looked like a giant geode. AS usual thank you for the videos.
Stay safe out there
@RaymondNiesporek Awesome. Sounds like you have spent some time in this area. Thanks for sharing this information. It sounds like the Ophir mine is pretty cool. I can't believe you found an old gun. That is very cool. I'm glad you enjoyed revisiting this spot. I had a fun day exploring this mountain. And I would definitely do it again. There are a few areas I could see but didn't have time to investigate. If you're interested, I have a couple of stickers for you. Just email your address. clsbigfoot74@gmail.com Thanks for your support 👍.
Lots out in the west desert DPG TEAD DCD…
@muddybottomranch3689 I agree. The desert isn't as empty as it looks. Thanks for watching 👀.
Damn, finding an old Winchester is amazing. What condition was it in? What year model?
@savage6394 very well Preserved it's been my best find to date. And its over 100 years old according to numbers I've Referenced . And in a pinch could still be used . But I never will 🙂
Wow! That overlook view of Mercur and beyond was fantastic!
@chantelsandberg801 Agreed. The best view of Mercur I've seen. Glad I went to see it. So you could see it too.
Thanks!
@@wayalife8239 Awesome 👌. Thank you so much 👍.
The mine that had the open bat gate is in Silverado Canyon and is named the Chloride Point. It is fairly extensive inside. The mine with the caved portal is called the Buffalo and connects to the Chloride Point.
@@trailworthy1530 Nice. Thanks for the info. That whole mountain is Swiss cheese. Very fun place to explore. Thanks for watching.
Just brilliant filming and editing man! Outstanding work!
@ervinslens Thanks, Ervin. 👍 That means a lot coming from you. Thanks for watching 👀.
Two things come to mind. Once worked at Navajo Army Depot in Flagstaff and they disposed of unsafe/overage munitions. Other thing was a Liquid Natural Gas explosion. Once he said it was Tooele. It was munitions. I was a fire fighter there and we had to go stand by during the event. Some would rattle windows in Flagstaff. We were disposing of primarily Korea age materials.
I will give you an A+ on your driving
I lived in East Flagstaff and the concussion would bounce off Mt. Eldon, make my windows rattle!
I was up there 2 weeks ago and off Mercur I had a flat out there I will tell you I posted video and went live about the explosions
@rogerdavies6226 Yes, sir. That's exactly what they were doing. Munitions disposal. That makes me wonder what Era of munitions those were. Thanks for watching.
I work in the middle of nowhere Eagle Mountain. When those detonations go off, our whole warehouse shakes really badly. Scared the sh*t out of us the first time it happened. It's awesome to finally see where they come from. Love your videos ✌🏼
@Frosty0783 Sweet. They scared 😱 the crap out of me, too. I had no idea that was going to happen. The fun never ends in the desert. Thanks for watching.
The ones you hear in Eagle mountain are from Camp Williams training. I work in Grantsville and Eagle Mountain . The explosions do shake the entire house/building your in. I was building homes in Grantsville the first time I heard them and thought someone was slamming the man door on the garage. I went looking for who it was, I was going to chew someone’s ass! That’s when I noticed the plume of dirt and smoke rising into the sky.
@savage6394 I still can't believe that I was right there to see that. I spend a lot of time in the desert. And I hear lots of explosions, but this is the first time I've seen the explosions. I instantly jumped out of my truck and grabbed my camera. Thanks for watching.
Great video! 😊 pretty cool watching those explosions
@@wayalife8239 Thanks 😊. What a surprise. I haven't seen that before. Thanks again for your support.
Lol, my oldest son and i JUST visited there 2 weeks ago! When i was a teen,a group of scouts got in some trouble in those mines...i think a couple of the guys got lost for like 2 days. There was snow up past the official campground off the main road when we visited, and it was just starting to come down when we hit the turn around you started filming from. We only had his little 4 cylinder car so called it for the day and swung over to drop lines in the Grandville reservoir, caught a couple nice ones, got too cold and headed home. Glad I'm not the only one that remembers ophir, great share sir!
@DavidDunn-breakinbadretrddad Nice. That was my first visit to the top. It's weird why are the scouts always getting into trouble in that area. They should probably go fishing instead. I'm glad you didn't try to go any further in your car. That road is in pretty bad shape. Thanks for watching. 👍
That is a rough beast of a road. Great drone footage. Tough people back in those days. Cool to see the munitions dump going off. Great video!
@StacySalmans Tooele is full of surprises. Bombs washed out roads and ghost towns. Those old timers were very tough. I don't think people understand just how hard life was back then. Thanks Stacy 👍.
What you have to do to keep the HOA's away 🤣🤣
@SegoMan I hope it works. They are getting pretty close 😳.
From a local, those explosions you see are on the Tooele army depot where they scheduled and detonate unused old munitions a few times a year.
@Yurimaster That's what I thought. The news mentioned it after the fact. I'm glad I got to see it. Thanks for watching.
Nice production! Thanks for showing us around.
@@daveliu-jm6oy No problem. Thanks for watching 👀.
FYI: Adit mining is a method of mining that uses horizontal or nearly horizontal passages, called adits, to access an underground mine. Mine shafts are vertical, up and down.
@@beammeup1701a 👍
Huh. What about tunnals? Donyou bekieve a tinnal needs two portals? And how to differentiate a tunnal from an adit?
Dont forget drift vs stope and by golly we can even placer from.a tunnal or drift! But its a rare day we get to mine a load and a placer from the same tunnal...but it can happen. Generally a shaft leads to tunals drifts and stopes as a means of access ans well as tunnels. In the book i wrote i define audits as failed exploratory holes including shallow tunnals incl8nes and tunnal / drift horozontal holes
@sixfigureskibum I'm pretty green in the mining industry. So no. Is a portal an adit is a tunnel a portal. It's still not very clear to me. But I love looking at this stuff.
It is SUCH a waste of money to bat bar some of those mines. It costs an average of $6,000 to put bars on one mine as per The Mojave Underground. Some have bars that go back 25 feet. That’s your tax dollars.
Another great video. That’s a really cool area!
@@ethandubya21 It's pretty crazy. Most of the mines I found in Nevada only have some barb wire. They went sort of crazy after Susan disappeared. Thanks for watching 👀.
Lots of boys with more testosterone than tom sawyer used to die on the regular in old mines. Most of thecsealed mines in utah were done by state inmate fire crews. The welded steel covers tend to be installed by the patant holder for liabilities . Just because an empty hole is there dont mean its "abandonded" even in LCC and BCC closed to mineral entry all the mines are patanted and owned. The portals covers are maintained. Out of maybe 1000 adits and portals in Alta ive found 4 you can get into still
Pretty sure Kenecott owns anything worth looking at in oqquirrs
@@sixfigureskibumI know two people who work for OGM. One of which surveyed abandoned mines for the Mojave Underground. The Division of Oil Gas and Mining. Every mine that has been bat bared were done by them since 2006. Never heard of inmate fire crews doing it. Unless they were sub-contracting them. And yes, some are still a private claim. But the nice thing is, is that when someone cuts the bars, they usually don’t re-weld it, as they’re no longer liable. But it’s a felony if you get caught.
@sixfigureskibum That's for sure. Lots of very hard work went into mining. I didn't know Alta had so many adits. I've definitely found more covered mines than open ones. Still, it's pretty amazing seeing these old mining towns. Thanks for watching. And thanks for the info 👍.
Hiked all over them thar hills back in 80's. Before the bars! Great vid!
@The4Z Nice 👍. I bet some of the buildings were still standing, too. Thanks for watching 👀.
Thanks for your Chanel. I really enjoy visiting Utah with you.
@@Kirt-Davis Awesome. Love to share this beautiful place with everyone. Thanks for watching 👀.
I was up there last weekend in the snow.
It was as peaceful as can be.
I had to put snow chains on my 4 runner, though.
@theericbenson1692 Ahh. I can imagine how peaceful it was. Sounds like a good time to me.
When I was younger used to deer hunt those mnts
@@robertwestern5908 Awesome 👌. The only deer 🦌 that day were hiding in town. They know what they're doing. Thanks for watching 👀.
Those explosions look like a gunnery range.
@@joshuapeaslee5677 I think it was just an artillery disposal. That's what the news said anyway. Thanks for watching 👀.
Thanks for the video. I am going to go explore up there.
@@ratchetman Sweet. Lots of stuff to look at. Mines everywhere on that mountain. Thanks for watching 👀.
Greeting's from Alaska, Loved the music, scoped out the links, Thanks. Slow your camera panning a little, please. Stunning drone work! New Sub!
@akomni-vr5gt Nice. Glad you found us. Sometimes I just get to excited and the camera starts flying around. I'll work on it. Thanks for your support 🙏.
Excellent video, thanks😊could use a tripod for still shots
@@normaallred7568 Thanks for watching 👀.
Cool video but please check to make sure you are not flying your drone over state or federal park lands without written permission. It could lead to a very big fine. Thanks to drone operators that didn't use common sense the FAA is coming down on us.
@@Mastermodeler. I always check ✔️. Thanks for watching 👀.
Too bad those mines are gated. They would be fun to explore!
@utahradioman I agree 👍. But I guess to many people go in and get hurt or even worse. Some of the bars are missing in the area. So I guess it's possible. Thanks for watching 👀.
Oh man i live in magna on the other side i need adcenture buds like you lol.
@@Lucifer-qt9gh Nice. That's why I do a lot of solo adventures. It's hard to find good adventure buds. With the same schedule. Thanks for watching. 👍
What IS your guess on all the explosions out there in the desert? I counted - 14 I think
@@chantelsandberg801 I'm not sure 😕. My guess is either a test or disposal of old artillery. I wonder how often they do that 🤔.
@@offroad801 it was a disposal of old unstable munitions.
@RJJ6129 That's kind of what I thought 🤔. Thanks for verifying.
@@offroad801Military training. Curt and I was driving by Willard wast bond. And we kept hitting signs after after and 1/2 hour we finally stopped to see what the sign said. stop air force training air strike explosion
@@RJJ6129I wonder if that old artillery has an expiration date? “Must blow up enemies by” 😅
The old road to the bus got washed out.
@jammiecunningham2763 I think I looked at that road. It looked like a canal, not a road. Lots of washed-out roads. I definitely want to go back. Thanks Jammie you're awesome.
Two wheel drive road
That's funny! I get it. Like motor bike.
@@robertjensen4525 Whatever. I would like to see that.
You should get on x. Then you'll know where the road goes....come on man ...
@BobD-yn3wj I don't like using that crap. How can you develop any skills just following your phone around. The real emergency happens when you lose or break your phone. Looks like I found my way without my phone. #maps Thanks for watching.
You need to get out more if you consider that a white knuckle road , just saying !!
@TheSlagman0 I think I get out a lot. I didn't show the real bad parts. Maybe that's why you said that. 🤔 It's not Black Bear pass . But still it's not a nice road. Just saying.
Meh, I could get a rental car up there no problem
The trick is to get back with no damage. Long walk back to civilization.
Thanks!
You're awesome 👌. Thank you so much. 👍