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More heavy weather.
Again, the fact that there were dark clouds and falling rain seemed not to matter to those converging on the traditional meeting point. At the usual time (which was 10 minutes past the appointed hour...) there were already 11 people gathered in the usual place. Fortunately, the rain stopped, allowing the would-be hikers to emerge from their vehicles and talk face-to-face.
Because it was (already!) July, we knew that some of the higher canyons would now be accessible, but because of the weather, we wanted to avoid the high, exposed ridges ideally suited to death by lightning, so the natural choice seemed to be Cardiff Fork. This location, in addition to remaining in the canyon and well-below any high ridges, followed a road the entire way - something that was additionally attractive, considering that one would likely get wet when bushwacking through wet plants on a typical, narrow trail.
So, we piled into vehicles and headed up-canyon. Passing the open gate near the beginning of the access road, we were once again reminded that we needed to be back by 10pm, the time at which the gates are ostensibly locked. Perhaps because of the weather, we didn't have difficulty finding adequate parking in the main lot nearest the trailhead. Extracting ourselves from our respective vehicles and making the necessary preparations and pit stops, we commenced our hike, finding ourselves among gaggles of girls and scads of scouts.
Because we weren't going to the most popular destination of this canyon (Doughnut Falls) we soon left the main trail, joining the still-maintained mining road that headed up. Soon after breaking out the tree canopy, we observed that we were passing through what had, apparently, been a run-out zone from a recent snowslide: Fortunately, those who maintain the road (whoever they are - mine claim holders, perhaps?) had nicely cleared it. Just above this slide area, we also spotted the tell-tale lumbering dark mass of a moose, safely distant from us on the other side of the stream and canyon: It seemed to eye us suspiciously at first, but it soon resumed its grazing.
One thing that we'd noticed when starting the evening's hike was that it didn't appear to have rained anytime recently as the trails were nicely packed and dust-free, but not muddy: Clearly, the brief downpour that we'd witnessed in the parking lot was a local phenomenon. This was fortunate, as we had to make two stream crossings, but they flow wasn't noticeably increased over what we'd seen before, so crossing was fairly easy - if done carefully.
Chris, Dale and Scott had been the lead group and they were the first to pass by the remains of the transfer station, at about which point Chris pealed off and headed uphill to investigate some old mine workings while Dale and Scott continued to follow the road. By the time the group that I was in passed the transfer station, Dale and son had passed the remains of the bunk house, continuing up higher. By now, we had caught a sighting of Chris who was wandering around the vicinity of the Baby McKee mine, looking at the remains of boilers, tracks, and the detritus of past activity.
We decided that the bunk house was going to be our "high point" for the evening, so we parked ourselves upon arrival. Soon, Dale and son appeared, extolling the beauty of a ribbon-thin cascade of water that they'd spotted a bit farther up the canyon. While relaxing, eating our snacks and re-hydrating, we looked at the remains of the bunk house, trying to figure out how the various pieces of rusting iron (pipes, boilers, etc.) might have fit into the originally-built structure, but we weren't convinced that we were right!
By this time, the "half-slow" group had arrived at the transfer station and were hanging about near the Howell Portal and the transfer station, so we started to begin to commence to saunter the short distance down the steep hill, soon re-uniting ourselves with Gordon and company. Loitering about there for a few more minutes, we decided that it was time to head back down, so we summoned Chris for the group picture and headed down soon after taking it.
Just after starting down, Ron, K7RJ appeared on the radio: He and Elaine had been in the Midway area, cheering on his son, Dennis, in a bike-riding and shooting competition and had decided to take the leisurely drive back home via Guardsman Pass. It was at about this time that we got about the only precipitation that we were to experience during the entire hike - a very light sprinkling that wasn't enough to even get us wet. Soon, we again passed the meadow and slide area, noting that the moose that we'd seen earlier was still grazing - this time, briefly accompanied by a deer that we saw pronging away.
A while later, Ron again appeared on the radio - this time, with very strong signals: He'd decided to drive to the Cardiff Fork trailhead and begin walking up the trail with Elaine. Sure enough, at about the time that we would have left the road and re-joined the doughnut falls trail, Ron and Elaine appeared, so we all walked back togther, following the road all of the way back to the parking lot.
Once we arrived at the parking lot the various parties started to head home: Mike C. soon departed via Guardsman pass to get back home in Park City while Mike M. accumulated a car load of hikers and started down, too. Gradually, the rest of us piled into cars and we headed down to the main parking lot where we went our separate ways.
About the Cardiff Mine and surrounding area:
The Cardiff Mine area was worked into the 50's or 60's - largely by Desdemona Beeson - one of the few female mining engineers in Utah. Lead (mainly from Galena and Cerussite) and some silver ores were the main products of the mines in Cardiff fork. Above the remnants of the buildings is the Baby McKee mine - near which the remains of a steam boiler may be seen. This portal seems to be connected in some way to the Howell Tunnel located across the canyon (on the west side) from the Cardiff mine.The Utah Mine Locations page of the Trainweb site give the location of many of the mines in the area.
According to Keller, a 1/2 ton chunk of Galena was dragged out of the Mill-D South Fork in 1871, with the first claim having been filed in the area the previous year. Despite the initial hype, the flurry of activity fizzled until a large body of Galena was discovered at what was called the Carbonate Mine in 1876 and by the following January, shipments were reported to be 1200 ore sacks daily. Gradually, the output of the mine dropped - due to lower ore prices or lack of enthusiasm by the owners, and by 1880, it was being leased and worked only intermittently. It wasn't until 1908 that operations resumed with the installation of a 4000-foot long, 8-tower gravity tramway on the east side - but this operation fizzled again and after 1910, operations at the Carbonate mine seemed to have stopped for good by 1916.
It wasn't until 1906 that the Cardiff Mining and Milling company came into existence, taking over a number of claims farther up the south fork, the name being the Welsh hometown of several of the company's principals. In many ways, this was quite a modern mine, originally getting power via Park City in 1910 and telephone service soon after. Further improvements included a better road and a large bunkhouse above the mine - probably the one that we visited in 2007. In 1911, work was started on a long tunnel to reach an ore body that had previously been discovered - but was uneconomical due to large amounts of water. Eventually, in 1914, another large ore body was reached and the mine began to prosper economically. With the increase in traffic due to ore shipments, the water quality in the canyon suffered - both from the use of a lot of horses to transport the material, as well as erosion from such activity. Several schemes were tried which included the use of transfer stations, tractors with trailer, and large trucks, but it wasn't until 1921 that enough improvements had been made to the machinery and roads that they stopped using horses altogether.
The above information was from the book "The Lady in the Ore Bucket" by Charles Keller.
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