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| The views above the timberline have always been some of my favorites, regardless of where I am in the world and whether I am on foot or in a vehicle. I am always in awe of the forces that shaped mountains. |
Our group loads up the UTVs onto their trailers this morning, and we head north for about 30 minutes. We are heading for Leadore, Idaho, in the northern part of the Lehmi Valley. It is easier to trailer the UTVs rather than drive them on the highway. The UTVs are street-legal. However, they are only built for a short distance on pavement. It is not good for the machine or for traffic. They are off-road vehicles for a reason.
Below is a map of the counties in Idaho. Lehmi County is highlighted in orange. The outline of the County is on the right, and a red dot shows the location of Leadore. 
Today's ride is different than the others. Rather than cresting over the top of the mountains, the trail meanders along the mountain tops above the timberline for most of the ride. I love it! There is something spectacular about seeing clouds traverse the landscape when you are on top of a mountain. 
When we encounter this old homestead or miner's cabin, we stop. I wander over to inspect it more closely. Even though I've seen close to a hundred old buildings. I never tire of seeing them and enjoy getting close to them. I love inspecting the workmanship. Are the joints dovetailed or stacked? Are the nails hand-forged, cut from a flat metal sheet, or are they modern? As I look at the details, I also ponder what their life was like. After exploring many of these buildings and museums of the Old West, I have determined that people of the past were tough. Much more so than today. They didn't have our modern-day luxuries or synthetic fiber clothing. Life was simple difficult, and they found a way to make it happen.
Despite the dark clouds and what appears to virga in the distance, we are blessed today. The dark clouds soon yielded to warm sunshine. This is good because it is much windier and cooler above the timberline than down in the valley. So I'll take all the sunshine I can.
Today, we stop at another abandoned mine. Jeff and company have been riding in these mountains for years and love showing me the places they've discovered. I enjoy the breaks. I usually take a walk when we stop, taking the time to explore my surroundings.
What appears to be gravel in the picture below is the spoils pile from the mine. Mining spoils are discarded rock from the interior of the mine. When the miners blast away the stone to access the ore, they remove all the fragments from the interior of the mine and dump them in piles. Generally, the larger the spoils pile, the longer adit or deeper the shaft. I used to utilize this criterion to evaluate whether or not the abandoned mine was extensive enough to potentially be used by bats. Larger mines provide many micro-climates, allowing bats to find the one that suits them best.
The dilapidated building in the picture is a modern structure. The roof is caved in and constructed of modern building materials (e.g., metal corrugated roof, modern nails, tar paper). Even after inspecting it from the outside, I can only speculate about its purpose as it is in terrible shape and mostly collapsed.
Adjacent to where we are parked is the adit of the mine. This particular abandoned mine has a metal gate blocking access to the interior. I turn to Jeff and say, This mine probably has bats. He looks at me, then says, "How do you know?" Remember, I used to do this for a living in Wyoming. Gating abandoned mines is expensive. Federal agencies like the U.S. Forest Service must prioritize where to spend their resources. They can only afford to install gates on some abandoned mines. So, they partner with people like us to investigate the mines for bats. Then, we would make recommendations to help them prioritize their resources. We installed several bat-friendly gates on abandoned mines through the years. I suspect that because this one is so high up in elevation, it is likely being used by bats as a winter hibernaculum.
It's 530 p.m. when we drop off the mountain and head towards the parking area. Jeff stops the group and takes everyone's pulse. "We can head up into this valley, or we can go visit the kilns. We don't have time to do both as it will take about 1 hour for each," he says. "Let's go visit the Kilns. Martin has not seen them yet," says my Dad. Jeff looks at me and the others. "Let's go to the Kilns. We haven't been there in a few years," says Tyler, Jeff's son. That works for me, I say with a smile.
It takes us around 30 minutes to reach our destination. I don't know what I will find. As we drop down into the valley where the kilns are located, I can tell this will be a very different experience. These charcoal kilns were built in the late 1800s. Originally, there were 16 beehived kilns here. The kilns have a 20 ft (6 m) diameter at the base and are approximately 20 ft (6 m) tall.
Only four of the charcoal kilns remain today. They are large ovens used to make charcoal for the smelter in nearby Nicholas. Nicholas is located on the other side of the valley to the east. Each kiln was loaded with 45 chords (163 steres) of wood cut from the surrounding hillsides. It took approximately a week and a half to turn the lumber into charcoal by burning it in these ovens. The charcoal was loaded onto wagons and hauled across the valley to the smelter. Each week and a half cycle produced 800 chords (2,900 steres) of charcoal.
The kilns operated year-round for approximately 3 years. When the smelter closed in 1888 A.D., the 200 people who worked here abandoned the site. Several of the kilns were left mid-process. The charcoal has since been removed, and the few remaining kilns have been preserved.
Walking near the kilns, I am in awe of the volume of wood that was cut and processed here in a short amount of time. The kilns have a wonderful burnt wood odor that lingers even today, 135 years later. I look up at the surrounding hillsides and can still see evidence of the timber cuts on the nearby hillsides. It is easy to pick out the geometric shapes of the timber cuts because the surrounding timber stands are older and more mature. One of the things I learned while I worked for a timber company in the Pacific Northwest.
Even though there wasn't much apart from the charcoal kilns, this is one of the most intriguing sites I have visited related to mining history. I have never seen anything like it anywhere else. What an incredible day!
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