Coney Basin Route Information

Coney Basin Mine

Map Annotations:

• (A) - Coney road cutoff from W Fk Miller road. Easy to miss!
  
• (B) - Location of the former Coney mining camp. Not much there now.
  
• (C) - Looking up the basin from a viewpoint on the north side.
  
• (D) - Looking up the basin after crossing the creek, south side.
  
• (E) - Part way along the talus route, south side of basin.
  
• (F) - Just past 'the Jungle'. Almost to the head of the basin.
  
• (G) - Getting close to the mine dump, the beginning of the relics found.
  
• (H) - View back down the basin from the Coney Mine dump.

Microsoft TerraServer provides a good photo of Coney Basin. It is easy to see our route here.

Driving:
Drive US 2 east from the Index road 10 miles. Turn right at the sign for the 'Money Creek Campground' (short of first tunnel). Go past the campground and over the railroad tracks, where the road veers left. At a "Y" in the road, turn right on the Miller River road for 3.3 miles to a small turnoff and washed out road on the right (old West Fork Miller road) elevation 1290'. If you reach the bridge, you've gone a little too far. Room for a couple cars here. Driving to this trailhead should provide no problems for passenger cars.

Hiking/Bushwhacking:
Hike past the cutoff points to King & Kinney and Una Mines. The West Fork Miller road gets easier to walk at this point, and at about 2.25 miles you will reach an obscure trail that takes off into the brush on the right. The UTM coordinates of the cutoff are: 617716mE and 5278638mN. This trail is sometimes flagged. If you find yourself at a creek crossing (early season will be a fording problem) you have gone .25 miles too far. Just past the cutoff on the right is a large fir tree with some car parts next to it. Allow a little over an hour to this point.

The old Coney road start off brushy for a few hundred yards where it climbs to a point above Coney creek. The route is easy to follow, but potentially wet. The road gets well defined after this point, and reaches a sharp switchback soon. After the sharp switchback, enjoy the trail, because this is the best it gets. Soon a large blowdown is found lying in down the trail, which obliterates it. The brush starts to take over, and one needs to pay attention to follow the correct route. The route was also heavily flagged when we were there. Soon the route is following a washout - flags should direct one up a short jog to the right, above the washout where the campsite area is located. The UTM coordinates of the camp area are: 616609mE and 5278870mN. The washout (& flags) can be followed alternately to the site closer to the creek that contains more campsite relics. Allow another 45 minutes or an hour to this point.

The route continues directly west from here (flagged and footpath visible) into the tangle. After a few minutes the remains of a small bridge is encountered, one could assume this is the original route. From here, our route took the path of least resistance towards the creek, where we found a convenient place to cross. This area could be a problem in early season with the large amount of water flowing from the basin.

Once the talus slopes are gained on the south side of the basin, the route then simply traverses the slopes, avoiding brush when possible. We found that staying low through 'the Jungle' was easier than trying to traverse it on the steep slopes. After 'the Jungle', we gained elevation to make the last contour about the head of the basin to the mine area. As you get close, the mine dump will become visible. Once you reach the head of the basin, the route is on easy rocky terrain. Allow 3 hours or more from the camp to the mine.

Going back is much easier - allow 3.5 to 4 hours mine to trailhead.