Aces Up Route Information

Aces Up Mine

Map Annotations:

• (A) - Fording Coney Creek on the way up the W Fk Miller road.
  
• (B) - This is a shot of the next creek crossing past Coney Creek.
  
• (C) - This old truck is at the location of the Cleopatra Mine camp.

Microsoft TerraServer shows a shot of the Aces Up #2 Mine dump. The mine dump appears in the middle of this view, as a light round circle, up from the river. Or it could just be a light round circle.

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 up the West Fork Miller road as per other route descriptions, past the Coney Basin cutoff. In about 2.5 miles Coney Creek will be encountered flowing across the road and will need to be waded (or possibly hopped in later season). After a few hundred yards another creek will pose an obstruction. This creek is not on the map, but might be another small fork of Coney Creek. It can be crossed on a log that is the remains of an early bridge, which still spans the creek.

The road here is very flat and easy to hike. The river appears slow, and views start to open up to the headwaters of the West Fork, and to the summits above. After a little more than a mile past the creek crossings, some artifacts and junk from the old Cleopatra camp will come into view, including the remains of the old truck (on the left side of the road going up). There is possible camping here, in the woods towards the river (behind the old truck).

Continue another .5 miles or so up the road, over some small creeks and past a nice smooth water slab in the river. Soon the mine dump from adit #2 can be seen up the hillside on the right. A few more feet will put the hiker at the end of the West Fork road, at the site of the old Aces Up camp. The Aces Up adit #1 is just above the camp area.

The hike to the end of the road could be done in a few hours or so, with light packs. Allow a few more hours to explore the mines and artifacts nearby.