Bear Basin Route Information

Bear Basin Mines

Map Annotations:

• (A) - Hiking the Bare Mt trail, looking east into Bear Basin, just a few minutes from the Bear Basin route cutoff.
  
• (B) - The cutoff to Bear Basin (UTM: 612842mE 5277616mN).
  
• (C) - Down at the mill site on Bear Creek. This shot is looking back down the valley (UTM: 613109mE 5277587mN).
  
• (D) - At the donkey engine on the north side of the basin, looking SE. (UTM: 613600mE 5277933mN).
  
• (E) - Looking up at adit #6 from the donkey engine.
  
• (F) - In front of adit #6 (UTM: 613571mE 5278037mN).
  
• (G) - Where the woods meets the talus, below adit #3 (UTM: 613531mE 5277379mN).
  
• (H) - Looking north from the top of #3 mine dump. Adits 6 & 7 in the distance (UTM: 613587mE 5277271mN).

Microsoft TerraServer shows the Bear Basin area. Bear Lakes can be seen in the upper right. Zoom in to see the mine dumps of adits 6 & 7.

This sketch map of Bear Basin shows some of the way trail detail within the basin.

Driving:
Drive the North Fork road from North Bend 23 miles to the Bare Mountain Trailhead. This road can be rough, allow 1 hour from North Bend. Room for a half-dozen cars are the trailhead.

Hiking/Bushwhacking:
Hike the Bare Mt. trail past the end of the former road and sturdy bridge across Bear Creek (1 mile). Continue now up the Bear Creek valley, traversing along above the creek, in the bracken ferns and flowers. At about the 2 mile mark, the trail will suddenly switchback left up the hillside. This is the site of the Bear Basin cutoff (allow 1.5 hours to here).

Instead of continuing up the switchback, go straight ahead into the brush, and follow a faint path that continues to traverse the meadow slopes above the creek. The brush here can be high (and wet) but the route is fairly easy to follow. After a few minutes, the mill site remains can be seen ahead, down on Bear Creek. For easier access to the mill site ruins, continue on the path until some talus slopes are crossed. These can be taken down to the creek and the mill site. The route to Bear Basin swings around under a small cliff at this point, and enters the woods above the creek.

Once the path enters the woods, it becomes more defined. Soon a crude bridge is reached, which spans a braid of Bear Creek by a small waterfall. Continue up the trail, passing some machinery artifacts on the left of the trail. Just past this, the trail reaches a "Y" intersection. The left fork winds around for a hundred feet or so to the site of the old mining headquarters (UTM: 613391mE 5277546mN). The right fork at the "Y" continues for a few minutes, drops to cross a tributary of Bear Creek, and heads up the flats of the basin to a swampy area and the bottom of the SE basin talus slopes. Allow 2 hours to this point.

Donkey Engine/Adits 6 & 7: At the site of the old mining headquarters, backtrack a few feet on the trail from the fire ring, and find a small footpath that leads north through the blueberries and descends toward the creek. You will soon come to the creek, which is crossed on old iron pipes laid there for that purpose. To the right, In the woods by the creek is a nice camping area. Immediately beyond/uphill from the campsite area, locate 2 fir trees with large (recent) blazes cut in them. The route continues past these trees, and starts up the slopes in the brush (good tread). Soon the trail breaks into the open, and it follows the cables to the donkey engine which will become apparent once one is near. Adits 6 & 7 are located up the hillside from the donkey engine. Allow .5 hours from the mining headquarters.

Adit 3: At the head of the SE side of the basin (as described above), veer right from the swampy area, and locate some rusty artifacts and cables in the woods, where the talus meets the trees. The mine dump for #3 is directly up the talus slope from this, simply follow the cables up the rocks. Allow .5 hours from the mining headquarters.