Sunset Mine Route Information

Sunset Mine

Map Annotations:

• (1) - Little bridge, after the washout/slide area
  
• (2) - Non Pareil Mine dump, extending to the road
  
• (3) - Non Pareil Mine
  
• (4) - A shot of the upper Trout Creek road
  
• (5) - Where we stopped

Driving:
Drive US-2 east from Monroe to the exit left to Index. Drive on the Index-Galena road about 5 miles to the small signed bridge which crosses over Trout Creek. After a few hundred feet, turn right on a lousy road. Keep left initially, then rumble and tumble up about 1.5 miles (stay right at the intersection of the Iron Mountain route) to a large open area by the river. The concrete foundations of the Sunset Mill will be on your left, elevation 1400'. It is possible to drive further up the road, but the road gets worse and there are blowdowns and not many places to turn around.

Hiking:
See the detail map for the immediate area around the Sunset Mine. It takes about 1 hour to do a circular "Sunset Tour".

We continued up the road about .75 miles past the Sunset Mine to the site of the Non Pareil Mine. Just before this, the road will be totally obliterated by a washout/landslide. A few hundred yards further, after crossing a small creek, look for granite tailings coming almost down to the road on the left. The Non Pareil mine is directly above. We continued almost another mile past the Non Pareil site until the 'road' made a quick jog left to cross a dangerous slot gully with a rushing series of falls. Expect to get wet and/or scared crossing this in early season. The road continues another .5 miles until the map shows the end.