West Fork Miller/Una Mine May, 2006

Mid-May was starting to bring on some serious heat, and with that, the snowmelt in the Cascades was starting to really flow. Somehow, a few of us hooked up one day during the week and decided to look around the West Fork Miller River again. No plans were set in stone, but we had a few things we wanted to do. With that in mind, we converged not too early in the morning at the small pull-off that designates the start of the West Fork Miller River "trail".

Looking back at the creek crossing by the Seattle-Cascade mine route

We took our time climbing over the rocks and along the water streaming down the first part of the trail. Some time was spent at the first short adit on the right (about 1/4 mile in) which we believe to be the discovery point of the Seattle-Cascade mine, the route to it being further up the road.

The amount of water rushing and pounding down the West Fork was fantastic. Even little Una Falls looked fuller than we've ever seen it (see Bryan's waterfall site). We scouted ahead along the road to try to find a way across the West Fork, but it looked impossible on this day. Even a flat stretch of normally quiet shallow water was now moving with good force and looked to be waist deep. Near the Coney Basin cutoff road we spent some time near the river and camp spot there, which would be an adequate basecamp for side excursions in the area.

Ruins from the power plant that powered the Coney Mine

The route up to Coney Basin was relatively brush-free, and we decided to wander up in that direction. After a few minutes we could hear the noise of Coney Creek below the road, and decided to drop down to the creek and check out the site of the old power plant there.

It's not hard to find where the power plant was located, down near the creek. Some small artifacts give away the location - a piece of old cast iron from a stove shows an intricate grape leaf picture. With a little imagination, one can see where the penstock was located that used to run to a Pelton Wheel (now gone) to generate electricity. The now bare wires that carried the power can still be seen snaking up towards the Coney Mine in the basin, ultimately used to power the huge air compressor that still lives in the mine today.

We stumbled upon this old tracked trailer, never seen before

The rest of the route up to Coney Basin is fine for a while, but not too far past the switchback in the road it deteriorates rapidly. In early season it turns into a rock-hop over the water that streams down the washed out road. If you are lucky you will jog right off the road and locate a nice path, which parallels the washout past this thing, and stops at the kitchen sink. Here is the site of the Coney Mine Camp, with some old junk down by the creek. We rested here and ate lunch.

Just upstream from the camp, we were amazed to see something we had never seen before in many trips here - an old tracked trailer that was probably towed behind a bulldozer or truck and used to haul supplies or maybe ore from the mine. After some inspection, we saw that it was missing the right side track, which may account for the abandonment in this location. Cool!

Water was pouring down the headwall of Coney Basin

Early spring is an great time to visit Coney Basin, before the brush has time to grow. We walked a ways up the valley, hopping the many small braids of water winding along until we could get a pretty good view of the headwall. Travel was easy in the basin now, but it would be a month or more until the Coney Mine location would be free of snow. We turned back towards the camp area, collected our belongings and made our way down the old mine road towards the West Fork again.

With the day only half over, we decided that a side trip up to the Una Mine would be in order to cap the day off. We walked the mile or so back down the West Fork road to the appropriate route up to the Una. We stocked up on water prior to our climb, as the afternoon sun was heating everything up.

Scott crawling under one of the many trees on the route

The first part of the Una Mine route is not too bad, through open forest and a small open meadow. Once on the steep wooded hillside, it officially sucks now. Just in the past few years there has been massive windfall, and the once obvious old wagon road that switchbacks up the hill is now hard to find, not to mention follow. We managed to make it to the site of the old camp on the hillside, and somehow descend into the gully near the mine.

Some serious mine exploring, Scott in the Una Mine

The final climb up the gully near the mine was flowing with more water than usual, providing a nice cool shower for each of us as we clambered up it. In a few minutes more we were at the mine.

The Una Mine isn't particularly deep or complicated, but it is somewhat interesting and a good challenge to get to. We loitered in the mine where the natural air conditioning seemed to give us additional energy. Some evidence of rocks outside the mine indicated that rockhounds had been there recently. After a last look around the mine, we made our way out of the portal and down the steep gully again, getting wet once more.

Stumbling and bumbling down the steep hillside, gravity helped us reach the West Fork road in record time. Water was badly needed and procured from a nice small hillside creek. The hike out on the road was brutal, every rock shifting and tripping the unwary. Finally reaching the vehicles, we were glad to see some of Jimbo's friends waiting for us.

References:

• Discovering Washington's Historic Mines - Oso Publishing. West Fork Miller Mine information.