Hitch lead: Shannon Apgar-Kurtz
My second hitch was the same one as my first hitch. I worked with the same geologist from the Forest Service surveying abandoned mines. I also had the opportunity to spend a day in the field with the one of the archaeologists. Some highlights:
On the first day of my second hitch my agency contact and I drove to the Lost River Ranger District to survey an abandoned mine. We drove about as far as we could and then hiked on the old road that leads to the mine. We didn’t get vary far before we found ourselves unable to cross a stream running across the road. We attempted to continue without crossing it but didn’t get very far before the steep terrain turned us back. This abandoned mine survey was shelved until later on in the season.
The next day we met up with the head of the minerals department, an archaeologist, a hydrologist, a fisheries biologist, and wildlife biologist. We drove into Rabbit Foot Mine, now abandoned, because there is a company interested in exploratory drilling for gold. Each person who came out, minus the two geologists and myself, were looking at the proposed sites for any adverse affect the drilling might have on their area of expertise.
I had the chance to help the same archaeologist and her seasonal employee with an archaeological survey of an abandoned mine. I was put in charge of taking pictures of the features (mainly buildings and adits) and recording their baring. The seasonal took GPS points so they could map the site later and the archaeologist took site notes. All the information gathered will be used to assess whether there will be any adverse affect when closing the adits.
