Outhouse: N/A
Road Conditions: Google Map tends to want to lead you towards closed gates. Use WTA's directions for accuracy. High clearance vehicle a must; 4WD made us feel more comfortable on the nastiest portion which was a bit more rocky.
Trail Conditions: The potentially slippery log crossing at Bear Creek was a non-issue as the log was mostly dry. In addition, if you wanted to cross it by using the creek rocks to the right side of the log, the water level was low enough for one to achieve this. A dog was able to get through it just fine. The remainder of the trail to Bare Mtn. was in decent shape. We ran into 2 other people on this trail.
Going to Bear Basin Mines, however, was a different story. No one else was on this trail. The trail and their crossings are deteriorating, though functional with care. Beyond the first set of mining remnants that you run into on your left hand side, we had very limited time and took a gamble trying to find adit #3. The way trail that we followed ultimately lead us to a jar on a log hop section. Nothing to be found there aside from the jar. We went too far east. Instead, we needed to scramble up to the mine, in which no visible trail could be seen from where we were and we just didn’t have time to explore nor scramble. With more time, however, I imagine one will be able to find all of the adits. If you should find adit #3, please do post a picture of it to fulfill my curiosity.
Suggested Additional Gear: Trekking poles for crossings.
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