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Show ' U - - - V :'A : 'vYs - ; . I - ..... ; ' - ' . ... ' I J;r, puwd to enjoy a magnificent view of the In-yond bWore sliding down a stoep talus slop into , ci the LaMl ana the canyon country Bachelor Basin. ''-rv-"- " '.t'' !" ' ( ' - 1 V -. ! . : .'' r as.i mr.off from the winter snow pack, .-g-oi-t bordered by wuif,oers supply water to 1 c;r 3j.fs of the LaSuIv Th:J particular stream LieiJiirs Li an abandoned mine shaft near the '-.zsii of Niger's Basin. ttd that he once left his wife in this cabin for a day while he ran up the "- with a shovel in one hand and a pick in the other' to obtain some ore The cabin is located in Beaver Basin, where we started our hike. nods off and drives over a cliff?" No problem. As Otho expertly spun the whwl, guiding us smoothly around ar-ound rtxrks and axle-busting ruts, he reminisced about driving a l'i ton International truck crammed cram-med with ore from Ik-aver Basin to Price in the 1940's. "Some of the guys I w as working with didn't know how I did it." ho laughed. Hi lory Lcbikiq As we strappod on our gear and contemplated the steep slop we kit to climb. Otho described Lfe in Moab in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. "My mother used to do the washing for the highbrows in town," he recalled, "She used to take me around in her buggy when she picked up ' ' 1 ' ' - ' i ' '. ' ' ' ' .... ' . (hho picks his way through the lxmo rtx-k near the bane be that "at one time a whole bunch of bachelors lived of CuNtlo Teak at the eunt end of the Buchelor BaNin. there." The remains of the camp can still be seen, Otho states that the possible origin of the name might hidden in a heavy stand of timber. A's Mh jcb tfta Wins. By Bill Davia CXho Murphy certainly picked a unique way to celebrate his 80lh birthday; birth-day; a 10 mile hike into the La Sals to do assessment assess-ment work on his mining claims near the summit of Castle Teak. The group which accompanied ac-companied him included Ron Auger. Sara Mon-dale. Mon-dale. Dave Minor, Jim Clardner and Dallas Tanner. Tan-ner. The trip Dgan w ith a gut-jumbling drive up the jet-p trail to Reaver Basin in O.ho's overloaded Subaru Sub-aru wagon. Youthful pre-i pre-i judice made its mental , presence known . . . "I . mean aftor all. the guy la 80 years old. What if he r-.y " : is ' - rv -"-' ; s ' i ' ' . " . . ., ' . ' - . i. . - w. ; U it-' .: A1-: : J .. i.v-V V I - - ! . .... '-'vr;:-.;.-:--'v;.?.:;,i - ... : . ---- .,r ?-Wr-r?' S'" J 4 . i - - 7 J. m 4 " , i vej'haft Miner's Basin was well constructed, '-'tf g 10 0tho the mine Produced a m'""181 ore. There were many sins of past mining activities all over the LaSals. Even high above timberline many claim stakes could be seen. the wash." Struggling up the hill, we ruminated on the evil effects of modern living on physical condition while Otho explained a previously previ-ously used method of getting in shape for hauling ore samples out of the mountains. "I'd use two five gallon buckets, one in each hand and then I'd walk up and down a sto.p hill. I'd keep adding weight until the buckets were filled." He also describt-d a variation of the lench press, using 150 pound sacks of corn. Pant Timberline Soon we crossed timberline tim-berline and arrived at the pass between Castle Penk and Mount Waas. To the east, a gently sloping alpine meadow dropped away to the timber covered cover-ed mesas framing the Purudox Valley leuding to the Colorado border. To the north was the round shouldered ruddy mass of Red Mountain. To the west, a talus slope dropped drop-ped steeply into Bachelor Basin, with Moab, the Moab rim and the sinuous outline of Cunvonlands' gorges in the distance. While some of us more reflective hikers relaxed in the sun, Otho climbed to the top of nearby Castle Peak to post his assessment assess-ment notices, accompanied accompan-ied by Ron, Dave and Jim. Near the top of the peak they pausel to explore an abandoned copper mining operation. After they returned re-turned to the pass, we began whut turned out to be a precipitous descent into Bachelor Basin. The trail faded out on an extremely ste?p talus slope and it was every man for himself as we slid down the loose, knee-wrenching knee-wrenching face of the crumbling mountain. When we arrived panting at the bottom, Otho modestly allowed as how his balance "wasn't what it once was." Old Mining Camp In Bachelor Basin we explored the remains of a mining camp. Several of the cabins were in surprisingly surpris-ingly good condition. Near the lower end of the camp a large stand of timber had been destroyed by a winter snowslide. The slope above had been swept clean by the force of the slide. Hard-packed snow and ice still remained remain-ed under the fallen trees, turning our hike into a scramble over the shattered shatter-ed logs and flattened boughs. From Bachelor Basin we followed a jeep trail over the ridge into Miner's Min-er's Basin. To rebuild flagging energies, Otho described various feats of strength which he witnes sed or performed himself in the early days of the LaSal mining campc. "The good Lord made me small, but he made me strong," he commented. Having watched the old prospector cover almost as much vertical as horizontal distance in the preceding seven hours, I could only agree. Otho says that his excellent condition is due to exercise and diet. He states when he is ill, he does not eat and drinks only fruit juice. While his therapy seems unusual, you can't argue with success. When our footsore crew arrived at the cars at the end of the road into Miner's Basin, all agreed that it had been an excellent trip, made all the better by the historical information provided by our guide. It may have been Otho's birthday, but we all shared in the gifts. The weary crew re(over)loads Otho's Subaru for the trip back down the mountain. Dave Minor (right foreground) found a chunk of rock in a slide area in Bachelor Basin containing beautiful quartz crystals. Here he prepares to load the specimen, which he packed out into Miner's Basin. ' ... -.,"W -r'C.- This cnbin (in remarkably good condition) in Bachelor Basin had a jar attached to the J roof's overhang containing a mining claim notice filed in 1955. When asked about the origin of the area's name, Otho commented, "I don't really know, but at one time I there was a whole bunch of bachelors living here." I |