Dorie and I took off Saturday in search for gold and Jack’s Cabin. We left from the desert divide trailhead off Table Mountain Road and headed to Gold Hill. At the base of Gold Hill were the ruins of an old miner’s rock house for the Katy Did Mine. The climb up Gold Hill was more like huge boulder hopping. There was a very
faint use trail but mostly rock, which near the summit were a little to large for Dorie to scale.
The Gold Hill mining area was mostly a scam back in 1895. Some gold was found in the Hemet Belle Mine (one up the trail with the bat sign) but some miner named Hansen created some fraudulent assay reports and sold the surrounding claims for $120,000 to a rich Brit named Kenworthy. He established the town of Kenworthy with a hotel, mill, stores, and corrals. The site is located to the southwest of the hike’s trailhead. Kenworthy sold everything – claim and town for $10 in 1898.
We hiked on up to find Jack’s Cabin, which turned out to be Jack’s Shack. Some pots and pans and an old whiskey bottle were there, but they didn’t date back to the 1890’s. Jack had a great view from his bathtub. A quick hike down netted 4.2 miles and 654 vertical feet. Afterward, a stop at the Dairy Queen in Anza was in order. (Please click on any picture to enlarge to see slide show)
Very nice. Finally we know what the shack looks like