Duke and I haven't hiked with the Sierra canyon Hiking Group since August 14 before our road trip. Today we did a great short hikewith the group. The Bear Lake Loop is in the Gold Lakes Basin which is north of Truckee. The hike goes past Big Bear Lake, Little Bear Lake, Cub Lake, Long Lake, Round Lake and Silver Lake. The weather was cold enough for gloves but the sun was shining and I was thrilled be outside enjoying the trees, the mountains, the lakes and the trail.
If you would like to see all the pictures from the hike you can see them on Flickr here.
Marion's Blog 
Nice pic’s. What’s the story with the old foundation? I couldn’t read the sign.
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Hey, we saw you yesterday! We were going the other direction and had the dog (same color as the one with you, but with a white-tipped tail) and the little girl in the backpack. I check your blog every so often because I like reading about your hikes and I’m looking forward to my own retirement.
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The foundation is the remains of a gold mine. I think the sign says
“Round Lake Mine
This gold mine , part of the Johnsville mining district was initially prospected during the gold rush but not fully developed until 1914. A stamp mill was built here in 1915 to extract the gold. Only a few feet of ground surface were gold bearing as the quartz vein extended under Round Lake and was covered by glacial debris. In 1918 miners built a shaft 300 feet deep. This created a tunnel that followed the gold bearing solid quartz fissure 100 feet to the east and another 100 feet to the west under Round Lake.
In 1955 the Ready Bullion Company of Sacramento built a second mill at a cost of $100,000. A 499 foot shaft was built to reach under the lake. Unfortunately the mill and shaft timbers burned to the ground shortly after they were built and the venture was abandoned. The remains of the mill are what you see here.”
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Chris,
I remember seeing you. My husband, daughter and I had to get back so I think we were ahead of the rest of the group when we saw you. It is a beautiful hike isn’t it? I hope we get to see you on the trail in the future.
Thanks for the comment.
Marion
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