SoCal Legend of the Lost Padres Mine

dannyg

Jr. Member
Dec 28, 2013
72
15
slo county california
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hi, Tramp I have been fortunate enough to see the stone markers on happy trails claims and to answer your question, the formation is wide enough to span a tunnel however it sits right on bedrock outcropping with spaces underneath where the outcropping remains visible.
 

Holyground

Hero Member
May 17, 2014
579
828
Not in the can
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT GOLD, Garrett ATX
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Oh boy! I nearly forgot about this. I grew up in Lebec, Ca. Just up the road to Ft. Tejon. I am 64 in a few days, When this happened, I was 14 or 15. A long time ago. Every kid on the Hill, Lebec/Frazier Park area, had a dirt bike. On weekends, 10 or 15 of us would head out for an all day ride. We went almost to Newhall, down the Grapevine one time. Then almost to Bakersfield in the other direction, all on back dirt roads and trails. Well, one time, we found ourselves up near Mt. Pinos. We would ride the pavement as much as possible if we were going a long way. Well, close to Mt. Pinos a CHP passed going the other way. He knew us, and we knew him, so we went down the embankment and out into the woods, then sat there flipping him off as he slowly passed by, giving us the evil eye. We took off through the woods, for a while, coming probably 2 or 3 miles from Mt. Pinos, then came to a very old road/trail up pn the side of a gentle slope of pine trees. The leader of the pack turned right, or to the east... I think, on that trail, and took off. The rest of us followed. The trail was really brushy in some places, and I remember that a pine tree had grown up through the middle of it, making it rather hard to get by, but we blazed a trail anyway. It completely disappeared except for the flat parts where it ran. We were going crazy trying to out do each other at every rough spot, until we were about 1/4 mile from the summit, where the trail came into a small meadow area. We all pulled in for a smoke break and suddenly began discovering old rock structures back in the brush, along a deep gully that ran from the mountain through the middle. The meadow was split by this gully, and there was more on the other side. We poked around there long enough to have a smoke, and then everyone decided to head back dow to Frazier Park. On our way down, the half of us that could't out run that CHP, got tickets. My Mom garaged my bike and grounded me. I had to go to court and it was a bad experience due to my parents pressure to stop screwing up. I forgot about that place, but later, when I got into treasure hunting, I realized what it was. I live in Idaho and don't plan on going to California ever again. I doubt if I could find it out in the trees anyway. The thing is, we were right smack dab on the south side of the San Emigdio Mountain Range. If we had gone up a bit further, we could have looked over the San Joaquin Valley. I know for certain there was a huge mining operation there, in the Spanish Conquest days. Those rock structures were OLD!
As far as the curse, I would say there is. That Highway Patrolman said he saw me flipping him off. He said, "Do you know what kind of a bird don't fly? A JAIL BIRD!
 

blazintowers

Greenie
Jan 7, 2013
15
13
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Oh boy! I nearly forgot about this. I grew up in Lebec, Ca. Just up the road to Ft. Tejon. I am 64 in a few days, When this happened, I was 14 or 15. A long time ago. Every kid on the Hill, Lebec/Frazier Park area, had a dirt bike. On weekends, 10 or 15 of us would head out for an all day ride. We went almost to Newhall, down the Grapevine one time. Then almost to Bakersfield in the other direction, all on back dirt roads and trails. Well, one time, we found ourselves up near Mt. Pinos. We would ride the pavement as much as possible if we were going a long way. Well, close to Mt. Pinos a CHP passed going the other way. He knew us, and we knew him, so we went down the embankment and out into the woods, then sat there flipping him off as he slowly passed by, giving us the evil eye. We took off through the woods, for a while, coming probably 2 or 3 miles from Mt. Pinos, then came to a very old road/trail up pn the side of a gentle slope of pine trees. The leader of the pack turned right, or to the east... I think, on that trail, and took off. The rest of us followed. The trail was really brushy in some places, and I remember that a pine tree had grown up through the middle of it, making it rather hard to get by, but we blazed a trail anyway. It completely disappeared except for the flat parts where it ran. We were going crazy trying to out do each other at every rough spot, until we were about 1/4 mile from the summit, where the trail came into a small meadow area. We all pulled in for a smoke break and suddenly began discovering old rock structures back in the brush, along a deep gully that ran from the mountain through the middle. The meadow was split by this gully, and there was more on the other side. We poked around there long enough to have a smoke, and then everyone decided to head back dow to Frazier Park. On our way down, the half of us that could't out run that CHP, got tickets. My Mom garaged my bike and grounded me. I had to go to court and it was a bad experience due to my parents pressure to stop screwing up. I forgot about that place, but later, when I got into treasure hunting, I realized what it was. I live in Idaho and don't plan on going to California ever again. I doubt if I could find it out in the trees anyway. The thing is, we were right smack dab on the south side of the San Emigdio Mountain Range. If we had gone up a bit further, we could have looked over the San Joaquin Valley. I know for certain there was a huge mining operation there, in the Spanish Conquest days. Those rock structures were OLD!
As far as the curse, I would say there is. That Highway Patrolman said he saw me flipping him off. He said, "Do you know what kind of a bird don't fly? A JAIL BIRD!

HolyGround, Do you have any GPS coordinates? I know its been a long time...Are there any other updates? Been following this thread for a long time? Whatever happened to HODGE and his claim of finding this mine?
 

Lightning boy

Tenderfoot
Dec 23, 2017
5
5
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Oh boy! I nearly forgot about this. I grew up in Lebec, Ca. Just up the road to Ft. Tejon. I am 64 in a few days, When this happened, I was 14 or 15. A long time ago. Every kid on the Hill, Lebec/Frazier Park area, had a dirt bike. On weekends, 10 or 15 of us would head out for an all day ride. We went almost to Newhall, down the Grapevine one time. Then almost to Bakersfield in the other direction, all on back dirt roads and trails. Well, one time, we found ourselves up near Mt. Pinos. We would ride the pavement as much as possible if we were going a long way. Well, close to Mt. Pinos a CHP passed going the other way. He knew us, and we knew him, so we went down the embankment and out into the woods, then sat there flipping him off as he slowly passed by, giving us the evil eye. We took off through the woods, for a while, coming probably 2 or 3 miles from Mt. Pinos, then came to a very old road/trail up pn the side of a gentle slope of pine trees. The leader of the pack turned right, or to the east... I think, on that trail, and took off. The rest of us followed. The trail was really brushy in some places, and I remember that a pine tree had grown up through the middle of it, making it rather hard to get by, but we blazed a trail anyway. It completely disappeared except for the flat parts where it ran. We were going crazy trying to out do each other at every rough spot, until we were about 1/4 mile from the summit, where the trail came into a small meadow area. We all pulled in for a smoke break and suddenly began discovering old rock structures back in the brush, along a deep gully that ran from the mountain through the middle. The meadow was split by this gully, and there was more on the other side. We poked around there long enough to have a smoke, and then everyone decided to head back dow to Frazier Park. On our way down, the half of us that could't out run that CHP, got tickets. My Mom garaged my bike and grounded me. I had to go to court and it was a bad experience due to my parents pressure to stop screwing up. I forgot about that place, but later, when I got into treasure hunting, I realized what it was. I live in Idaho and don't plan on going to California ever again. I doubt if I could find it out in the trees anyway. The thing is, we were right smack dab on the south side of the San Emigdio Mountain Range. If we had gone up a bit further, we could have looked over the San Joaquin Valley. I know for certain there was a huge mining operation there, in the Spanish Conquest days. Those rock structures were OLD!
As far as the curse, I would say there is. That Highway Patrolman said he saw me flipping him off. He said, "Do you know what kind of a bird don't fly? A JAIL BIRD!

Can you lend some more clues?
 

Scout

Jr. Member
Jul 18, 2012
32
44
So Cal
Detector(s) used
Whites MX SPORT, Tesoro Eldorado 1989 model, Tesoro Compadre, Fisher Gold Bug
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Cool video Can Am, I lived in PMC many years we had a cabin there at rode to all the remote mines, thanks for posting this, sure miss exploring that area and hunting Quail from my XR :occasion14:
 

Al D

Bronze Member
Jul 23, 2011
2,066
3,524
Gold canyon AZ
Detector(s) used
DJI Air 2S
Primary Interest:
Cache Hunting
This looks interesting
 

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