Note: Before hitting the trails, read Preston’s Tips to make sure you’re ready for hiking in the High Country. 

Wirepatch Mine Hike

Enjoy these two different Wirepatch hikes that can be combined to get views from above and below.  Parking for both is at the Lincoln City trailhead.  The Wirepatch Mine was originally mined hydraulically but as samples of wire gold were discovered the miners worked their way uphill to find where the mother lodes penetrated the surface.  They then started lode mining by chasing the veins into the mountainside.  Milling and residential resources were located on-site to handle to vast amounts of ore that were being processed.

For those looking for a sweeping perspective of the Wirepatch along with upper French Gulch, Mount Guyot, and the back side of Bald Mountain, the Humbug Hill road up to a side road that goes out onto the slope of the Wirepatch Mine is spectacular, while the leaves along the road have changed. Difficulty Moderate, Distance 1.6 miles, Time: 90 minutes, elevation gain ~650 feet. The Humbug Hill road is a long slow rise through an aspen grove that’s somewhat steeper than the Sallie Barber road. After going out onto the Wirepatch on the flat road near the top, return the way you came.

The lower loop is significantly less strenuous and provides views from the bottom of both the Wirepatch Mine and the adjacent aspen grove. Distance: 2+ miles, Elevation Gain 320 feet, Duration 90 minutes, Difficulty: easy.

The combined route takes about 3 hours, rises nearly 900 feet, has a distance of 3.7 miles, and is moderate-to-strenuous.

This hike is particularly interesting because the Wire Patch Mine is an extremely prominent example of hydraulic mining that exposed approximately 700 vertical feet of very steep hillside with minimal revegetation.  Historically, Farncomb Hill (part of Colorado’s Golden Horseshoe) was of great interest due to the rare wire and crystalline gold that was discovered here. The Tom’s Baby nugget discovered in 1887 was discovered nearby on the northeast side of Farncomb Hill in Gold Flake mine.

In the early 1860s, Henry Farncomb was one of the first prospectors in French Gulch. Farncomb discovered delicate crystal gold in the placer deposits and inferred that it had not traveled far, Farncomb ultimately partnered with Francis T. Ebert to use hydraulic mining methods to liquify the loose soil which exposed rich veins of wire gold, crystal gold, and free gold in the late 1870s. Tunnels were then driven into the mountain to chase the exposed veins and a flurry of lawsuits over mineral rights while competing companies raced to extract as much gold as possible while the lawsuits evolved. Prior to a mid-1880s court decision to sell all the involved claims to a third party, three people were killed when gunmen were sent to seize some of Farncomb’s property.

Thus this site is important to gold mining from both a geologic and legal perspective.  Plus the leaves on the Humbug Hill road are amazing during the annual colors and the view from above French Gulch are sweeping.