Living UNDER a ROCK and a HARD PLACE

wayoflife

wayoflife

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In a remote corner of the Northern Nevada Desert and high up on a mountain ridge, there lies a cabin built underneath an enormous rock and that few know about. While there are a lot of stories regarding this amazing destination including one suggesting it was some kind of moonshine shack, the most credible information I could dig up indicates that the cabin was in fact built back in the early 1900's by an Albert Andrew Bass and his wife Anna. The two were miners who moved into the area prospecting for gold and silver and worked the surrounding claims for about 20 years until she died in 1930 and him following her in 1934. About a year after the end of World War II, a miner by the name of Roy Ladd took over and worked the claims for about a year and from what I understand, there may have even been one other individual who worked it for a bit thereafter. Today, this cabin under a rock and adjoining structures stand as a testament to the early miners who came out west, lived in inhospitable places like this and pecked out a living digging in the ground.

For those of you who are interested in seeing this place, I am sorry to say that I will not give out directions to it. The location is purposefully kept a secret by locals to help prevent vandals from destroying it. What I can show you are photos that we took of it from a recent trip that Cindy and I made out to it and I hope you will enjoy them.

After pulling off a lonely stretch of highway, we started our long trek up into the mountains...
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Working our way up the mountain...
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If you're afraid of heights, a good portion of the trail is along a creepy tight and narrow shelf road...
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And finally, we are here at last - the homestead under a rock and a hard place...
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Some overall shots of just the cabins...
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Some inside shots...
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Room with a view...
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Looking out the front window...
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Back outside to check out the rest of the place...
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Sure hope that log isn't the only thing hold up the rock above...
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The outer rim of this giant boulder was originally ringed with a man made gutter that channeled snow and rain water into a cistern buried at the back of the house...
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The neighboring cabin may have been something more of a storehouse...
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Here's a peek inside and looking at the rafters...
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In a place like this, you have to make do with whatever you've got available. Here you can see an old and broken makeshift door hinge that was made from an old leather boot...
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Heading down to the old stable...
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Clearly, this has seen better days but, at one point and time, it could have stabled a couple of horses or maybe some cows...
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It's always cool when you can find old hand hewn timbers...
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Just on the north side of the stable, there is a steel hatch on top of a deep concrete cistern...
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Taking a peek inside...
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This thing was easily 15 feet deep or more - a bit much to hop in and out of....
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Looking back at the homestead from the corral...
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View looking north and out to the mountain range beyond...
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Another view as we hiked up to the nearby mine...
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Time to explore the mine...
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And finally, a look back at the homestead from the mine tailing...
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I hope you enjoyed the photos we took of this amazing piece of American history. If you ever get a chance to find it for yourself, please do what you can to leave it in better condition than you found it. Thank you. :cool:
 
You truly live in a beautiful place and I'm jealous that you have so much open land you can explore. I love the last picture of Moby with the mountains in the background!
 
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that homemade gutter system is so freaking cool! and those have to be the strongest sticks ever to hold up that big rock :shock:
 
enjoyed the pictures, you have inspired my to do some cabin hunting this summer. :thumb:
 
Americana

Awesome bit of American history and looks like it was a blast to explore! Thanks for sharing Eddie and Cindy!
 
That is awesome peice of our American history I love finding things like that. I hope to find that one someday when I get up there to visit family. Thanks for sharing!! :thumb:
 
So...do you ever go to any boring places? It is sad that others cannot enjoy such sites due to "pigs". Thanks for sharing.:thumb:
 
catahoula said:
It is sad that others cannot enjoy such sites due to "pigs."
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So write your congressman or senator if you want change. Better yet, run for office yourself.

The decision to make certain public lands illegal for off-road vehicles is about 200 steps above a "pig's" pay-grade.
 
Hack12 said:
So write your congressman or senator if you want change. Better yet, run for office yourself.

The decision to make certain public lands illegal for off-road vehicles is about 200 steps above a "pig's" pay-grade.
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Wow! What's with the hostility?
 
Hack12 said:
So write your congressman or senator if you want change. Better yet, run for office yourself.

The decision to make certain public lands illegal for off-road vehicles is about 200 steps above a "pig's" pay-grade.
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Pretty sure he was referring to pigs as in slobs not LEOs..... IMHO.... But you are correct.


In any case those are beautiful pictures as always I enjoy living vicariously through you my friend. Thanks for sharing.
 
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