Located just east of Ballarat up Pleasant Canyon around the corner from Clair Camp only yards outside Death Valley National Park the World Beater Mine and Cabin are among our all time favorite stops. The cabin is not BLM nor adopt a cabin yet remains open for the weary traveler. We found it clean and mouse free, well furnished and equipped with beds, stove, sink and everything a cabin should have. The view of Pleasant Canyon from the back porch cant be beat.
…despite a collapse near the entrance.
After settling in to the cabin for the evening we headed up the very steep, winding, shelf road to the lower World Beater Mine. The topo showed numerous adits, trams and a stamp mill. The tram workings are still there as well as the remains of the stamp mill structure which was burned to the ground in the 80’s by vandals. We didn’t see any equipment in the burned mill remains. We found one adit conveniently located near the old mining road and explored the main level only despite a collapse near the entrance. It was getting late so we called it a day without exploring any of the other adits or the upper workings.
…awoke to wild burro’s hee hawing at us…
The next day we awoke to wild burro’s hee hawing at us from across the canyon. We could see a road from the World Beater down to the Radcliffe from satellite images and gave it a shot. The road was doable until the last few yards. We could barely make our way down the super steep switchbacks. We could hear and see mining operations underway below us. We eventually were stopped dead in our tracks by a couple boulders that had rolled down the hillside. We tried to winch them out of our way but the sharp edges of the boulders kept cutting our recovery straps in half. We ended up making some crazy 12 point turn around’s on the narrow shelf road and returned on our way up pleasant canyon.
Though lacking a mill, the World Beater Mine was a top notch 4×4 destination for any adventurer or gold mining enthusiast. Comment below!