Miners Gulch is one of the eeriest places I have ever searched for treasure. Every time we begin exploring around Bear Lake, we all get the feeling to run back to the car and get down the mountain as fast as possible. I’m not certain of what went on here in the past, but if our feelings are correct, it isn’t something good.

There are a few stories of mines around Bear Lake and I know there is one very close to the lake. It is currently being re-worked by a fellow treasure hunter, so if you stumble upon some recent diggings please be respectful of others claims.

The trail to the old mine begins at Bear Lake

While exploring around the lake and trying to shake the urge to run, we stumbled upon these symbols. Some of which are no longer there.

I found this symbol behind the branches of a pine tree just south of Bear Lake. It has several different parts and requires careful review to understand its meaning.

The first part and probably the most important is the “thunderbird” symbol. This is most often used as a follow marker. Below the body of the bird is the snake symbol. Typically when you see this symbol you are to measure from the bottom of the head to the ground and multiply by ten to get the depth at which the treasure is buried. But here there are two additional snake heads without a body which could indicate that the treasure has been removed. The bucket shaped symbol I am still researching as to its meaning.

This symbol indicates that the tunnel is covered or hidden.

The Diamond symbol has two different meanings – #1. Gold #2. One legua (2.52 miles)

It is very possible that they all refer to the same mine, and if the Legua symbol is correct, then Bear Lake is where the trail begins.

While searching for the mine, we found what appears to be an old road at the base of a rock slide. This path was perfectly cleared of trees and rocks and was nice and level side to side as it descended the mountain. At the end of the path we found a depression that could well be the old mine. If so then there is a lot of digging to do to re-open the old workings.