38 – Mackay Mine
​Mackay Mine Hill, located near Mackay, Idaho, is a historic mining area that played a significant role in the region’s copper, gold, and silver production from the late 19th century into the 1980s. Visitors can explore the site’s rich heritage through a self-guided 20-mile tour featuring 19 interpretive stops, including remnants of the 1917 Aerial Tramway Headhouse, the Horseshoe Mine Site, and the White Knob Townsite. The tour offers a glimpse into the area’s mining past and provides access to scenic views of the surrounding Lost River Range.
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Coordinates: 43.88121, -113.67338
Elevation: 8463 ft
Difficulty: 2
What to Expect: No info
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Like some others, I kept running into gates, so I took my picture at the bottom of the tram. Lots of cool stuff to see in that area. I highly recommend. Getting to the main gate is a level 2, but the road up to the tram and fallen trestle I’d rate a 3.
Not fun after dark. The road to the mine is not ideal for bigger bikes.
This was our last stop for the day, sometime around 10:00 PM. Go as far as you can. Near the bottom where most people ran up against the gate it was a 2, but further up it’s a hard 3. We stopped just shy on one difficult rocky section about a mile short.
Too bad the gate was locked. I would have liked to get up close to the mine. It was an interesting ride up there.
It was gated but we explored around and found a few interesting sites related to the mine.
Gate is locked before the mine but there is still plenty to look at.
Fun ride unfortunately the gate was closed but we stopped at a few other mine sites.
Could not seem to find a non gated road to the tramway headhouse. Nice view of Mackey valley.
I got this site on Alec’s 3 day 1300 mile ride day 3. We poked around the area for a while, lots of history here.
We spent about an hour trying to get to the main mine site, but were hit with lots of gates. The site is mainly a level 2, but some of the upper levels were about a 2.5 on a big bike.
Business community is supporting all Mackay visitors. I bought some gas, told attendant what I was doing, and they gave me a detailed map of Points of Interest to visit while there. You could easily spend a day there exploring. Roads are graded, but easy to access.
Site 3 of 5 for today. Friday April 11th. Great ride today.