hill annex mine state park

My husband and I recently went on the mine tour on our way up to Scenic State Park. The tour was interesting and the guide, Lauren, a former miner, was very informative. There were some cons to this tour however: 1. The tour was on a very hot bus. Though there was supposedly air conditioning, we couldn't feel it and we were in the second row. 2. The microphone cut in and out throughout the entire tour, making it extremely difficult to hear the guide. Again, we were in the second row and we couldn't hear very well, so I can't imagine that the back of the bus heard much of the information at all. 3. Unfortunately, we had a group of very naughty children on the tour with us. This made it even harder to hear the guide and enjoy the tour. Very young children will probably not enjoy this tour.

My family took a bus tour of Hill Annex Mine & found it very interesting. It's a hour & a half long bus tour through out the abandoned mine. We had a very informative guide who at one time was a miner himself. Along the route the bus does stop & you do get to get out for a very pretty view of the mine. You also get to climb into some of the old equipment that was left there. My kids loved that part of the tour! I highly recommend taking the tour.

We stayed for 2 tours here. The first was a fossil tour -- good thing it was early, because the hill is mostly unshaded. Don't expect to come home with perfect fossils, and do come prepared -- a shovel, bucket, and screen would have been an enormous help, not to mention bug spray and sunscreen. The guide was knowlegeable and everyone eventually found something -- mostly fossilized snail shells, and one tooth that may have come from a crocodile. Oh, and you will get dirty, because you're sitting on a steep hill in rusty dirt. Probably the best time is to come after a rain.The mine tour was less hands on and more informational, but the guide (same guy) was quite interesting -- he worked in the mines for at least 10 years and had lots of harrowing stories to relate. There is also a spot where you can climb some really tall equipment if you are fast enough!