Our Expedition Of St. Marys In The Mtns & Flowery Peak!

Each and everytime I do investigations in Virginia City it is a home away from a home. My son Jarrod loves this place it is his favorite to explore and investigate. I actually have allot of fans from our site who love our work up here some of them follow me in my footsteps checking out these places and it never gets old. Virginia City is one giant museum every building, structure, home or business contains some artifacts dating back to its boomtown days.

It would just be Jarrod and I for the trip Tammy was sick lost her voice so we would be a bit shorthanded. I had big plans for the day one would be to check out St. Mary's to its entirety and the other would be to work with Flowery Peak which is also part of one of the oldest mining districts in the region.

These were two entirely opposite sort of investigations one was indoors one was outdoors. I really could not ask for a better day it got up in the 60's and we had free range to check out what we wanted. Even though I had been to St. Mary's In The Mountains I had never investigated it with equipment so I was excited we had some permission to see some of the places others do not always get to see.

I enjoy going out to Virginia City packing a lunch, dinner, doughnuts and sodas. I just love to smoke a cigar and hike around finding overgrown mills and historic sites here. There is so much to see and even if you do not explore the shops offer so many great items.

Jarrod and I packed up the truck also metal detector he has been wanted to strike gold. Hell you can find gold in some of the little creeks around town. Its the thrill of the hunt what can I say so it being a paranormal investigator.

We would leave in the morning early to get to St. Mary's its a church downtown Virginia City that overlooks Sugarloaf Mtn and many other sites. You can imagine how excited I was to finally be able to do this church good things come to those who wait.

St. Mary's In The Mountains

When I entered in the church we had the entire place to ourselves. A lady who works there gave us access to the upstairs which are off limits. Currently the upstairs is also now being renovated so there is allot of plastic everywhere. However the pipe organ and the view of the entire church belong is absolutely gorgeous.

I am not one to preach religion but I admire the churches history and the warmth that it offers the public. Allot of the churches artifacts on the lower floor date back to the 1800's. This includes statues, paintings, stained glass and even a baptismal fountain.

While I was there I met up with a news crew they were pretty interested in what we were doing and who we were. We have grown quite large in this region if you really look at it were one of the better groups on the west coast overall.

The old wood floors creak and what I find interesting is the beautiful marble alter which has many large statues. Allot of fancy woodwork and brass candle holders as well. Its a site you have to see with your own eyes.

Jarrod and I sat in one of the pews which btw has soft velvet cushions to relax for a bit. While I was on the investigation I photographed nearly every statue, painting or piece of stained glass. As we wanted to handle the church like a documentary more then just another haunted site. Do not get me wrong the church is rumored to be haunted you can pay to investigate it however lucky for us we had permission and did not have to.

There is an old confession booth in one of the corners of the church we had some very high gauss emf readings back around this area. We also had some high readings up on the upper terrace which eventually faded off. I have to speculate that there are ghost in this church afterall most of the burials you see in the Catholic Cemetery up at Silver Terrace had funerals here at one time.

There is also a huge chandelier that hangs over the midsection aisle of the church however its dimly lit inside. Its hard to believe despite the great fire of 1895 that so many artifacts were able to be saved. This church was rebuilt but it still is one of the oldest Catholic Church's in NV and a wonder.

When we were done investigating the main floor and upper level we went down into the basement of the church. Which btw is a museum that contains many religions artifacts such as robes, bibles, books, photos and religious artifacts. I did make a movie in the museum and photographed many artifacts which we will integrate into our site.

There was also a bedroom where the priest would sleep and stay. In the room was a couple closets,phonograph and even a prayer alter. I felt something in this room nothing bad but there was a closet we opened that was green and just empty. I felt like a kid checking for monsters in the closet.

There were many old outfits in the museum including what a nun would wear in the 1800's along with various organs. There was also models of the church and many statues. The curator is a nice guy he could talk your ear off with stories I just really did not have much time to touch base with him as I wanted to since we had to get to Flowery Peak.

Behind the museum and artifacts there is a wine cellar where you can purchase a bottle. Within the wine cellar are stucco walls giving off a cavern like room its pretty cool. There was an old wood stove in there and tombstones. I have never in my life seen tombstones in the basement of a church but they were original and dated back to the 1800's.

There was another room that boasted some old stained glass and spires probably from the other St. Mary's that burnt to the ground. I know when the fires occurred the church was rebuilt and the locals salvaged what they could.

All in all this was a great experience for my son and I. We read allot about Catholicism history and artifacts during our visit. Allot of these things were used over the many years of funerals and services. I bet at night when all have left the church this place livens up like a Xmas tree.

Can I say it is haunted or not I do not know. We had a few high readings out of the blue and we were very thorough in covering every corner of the church. We also found behind glass bricks from the old St. Mary's these kind of artifacts also carry energy whether its residual or a conscious entity remains to be seen.

When I put this up on the site everything is going to come to light. We will separate the stained glass, statues, photos, sanctuary, artifacts, videos, history etc etc we really want to promote the hell out of this place no pun intended. Our next place of interest would be Flowery Peak!

Flowery Peak

Back in December we were back in this area and we found a collapsed cave. I was very drawn to the area as at one time a mining camp use to exist back in the mountains of Virginia City. Jarrod and I offroaded parking in this canyon. We could see some open pit mining and a few foundations from back when processing mills actually stood at the mouth of the canyon.

Personally I was excited to climb to another summit this one was much higher then Sugarloaf Mountain so I knew the view had to be extraordinary. We did get stuck on a mining road as I tried to pull the truck off to the side. The snow and ice was thawing so my tires were spinning lucky for us we found something left behind by the miners that helped me get my back tire unstuck. What can I say I am one resourceful guy lol.

We started to make our ascension up to the top of Flowery Peak. The best way to reach it is to park behind it at the top of six mile canyon. Then you are only 600' from the summit which means less rock climbing and dangers.

Some of the climbing we did was on all fours but every hundred feet we came in tact with another mining road. These old mining roads used to travel to mines so that material could be exported from them. Today people use them to cycle on or hike around.

We found an old shovel climbing up the mountain and near a sister peak a series of rock formations. One had a crevice that looked like it went down into a cave. However as we went higher to the peak the brush began to thicken such as more trees, larger rocks and heavy snow.

At the top of the summit was some collapsed wood structure it was old not sure its purpose or if it was a ventilation shaft at one time for the mines. My main goal would be to visit the Flowery Mine and the pit mine that created a man made lake over the years.

The problem is that we were miles away from it I could see at the top of the peak Virginia City, Six Mile Canyon, Carson City and Dayton. But what I could not see is the mine just 5 miles of rolling hills and mountains to the south of us.

I figured we would rough it climb down on the backside of the mountain which btw gets very little sun so the snow at times was up to our waste. At times I became so frustrated that I decided to do some redneck sledding and I am not a redneck but it works. It was fine till a rock caught my foot and bent my leg back then I had a huge swollen ankle. My son he ripped his sock and things were going two stooges lol.

Even though it was a warm day at times the winds near the peak were so severe it cut right through you. I decided to wear my hiking sneakers because I didn't see much snow. I was wrong at the summit there was allot of it and the entire backside was covered. My goal was to get to the bottom of the mountain then hike along the backside of Flowery Peak where there was hardly any snow would it work though?

On my way down we had to be careful there were dropoffs so we climbed very carefully till we were on the backside of Flowery Summit. My son and I made a very odd discovery back here not once but twice in two different locations.

Both were very large tracks were talking Bigfoot sized tracks strangely we would find five or six in the middle of a slope then they would vanish. One of the sets of tracks came out from behind a tree traveled about 8' then vanished. We have no explanation about this other then there are many mountain ranges that connected and despite VC is high desert it does have woods deeper up in the mountains behind it.

When we reached the bottom of the summit we followed a road one which by the way dead ended putting us in a giant canyon over a mile wide. I could see behind us the summit off in the distance 1500' above us I could not feel my toes and my gloves were soaked. Every so often we would stop for a drink and food break.

We seen off in the distance on a ridge a bunch of structures we thought it was a mill of some kind so we figured lets check it out. Jarrod and I decided to climb up this woodsy slope it took us an hour where it came on out to this dirt road. That dirt road let us to some gates where somebody with a truck and trailer were living. We made sure we had gotten out of there but the site also had some historical features so I am assuming at one time an ore processing mill may have been used here for the Flowery mining district.

This long road led off into another canyon more then likely I could have taken it out or became real brave leaving it to find a shorter way out of the wilderness.So I cut back down to the right walking these rolling hills which eventually led us to this creek where we found the remnants of an old water tower pretty cool.

Following the backside of Flowery Peak in this canyon really made me feel small. The moon was full so we didn't need flashlights. We could see ahead of us for a mile as the canyons creek meandered and to our left was rolling hills with dead trees growing on them.

I never realized the size of this mountain but it actually is one mountain with many peaks, Although we were at the summit many of the other peaks that continue to follow this canyon are also very massive. Even though along the creek the snow was only a few inches deep the entire back side of Flowery was covered in white powder. Sure we could have climbed over the mountains then down to hit the road but it would not have been a safe choice so we followed the creek.

I also came across a bone it was very heavy not sure if it was human I photographed it because it was just an odd find to see at the top of a hill. There is not many large predators back here except mountain lions and this bone was large and heavy. Not to mention we heard dozens of coyotes nearby I been dealing with coyotes for years they are the least of my problems I just didn't want to run into someone who might bury me in there trailer garden lol.

We would continue to follow the creek and when we reached the lowest part of Flowery Peak we finally found our mine at 11pm at night. Hiking under the stars was great but at the same time when I found out that the Flowery Mine was just a massive pit and strip mine I was really disappointed. Strip mining is where they cut out the entire side of a mountain then process the finds. It technically ruins the landscape and sometimes entire mountains are removed overtime.

The walls of the strip mine were steep to our right and the pit was deep so we would walk around on this mining road which followed another pit mine filled with a lake of ice. It was to dark to get photos and videos of both locations.

When we followed the road we seen some utilities lines and as we came around the Flowery Mine we also seen cars on six mile canyon below. We were at this point 200' from the road which when we climbed down the hill with excitement we found a hidden spot where we can park next time I decide I want to go up here to get some photos of the mine and lake. I will have to come back to do so because it coincides with the summit and mining district.

Jarrod and I made all the right decisions we do not use a compass or maps. So to find the mine, lake and road in the middle of the night was a feat. There were many other mining roads back here who knows where they lead that is what makes Virginia City so intriguing is you can backpack anywhere and every one of those roads will take you somewhere.

The road back uphill six mile canyon was a hard one. I had heavy cramping in my hamstrings and calves earlier but they were coming back again. The road is curvy and narrow traffic flies down it. So Jarrod and I had to stay out near the woodsy sections and the creek for a few miles to get back to the truck. I did smoke a cigar at an old cotton wood along the road. You have to understand that this road is rumored to be haunted its full of strange reports so walking it under a full moon is quite the experience.

A guy driving up to Virginia City slowly drove by asking me if we were okay. I did not talk to him much because he was acting a bit strange. We continued our hike northward when he made a U-turn and drove slowly by me again. I armed myself just in case there would be a fight. I cannot understand the reasoning behind why someone would be driving to Virginia City on a secluded road then see me turn around again and not continue where they were heading in the first place. I look for signs like this when I am out at night this is why I lead my team because I take always safety precautions. There are many men coming up missing in NV never to be found again so it is important to cover your grounds. I didn't even have a phone signal up here neither did my son so it was just us and us alone.

We would eventually past Sugarloaf Mountain then another mile we could see the flashlight hitting my reflectors on the truck. We had done it walked entirely around a mountain covering over six miles on foot through snow, mud, water and even at times high winds. We gave each other high five because we came and we saw.

We had overcame so much but it turned out to be a nice night the canyon was much warmer and the moon glistened off the lake. We got to see some amazing views of Virginia City, strange tracks and even found a strange bone. I finally know the fate of the very old Flowery Mine and found new areas to explore on future investigations. I just would never take a mountain like Flower with simplicity because its not this is a monolithic mountain with many cliffs, rock formations, woods and various peaks. In the winter they are covered deep in snow and if you are not prepped you can die its that simple.

It was good to get home we had pizzas when we arrived home and I was so tired. It took four days for my legs to heal up. I have a knee disorder so both my knees were swollen and my ankle was the size of a baseball. But when this hits the site your going to appreciate a part of the wild west not allot of people get to see. So many stick around Virginia City and forgot that just within miles of this boom town is a wilderness where early pioneers faced life or death at any moment.

Back in the day you either walked these mining roads, lived in a camp or you took a wagon down them. If you needed supplies you would have to get through the weather to get to town to get to them. I try to put myself in situations where I can feel like I was an early pioneer and what I would do. This seems to always produce good results. I didn't see any monsters, ghost let alone anything paranormal. But we found some odd things throughout the journey that keeps the mystery alive!

A historic church like St. Mary's then moments later an adventure in the Virginia City wilderness? I would take that any day then any paranormal TV show. I live it feel it and love what we do! Every adventure takes on a story of its own and all of you will get to see them on our site so that you can feel as if you were right along side of us.
Lord Rick
Founder