Little Acorn Mine (Aldridge Mine)

The Little Acorn Mine, formerly known as the Aldridge Mine, is a small historic tungsten (scheelite) prospect in the Greenhorn Mountains southwest of Wofford Heights, California, inside Sequoia National Forest. It never operated at large scale — a few short adits (10 to 170 feet) worked mostly in the mid-20th century — but the scheelite specimens it produced, with quartz, epidote, and garnet gangue, are well enough regarded that pieces show up in mineral museum collections. The catch for a visit: this sits on National Forest land, but the mine workings themselves are described as an active claim, meaning permission from the claim holder is the real gate here, not just a hike in. Worth knowing for the history and mineralogy; not a casual walk-up dig.

The Little Acorn Mine is in the Greenhorn Mountains of Kern County, about 2.9 miles ESE of Alta Sierra and roughly 1.5 miles southeast of Greenhorn Summit, on the south side of Shirley Creek — inside Sequoia National Forest, southwest of Wofford Heights on Lake Isabella.

Hard-rock mine-dump material rather than open surface picking — expect old adits, waste rock piles, and steep, wooded hillside terrain. Old mine workings carry real hazards (unstable ground, open shafts); this isn't a beginner site.

The mine sits on Sequoia National Forest land, but is documented as an active mining claim, which means the claim holder — not the Forest Service — controls collecting rights to the actual workings. Confirm current claim status with the Sequoia National Forest office before assuming you can dig here; unpatented claims on National Forest land still allow the public to pass through and rockhound loose surface material in most cases, but working an active claim's dumps without permission crosses into trespass.