By now, most of you have heard about the 3 girls on their atv near Chloride who fell into an old mine shaft. Ive lived in Arizona for decades. I had the dangers of old mines drilled into me. Ive always been careful when Ive been out wandering in the desert. Despite that, I nearly fell into an old mine myself back in 1986 or 1987. I was watching where I was going, in an area around Pearce in southern Arizona. I took a step over a rise, around a bush, and nearly stepped right into a shaft. The angle of it prevented me from seeing it. I tossed rocks into it, and could hear them land far down the shaft. As geocachers, many of us go out in the areas where there are old mines. I urge people (especially those new to Arizona) to be careful and never underestimate the dangers of those old mines.