SILVERTON AREA VIEWS AFTER SNOW SEPT. 30

We wanted to take Ridgway friends Jim and Susan Wing on a 4wd trip while here, but an early winter storm left at foot of snow at 12,000 ft. So instead of taking Brown’s Gulch and Ophir Pass, we had to stick to lower roads either free of snow or nearly so. Snow hung on the pine trees but did not take many aspen leaves off.

The pictures are just as they came from the old Canon S2 IS 5 mp camera. without photoshopping.    

The first few pictures are from the same spot as several in my  blog posted yesterday. This time the water in the pond was still, making for nice reflections. Lots of photographers were out today, too.

 

 

 

These two below were from the scenic view turnout at the old Idorado Mine turnout on 550, the “Million Dollar Highway”.

 

 

 

These  Red Mountains are no longer red!

We took the South Mineral Road back several miles beyond the formal campground and found these two waterfalls.

 

 

Next was lunch at the Handlebar J in Silverton. We got there just as the second train of the day had arrived. The dessert was named Colorado Mud.

 

Next we took the excellent road to Gladstone to explore some of the two track roads into side canyons. With cloudy skies and snow , we were nearly in a world of black and white.

 

 

 

Jo’s jacket was not quite adequate for this elevation.

Susan Wing, Jo and Jim Wing.

 

Now I am in the mix.

ASPEN CHANGING COLOR IN IRONTON PARK – SEPT. 27 DEER AND RAINBOW IN OUR RV PARK

On Sept. 25 we passed through Ironton Park just north of Red Mountain Pass on our way to four wheeling northeast of Silverton. At its far north end we noticed lots of cars stopped and folks taking pictures of the changing aspens in the area, many using tripods. I vowed to return with my cameras. I did on Sept. 27. Heavy rain was forecast for the 28th, and rain often strips the aspens of their colorful leaves. Perhaps 5% of the aspens in the area already dropped their leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

The shots below were taken in the afternoon around 5 PM.

 

 

One of the Red Mountains adds another set of colors to the image. The small brown area across the canyon is the headframe structure for one of the many old mines in the area.

View to the north of the one above.

 

These two were taken from our motor home site. Above, the rainbow is at its brightest. Below shows the double rainbow. Otto Mears’ railroad in the area was nicknamed the Rainbow Route.

 

 

 

Here are two of the six mule deer browsing at the Visitor Center for our RV park.

SILVERTON 4 WHEELING –EUREKA AND PICAYUNE GULCHES, ANIMAS FORKS - SEPT. 25

On Sept 25 we had a great 4wd run with the Wedlakes. After picking them up at their Ridgeway home, we passed through Silverton and up to the Eureka townsite. At one time all  of the buildings there had been leveled, but a few new ones are there now. It is a great spot for dry camping. The pictures below are about half of those I took in the Canon A1100 IS 12m mp digital camera.

 

Here are Jo, Jill and Jerry Wedlake with Animas Canyon in the background. I have known Jerry since grade school in Beloit WI.

From here we took the Eureka Gulch road up to its top. I had never taken the road before, and it was well worth the trip.

 

 

At the top we looked at the footings for the Sunnyside Mine buildings. The depression in the foreground once contained Lake Emma. In 1978, mining under the lake worked upward too close to the bottom of the lake, and the lake drained into it. As it happened on a Sunday, no one was in the mine. Cleanup took two years, but the mine did go back into production. In the saddle at the far left sat a red Jeep. We wondered how it got there.

Returning down the road we were treated to a nice view of Eureka Gulch. 13,000 ft peaks are on horizon.

 

These turning aspens in various shades graced the road, like a yellow-flamed fire.

 

We always are impressed by the beauty of turning aspens and of Colorado mountains.

 

Here is our lunch stop at the foot of the Picyaune Gulch road near Animas Forks. Our Grand Cherokee performed very on these roads. The ride was fairly comfortable as I reduced tire pressure to less than 20#.

 

Climbing the rather steep road, we stopped at Treasure Mountain mine. The boarding house is on the right, still in fairly good repair. We saw a large mule deer doe just before stopping at the mine.

And here is the Treasure Mountain Mill framed in window of the boarding house. The equipment in the mill is still there as it was too remote to remove for scrap during WW II.

At Animas Forks we inspected the recently-restored Duncan house with its famed bay window. It was built for the manager of a mill there. Restoration of this and other buildings was made by the San Juan Historical Society with the proceeds of a grant

 

The bay windows take nearly the full width of the two story house.

 

The remains of an old mill are seen through one of the windows.

 

Most of the buildings in Animas Forks have been restored. The Duncan house is on the right. While we were there, men were working on restoration of the jail.

The California Gulch road winds up the gulch at the right. This shot is from the Engineer Pass road.

WEST ELK LOOP TOUR

On Sept. 19 we drove the 170 mile West Elk Loop, following an excellent brochure. We did it counter-clockwise, beginning at Gunniso CO, then north to Crested Butte, west to the Paonia area, south through Crawford and east along the north side of the Gunnison river. The roads were either paved or excellent wide  gravel, traversed by all sorts of vehicles including small cars and trucks. The loop circles the West Elk Wilderness area. The brochure tells us that the West Elk mountains were formed by igneous intrusions, volcanoes, massive uplifting, glaciations and river cutting. The aspens were in the early stages of turning yellow or orangeish. Below are less than half of the pictures I took in the Canon A1100IS 12 mp camera.

 

 

The gravel road descended from Kebler Pass along a branch of the Gunnison River through changing aspens and rugged mountains.

 

Note the varying shades of turning aspens.

 

We next entered  a huge stand of aspen trees, probably five miles long on both sides of the road. All of the trees in a grove of aspens shares one root system.

 

 

These are in the Ragged Wilderness area.

Here we just exited the giant grove of aspens and found this scenic lunch spot a few yards off the road.

Next we dropped down the the valley of the north Fork of the Gunnison River through the coal mining areas at Bowie and Paonia. The three underground mines there have been in recent production, but two now are plagued with fires in the coal seam and are not now working.

Beyond Paonia the road swings south through an agricultural area and then climbs the side of the mesas along the Gunnison River. At Pioneer Point a short walk takes one to an overlook of the Curecanti Needle in the deep canyon of the Gunnison River

 

Here is the Needle over Lake Morrow created by a dam for a power generation station.

The view upstream is toward the dam creating the Blue Mesa Reservoir.

PEAK 10 AT BRECKENRIDGE SKI RUN SEPT. 13

Our last run at Breckenridge consisted of just two jeeps, ours and the trail leader’s. It was short and very scenic. We  did not take the last mile to the antennae at the very top, but stopped at a saddle where a young man needed a jump to start his vehicle. I had a jumper cable and our leader did the honors of getting the vehicle started. The road was well maintained at the bottom where it was used by the large ski run operation, but was more typical from midway up.

 

 

At the saddle we were well above timberline. My GPS said the elevation was 12,500 ft. There are many switchbacks in the trail to the antennae – see the small white objects skylined at the top of the ridge?

 

It was neat to look nearly horizontally at the surrounding mountains, probably higher than 13,000 ft. Breckenridge is in the valley.

 

 

Part way back we paused for a shot of Breckenridge and were rewarded by two bicyclists pedaling into view. I wish that I had the wind to do that!

Here is part of the ski run and a closer view of Breckenridge.

 

 

Jo and I while airing up at the bottom

 

Our trail leader Jack Aquilino, spouse and Jo at the trailhead.