Four-Wheeling in Southen Colorado, July 29, 2010

We have just returned to Lyons, Co from a 3-week stint of four-wheeling in our Jeep in Southern, CO. Our last posting showed pictures of some of the early days of our trip.

I never seemed to get fully acclimatized to the altitude. We were staying at South Fork, and later at Buena Vista at an altitude of 8,000 feet, plus. Most days we were trekking up mountain summits or passes, and eating lunch at altitudes

of 12, 000 to nearly 14,000

feet --- most days at

about 13, 000 feet. I certainly learned

that I will never be able to hike to these places, so four-wheeling is becoming a way to go to places, I would never be able to go to!

I used to worry that four-wheeling was not environmentally kind. While this is certainly true to some extent, in the west, out here, most of the four-wheel trails are up old roads to mines and ghost towns. The old mines are now revered landmarks, but for sure, the tailings, the acid streams, and hazardous holes in the ground are not

all that environmentally friendly either!

The first three photos are of a trip up Bristol Head, a flat topped mountain to the west of Creede. These lava cliffs are on the edge of a huge caldera. The first photo show our Jeeps climbing to the summit. The next of a man "watering"his dog. and the third photo of the surrounding countryside through a gap in the lava.

The next photo shows what is touted as a natural bridge. It is actually an eroded gap in a lava dike, that has risen above the surrounding countryside. The hard lava dyke has outlasted the softer rock, which it intrude eons ago, and which has eroded away.

From the South Fork-Creed area, we moved north to Buena Vista, where we met a new group of friends who like to four-wheel and who also own motor homes.

Buena Vista is the home of the Collegiate Peaks, a series of mountain peaks, many of which are named after Ivy League Colleges , and are over 14,000 feet high. Alas, there is no Mount Cornell.

One trip was up Mount Antero, which, although not named after an Ivy League School, is over 14,000 feet high. The picture of a group of Jeeps parked near a rock pile is at a point near the summit, but not quite there, and at just a few feet under 14,000. The actual summit can be reached by walking over a narrow ridge and making the final climb --- the point at the left of the next picture. In this picture, one can see Pike's Peak, the furthermost mountain --- looking a little hazy in the distance.

Another day we took an interesting ride over Mosquito Pass. This is an old toll road going between Leadville and Alma (Alma is a town near Fairplay.)

The old road goes up to over 13,000 feet, and it was cold up there with remains of many snow banks. We drove through what was the plowed- out portion of a snow drift showed in the next picture.

There were many beautiful flowers up at these high elevations. A picture of one collection of flowers in on a rocky ledge is shown in the next picture. The large white flower is a type of thistle with showy blossoms found at high altitudes. We are told they mostly come out in the evening, so we were lucky too see them. There were also an Alpine version of Spring Beauties, as well as many shades of Indian Paint Brush, and Colorado Columbines.

Aa we went down the other side of the pass, we found the picturesque remains of the London Mine. The final two pictures are of the mine.

The Alpine Loop, Colorado

Before I start to relate our adventures, I want to say a few words about my sister, Dona, who is very ill. As some of you know, she is my older sister, is widowed and living in an assisted living facility in Florida. Over time she has gotten weaker and weaker, and is only able get about in a wheel chair. Recently she has been feeling very weak and sleepy. This was finally diagnosed as heart trouble and she had a pacemaker installed. For a short while this seemed to improve her condition, but over the last several weeks she has weakened. She is back in her assisted living home, but she is still desperately ill, and we all fear that she will not recover, but rather succumb to her illness. I love her very much and worry about her. She is quite cheerful, noe she is back in her own room with her own things, and her daughter is keeping a close eye to be sure she is receiving proper care.

Since our last post,we have left Lyons, CO. Before we left, we took a last look at the eaglet in the nest high in the cliff above our campground in Lyons. the eagle chick has gotten quite large, and we believe it will have fledged, before we return in a month or so. It moves about the nest a can be seen peering over the edge of the nest, as seen in the accompanying photo.



We are now in South Fork, Co --- South Fork so-named for where the

south fork of the Rio Grande joins the

main river that flows in from the west.

We are at a four-wheeling rally, where we have met many of our friends from our RV club, the Escapees.

The altitude here is 8,200 feet, and I am having a little trouble getting acclimatized. We go four wheeling in the Rockies, mostly following roads that go to abandoned old mines and now defunct mining towns. We frequently

are travelling at high altitudes and usually eat our lunch at around 11,000 feet --- where I really find myself moving pretty slowly.

The accompanying photos are of a trip we took Tuesday around trails known as the Alpine Trail. We drove to Lake City (about 70 miles, from our campground) over on the other side of the Continental Divide

We drove over one pass, Cinnamon Pass" See the photo of Madie getting ready to take a picture. We had lunch at a ghost town, Animas Forks. (See photo.) This used to be the site of mines and stamping mills at one time.

We then continued our journey up over Engineer Pass, which is 12,000 feet in altitude. There are two photos, which give you some idea of the tremendous view we had over the mountains. It seems remarkable to be able to drive to such a place. I know I would never be able to hike any distance at such an altitude.

Tomorrow we go four wheeling up old mining roads up to the Continental Divide, following Rat Creek. What an interesting name!