Friday, August 31, 2012

Another death-defying road trip

 
Not sure why all the pictures uploaded from the end to the start of this Blog but lets try and make the best of it.  Still in Colorado at the time they were taken.  We had heard about an old road in the National Forest where there was a lot of dispersed camping so we decided to go take a look.  Jackie found the road on an atlas and it was only 25 miles long.  That 25 miles took over 3 hours and we are glad that the Jeep is 4WD or we never would have made it.   It was a beautiful day trip in an area where we definitely want to do some more exploring.
 
Now remember we are going backwards so this is the last picture of the day heading the 85 miles around the mountain on a paved highway.  The sun is just setting on the top so no reflections on the water flowing from the top of the valley to the bottom.
 

Our last pull-off was just a few miles before Silverton Colorado where Dick got some good shots of Red Mountain or what is left of it after years of mining in, on and around it.


We had to make another stop on the way home and a kind gentleman offered to take our picture.  How could we say no when we are such a cute couple?!  Did you notice matching tee shirts and jackets?


This is one of the shots at the top of the mountain at 11,363'.  We either turn around and go back taking about 2 hours or continue down the other side for another hour and then do the 80 plus miles.  We opted to continue over the top and see what is on the other side.


Just a typical view as you come around a hairpin curve, all we could say is "WOW".


At the top we found this lake in a meadow with several hunters camped in the area.


Near the top was an old mine with the remains of a fallen cabin that had a tin roof and not sure how this wildflower got through it all.


The first few miles was just a dirt road and then it started straight up and turned into nothing but rocks, we had to go side to side to miss the big ones sticking up.  What a challenge.


This is the miners cabin near the top next to the old demolished one in two pictures before this one.


On the way up we found an old campsite on the top of a bluff looking straight down.  What a great place for lunch.


A Colorado Park with an old cabin and corral that was built years ago for moving cattle from New Mexico up to Colorado that has been restored.


Really hard to see but this was one of the places that Jackie had to get out and direct Dick how to get up the rock wall and not go over the edge.  The section is solid rock with about an 18" step at the bottom so Dick had to go to the right with 2 wheels about 18" higher and the right two wheels on the loose dirt.  As you can tell we made it (but it was really scary).


Like I said the pictures are out of sequence but this is another shot of where we sat for lunch.



To be continued...