We did all the twists and turns and finally arrived at the summit, almost 12,000 feet above sea level. There was a series of steps up to a vantage point and this ‘sea level dude’ was gasping for breath.
From this location we were able to get a hazy picture of the Interstate, thousands of feet below.
We spent the next eight miles driving down from the pass in a lower gear. My thoughts went back to the many times we descended mountain roads like this with the truck and 12,000 pounds of trailer pushing away. It was quite a bit less nerve wracking with the Hyundai.
Once we were able to shift into high gear we breezed along and arrived in Leadville, our first visit here since 1958. We had a game plan, picked up from isolated articles on the net. We parked, walked seven blocks down one side of the main drag and then returned on the other. Leadville is neat. The historic walk had many very old buildings identified; the Tabor Opera House, above, was one of them. There are all sorts of stories about the Tabors, but if you are interested, call Dr. Google. In much of the town, when you leave US24, there are a ton of smaller, Victorian type, incredibly colorful houses. What a unique sight.
Leadville was definitely an active mining area, and active mining areas had active miners, who didn’t have a whole lot to do with their slim wages except visit vintage (1879) emporiums. This one is still in excellent shape.
This next scene simply caught my eye. There was a very old building sitting on the corner with the mountains framed in the distance. We finished our visit here by spending a couple of hours in the Leadville Mining Hall of Fame & Museum, and this place was simply fascinating. They had what seemed to be every conceivable mineral that had ever been mined anywhere. What an incredible place. I would recommend a visit to this great little town to any and all.
After we left Leadville, we followed US24 south along what is referred to as the Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway. All of these peaks are over 14,000 feet tall: Mt. Oxford, Mt. Harvard, Mt. Columbia, Mt. Yale, and Mt. Princeton. They simply dominate the area immediately west of the highway.
We continued our journey east, and then south, and ended up in Cripple Creek. Tomorrow the adventure begins.
I have to confess. When the planning for this trip began, about two years ago, one area caught my eye and my interest and has dominated my thoughts since then.
It is called the Gold Belt Scenic Byway. It consists of three separate routes connecting Cripple Creek with Canon City, a total distance of around 30 miles. One route, which is totally paved and much longer, will be taken on Friday as we leave Cripple Creek for Canon City and parts further west.. The second and third routes, which are not for sissies, will be described below.
The western route is known as the Shelf Road, and is impassable in foul weather. Today wasn‘t foul. The road is gravel and is literally carved out of the sides of a very deep canyon with a small stream flowing at the bottom..
All of the literature mentions the hole in the rocks but doesn’t say where on the road this can be seen. No reason to. As you round a bend, there it is, way up in the rocks with a cloudy sky background today.
Most of you who have read my previous blogs are aware that I really like my camera. No, make that I really love my camera. I was motivated to lean on the zoom button and get the picture above, without a tripod and no shakes. So here is the hole in the wall, up close.
This road was called the Shelf Road because of a several mile stretch that was literally a shelf sticking out from the side of the mountain. This shelf is one car wide, with a few areas widened enough to allow two vehicles to pass. Drivers with any brains take this route from north to south, as you have the mountain side on your right, and the chasm on the left. And it is a chasm. You can see a short portion of the road in the lower middle of the picture. This was not an isolated place; the whole shelf was like this. The entire canyon was surrounded by high walls, again similar to this picture.
After we left the Shelf Road we took a quick trip through Canon City and Florence and hooked up with Colorado 67, also known as the Phantom Canyon Road. This is the third leg of the Byway. The Phantom Canyon Road was constructed from an old railway bed that connected Cripple Creek with civilization. This implies that the road is quite flat, and it is. It rises about 2000 feet with a gradual grade that a train can handle, but straight it ain’t. This guy curves around, following the usual river bed, with towering cliffs on each side. I’m sure that those old steam engines didn’t set any records on these tracks.
As you might expect, in this type of terrain, some mountains cannot be moved so the next option is to put a tunnel through them. The trains used to make it and so did the Hyundai. This is the first tunnel.
And as you might expect, if there is a first tunnel there must be a second, and here it is. This picture gives you a little idea about how high the cliffs were on each side of this roadway.
We finished our Gold Belt Tour; about 60 miles, in five hours and arrived back in Cripple Creek, to relax for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we follow the Gold something Loop around Cripple Creek and Empire and hike up to a few old mine sites. I’m already out of breath.
No comments:
Post a Comment