Colorado Adventure 2009

[IntrepidXJ]

Cabin ruins along the way.

Shadowy ruins.

Before I could meet back up with the Middle Fork of the Swan River trail again, I would have to descend 'Number 10 Hill' which is also known as 'SOB Hill'. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out not to be that difficult. It was probably a little easier because I was heading downhill, but I don't think I would have had any issues climbing up it either. It was pretty steep and rocky, though.

A few photos of Number 10 Hill (SOB Hill).

Shortly after reaching to bottom, I met up with the Middle Fork of the Swan River trail yet again...

Day 7 to be continued....

 

[IntrepidXJ]

Day 7: Wise Mountain & North Fork of the Swan


After taking a right I headed back up the Middle Fork of the Swan. The skies were much clearer today so I took some more photos along this trail...

When I got up top, I found a few more Mountain Goats.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

I took the short side trip to the Hall Valley Overlook

Watch where you step....or drive...

Hikers coming up through the snow

Good view of Red Cone

 

[IntrepidXJ]

Next stop was Wise Mountain

Cabin on Wise Mountain

Mine shaft near the cabin.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

Another mine on the way down

Soon I reached the North Fork of the Swan River.

There were a lot of old cabin ruins along this route.

This one had a nice big tree growing in the middle.

Some more mining ruins along the way, too.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

End of the trail.

Next I turned around and headed back to Tiger Road. I stopped a few miles before reaching Breckenridge to check out one of the old dredge boats in a small pond near the road.

I ended up heading back to Frisco early to meet Amanda, as she would be joining me for the last weekend on the trip.

That's all for Day 7. Day 8 still to come...

 

[IntrepidXJ]

Day 8: Chinns Lake, Kingston Peak & More


On Saturday, Amanda and I got yet another early start and made our way up Fall River Road. Our first destination was Chinns Lake.

Sherwin Lake

End of the trail

Chinns Lake. This was a very popular place. There were many campers setup along the shore of the lake. You can see the smoke from a campfire.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

An old cabin in Chinns Lake

An old mine along the way.

After making our way back to Fall River Road, we headed up through the town of Alice. Once we figured our way through the maze of roads there, we were soon on our way to Kingston Peak.

We stopped at the Rockhouse at the Loch Lomond Overlook.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

The rock we would leave after Amanda added our names.

Our rock in place.

Loch Lomond

Further along the Kingston Peak trail

Shelf road headed down

 

[IntrepidXJ]

When we reached Apex Road, we took a left and make a quick stop at the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel (last time I was here to run Jenny Creek and Rollins Pass I didn't take the time to check it out). After that we headed out to Rollinsville before heading to Moon Gulch. This turned out to be a very tight trail that was also pretty off-camber much of the way.

Start of Moon Gulch.

End of Moon Gulch shortly before reaching Gamble Gulch and Apex Road again.

Passing through Apex on our way to Central City.

After reaching Central City we took Oh My God Road (Virginia Canyon) back to Idaho Springs before heading to the Backcountry Brewery in Frisco for some dinner.

That's it for Day 8. Only one more short day to go!

 

[IntrepidXJ]

Day 9: Red and White Mountain


The final day of our trip was a short one. I had been away from home for 8 days, and had a lot of stuff I needed to get done before heading back to work. We decided to run Red and White Mountain along with Piney Lake Road before heading home. It was an easy trail that wouldn't take us very long, plus it was right near I-70 on our way home.

I didn't take many photos this day, but here's a few that I did take...

 

[IntrepidXJ]

An old wagon near Piney Lake

Piney Lake

There were a lot of people at the lake....hiking, fishing, etc...

.....and that's the end of my trip and this report. It was a great 9 days and I had a ton of fun! Now to start planning for my southern Utah trip this fall


P.S. Thanks for all the great comments about my trip!

 

[jgwjr]

thanks for the report, I would have never wanted to leave.

 

[Funrover]

Simply breathtaking!

 

[elmo_4_vt]

That is awesome country... Thanks for the Great pictures.

I could spend weeks just going around through the old mines and looking at the old machinery.

Don

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