Short Colorado Overland Adventure

[lumpskie]

I took the Waggy out on another little adventure with a few friends. We started in Frisco and headed up Shrine Pass. The trail is pretty easy but the scenery was beautiful.





After a half hour or so, we stopped for lunch here:





You couldn't beat the view!





After lunch we continued down the trail. Soon we reached the peak of just over 11,000 ft and began to drop into a lush valley. The view straight ahead was of Mt. Holy Cross most of the way. It was amazing.





As we lost more elevation, the scenery was a mix of Aspen trees, pine and wild flowers. Most of the route ran next to Turkey Creek.





Jeep hood ornament looking cool through the windshield:





After travelling for a number of miles, I spotted an old structure off to the left:





So, we all hopped out to investigate.





It looked like there were a couple old cabin ruins with a two track road leading to them. So, we drove up and took a few pictures.











After spending a little time there, we were back on the road. After a few minutes, my buddy Josh called out over the CB asking, "what do you think that stone structure is off to the right?" At first, it didn't look like much.





But when I really looked, it appeared to be man made. We have no idea what it was:



We continued to the trail to McAllister Gulch which, I believe, is part of the old Camp Hale. Camp Hale was the original permanent military base for the 10th Mtn. Division. They used this area for mountain acclimation and training for World War 2. Wikipedia says that after that, in the 1960's the area was used by the CIA to train Tibetan guerilla fighters. The site was chosen because of the similarities of the terrain with the Himalayan Plateau. The Tibetans nicknamed the camp "Dhumra", meaning "The Garden".






The area is so beautiful, you can't tell that it was part of an artillery range.






Soon, we rounded a corner and some buildings came into view. We had made it to Red Cliff, Colorado.



That's it for Part 1. More to come!

 

[kmlacroix]

nice

 

[lumpskie]

^Thanks kmlacroix. Here's part 2!
As we hit the pavement of Red Cliff, I can see that it's a cool little town! It's small but filled with historic buildings all of which are in good shape. Sorry for the pictures... I took them on the fly.





This was a neat "Old World" style house on a hill.



And I don't know what this machine was, but it was really neat to see. It looks like the owner runs these rubber tracks in summer and I suspect he swaps for standard metal tracks in winter.



After we drove through Red Cliff, we got on Hwy 24, going south. I tried to get some pictures here, but the Waggy was COVERED in bugs at this point. For example, here's a picture of a really cool set of bridges. The road I'm on is a bridge that's probably 100 feet in the air and you can see the old steel bridge towers above my road. But I couldn't get my camera to focus through the windshield.



Here's why:



At any rate, we traveled down Hwy 24 for about 10 miles and pulled off at No Name Gulch. We aired down and decided to try to make it to Slide Lake. The trail started off pretty smooth but got rocky pretty quickly.





As we continued, the trail just kept getting rockier. Not the fun, obstacle style of rocky either. Just the never ending bumpy kind of rocky.





Man pictures don't do it justice! I had my 7 month old in the car and Shortround had his pregnant wife in his truck... I can't believe how well each of them held up. It was ROCKY.






We were travelling at less than a mile an hour at this point, the sun was getting low in the sky and Wifey and I agreed that we'd gone far enough. When we called the other guys over the CB, saying that we wanted to turn around, everyone agreed. So we headed back. Man, that trail was rocky...







Finally, we made it back to the forest, and back onto smoother trail.



And then, back to the trailhead to air back up. It was a beautiful evening.



So, the plan was to head north on Hwy 24 and stay at Copper Mountain for the night. But, as we headed up 24, I spotted a place I've wanted to explore for a long time!



It's the ghost town of Gilman, abandoned in 1984. It was a mining town that mined almost everything over the years. It started in precious metals like silver and gold and ended up mining a number of metals... like zinc.



In the end, the EPA forced new regulations and the mine was closed. I believe it ran from 1886 to 1984.







We'll definitely be coming back to explore this place again.





And that was it. After that, we headed into Vail to grab some groceries. Then we stayed the night at Copper and headed home. It was a really great trip, exploring a part of the state I hadn't really seen before. I can't wait to go back in explore some more.

 

[Bushcoat]

Very nice! Heading to that area in a few short weeks.

 

[lumpskie]

^It's a great place to explore. Post up some pictures, when you get out here!