Colorado Autumn - October 2019; Part 2

Continued from Part 1

Tuesday, October 1 (continued)

Note: If you click on a photo you can see a larger version - highly recommended.

Cinnamon Pass

I'd driven the lower section of Cinnamon Pass Road a few years ago as far as Grizzly Gulch. It is very narrow and clings to the side of a steep slope. I remembered it was very bumpy, so had aired down my tires before leaving Sherman. I also had recently mounted a new set of tires, so had sturdy rubber tread.

Barely over a mile from the Sherman junction, the road traverses a steep, narrow canyon.

The road is alternately rocky & bumpy and smooth & flat as it passed through the "parks."

Small, colorful aspen grove next to the road.

The road will go left of that conical rock prominence before climbing up to the pass.

The scenery was dramatic with the surrounding alpine peaks. For the most part the road, though rough, wasn't too technical - at least until the fork to American Basin. At that point there is a sign on the pass road warning 4WD vehicles only. (As an aside, I've heard from a couple sources that American Basin is great for summer wildflowers. One fellow I talked to later in the trip recommended late July.)

I had been noticing there were long poles attached to the many steel posts delineating the edge of the road the whole length - see photo below. At one point I passed a pickup truck with the emblem of the county road department - the two man crew were the ones attaching or re-attaching those poles. I assume that's to help find the road in deep snow, though I doubt they plow this section and know they do close the road in winter.

Looking back (and ahead) after a very steep, narrow section of switchbacks.

This next stretch of road up to the pass had some "interesting" sections - sharp switchbacks, rocky humps, and super narrow shelf roads. I met three trucks coming down, thankfully up nearer the top where there was room for them to pull over and let me by. This section is a bit "technical" and not for the faint of heart (or those with a fear of heights.)

I found the landscape to be stark and beautiful. I know the pass is named for Cinnamon Mountain due to it mineral color, but I thought it was interesting the ground cover was also cinnamon in color this autumn.

I paused at the pass, took a few photos and tried to keep my feet in the gusty wind.

Cinnamon Pass (12,640')

The view back from whence I came.

The view west where I am yet to go.

One of this group of riders was not having a good day. His bike was laying off the road.

View back up to the pass.

The road leading down from the pass to the west looked less challenging and that proved to be the case. Although the last mile or so before Animas Forks was unpleasantly bumpy even with low tire pressure and required me to slowly creep along. This area in the San Juans seems to have rocky roads that are no fun to drive, IMHO.

Animas Forks

Animas Forks townsite, mines, and mills.

As I came down from the pass I stopped in the middle of road, as there was nowhere to pull off, to take a couple photos of the old mining town and surrounding structures. Animas Forks gets it name as this is where the Animas River forks into the West Fork and North Fork.

Animas Forks townsite

I was disappointed that the light this late in the day seemed to be coming from the wrong direction for the best exposures, however. There was some wind, but I did fly a mission to try and get aerial photos of the town.

Animas Forks. Aerial photo 'shopped to minimize the back lighting.

Another aerial photo of the townsite.

A gentleman, and his wife, came over to talk to me about my drone. He was fascinated and I had fun talking to him about it. They live in Durango and run a travel coupon business.

I thought if I could find a camping spot not far away I'd try for photos again in the morning. Camping is not permitted in the Animas Forks area within 800' of any historic structure and that pretty much meant there was only one site in the area and it was already taken. I decided to drive up the road along the West Fork of the Animas River to look for camping. I only drove a couple miles, but could see there would be not be even anyway to pull off the awful road.

Aerial photo of the Frisco Mill structure

On the way back down I did stop for photos at one old structure that Google Map labels Frisco Mill at Bagley Tunnel. I was able to get on its west side where there was still good light. Most of the mines in the Silverton area are tunnel mines, there are a few exceptions such as Yankee Girl that have vertical shafts.

Frisco Mill structure

I abandoned my effort to find camping anywhere near Animas Forks and started down the road toward Silverton hoping to find a camp site farther down. Little more than a mile down from Animas Forks there was the remnant of the avalanche that had blocked the road until August. Though they managed to carve a path for the road, it is still about 15' at the tallest point and about 40' wide.

Road to Silverton

A more modern mine across the canyon seen on the drive down.

I stopped briefly at Eureka Gulch to check out the campground there. It's a private facility that is closed for the season. I talked to a group of men who'd been camping there and they said it was open to the public for free camping at this point. There was a lot of downed timber and the wind was whipping down the canyon. I found one mostly sheltered spot, but there were lots of flies. So I continued down the road.

Minnie Gulch

A little more than a mile farther down I spotted a forest service road with a sign, Minnie Gulch. I drove up the road as it climbed up a few switchbacks then along a steep slope. It crossed a small creek about a mile along and then I saw mine ruins on the left and an old building next to the road. About a quarter mile farther I saw a short spur where I could pull a ways off the road. It was close to level and there was a fire ring, so had been used as a campsite before. As it was getting late, close to 6pm, I set up there. It was next to tall trees that sheltered me from the wind, another plus.

My campsite. Photo was taken the next morning when there was better light.

Turned out to be a nice, impromptu site, and though close to the road, no one came by the whole time I was there. The creek happily bubbled and babbled through the night, keeping me company.

Wednesday, Oct 2

Minnie Gulch (continued)

At some point from the last evening to this morning I decided to change my plans. While at home I'd created an itinerary though the mining district high above Silverton, but two things were on my mind. First, the fall colors were bursting out with abandon which is a short lived event; and second, I was already tired of being jolted by the rocky roads on these mountains. I would head down to Silverton, check South Mineral Creek Road to see if there were autumn colors that way, then head over to Ouray on the way up to Delta and the back road to Kebler Pass Road east of Crested Butte. A total gamble regarding the timing, but I knew there were miles of aspen groves along there. OK, new plan in place.

Aerial view of my campsite

My map showed a mine site farther up the road, but I'd have to climb a ways to get there and had no information if it was a cool site or not. So after I let it warm up a bit, I took some photos from the ground and air.

Aerial view down the canyon

I headed back down pausing at the mine ruins just below.

I'm thinking this was a miners dormitory for the mine just below.

Mill foundation located just below the photo above.

It was a beautiful drive down the gulch this brilliant morning.

Just before descending the switchback I found this view, looking down toward Siverton.

Eureka Gulch

The Eureka site was only a mile back up the road so I headed that way first. The buildings of the Sunnyside Mill are long gone, but it has an extensive foundation that stair-steps up the mountain side. Seemed like an opportunity for someone with a flying camera.

Sunnyside Mill 

Aerial photo of mill foundation

I then drove down to Silverton where I stopped at the grocery store and bought a deli sandwich to take with me.

South Mineral Creek

I didn't drive all the way to the end of the gravel road. There were groves of aspen on the north side, but not the south. I took some aerial photos and video from a couple of places.

Aerial panorama looking up the canyon

Aerial panorama looking down the canyon toward Silverton

I also discovered waterfalls I didn't know existed. They're on a small stream that feeds into South Mineral Creek. They're located on the north side of the road. I flew over to them to capture the detail below. (If you expand the image above, you can see them in situ near the left edge of the photo.)

Waterfalls on the north side of the canyon.

Million Dollar Highway

Before leaving South Mineral Road I refilled my tires with highway pressure. The drive to Ouray was beautiful. Not all the aspen had turned, but the colors combined with the natural minerals of Red Mountain created a lovely palette.

View of Red Mountain from US-550 between Silverton and Ouray.

Journey continues in Part 3.

Silverton Colorado Area

This is the first of five posts covering my trip to the San Juan Mountains of June 11 - 16, 2013. I figured smaller chunks would be more digestible.

I was looking forward to a return trip to southwestern Colorado after my brief taste on my last trip at the end of May. Since my last trip, and based upon my experience of just how rocky some of the backroads could be, I replaced my OEM tires with the highly recommended BF Goodrich All-Terrain, E-rated tires. This time I would be ready!

June 11, 2013

I joined US-550 just north of Albuquerque and followed it through northwest New Mexico to  Durango, then toward the high country. First stop would be the area around Silverton. From there I planned to visit some old mines, then continue on the highway to Ouray in order to come over and around to the "top" of the Last Dollar Road. Now that I had good tires I'd traverse that road to the Telluride area and then explore that area before heading home in about a week.

US-550 between Durango and Silverton, CO

From Durango, this highway is part of the San Juan Scenic Skyway. Some of the best views were in sections where there was a steep drop-off down to the Animas River and no place to pull over, so I can't show you photos of that.

180 degree panorama of Molas Pass. Click here for larger image.

Back in 1973 I'd travelled this way in my '68 VW Campmobile. I remembered camping along a river just north of Silverton and how beautiful it was. I found the area, South Mineral Road, on Google Maps and wanted to see if I could find my exact campsite, plus explore farther up this valley.

Surprisingly enough, I did find the exact spot I'd camped all those years ago. I also remembered that it did not get much sun and the morning was very cold even in summer. Even though my new rig has a great furnace, I thought I'd explore up the road as it was still plenty early and see if I could find another campsite.

Turns out there are quite a few dispersed camping areas all along South Mineral Creek, in case anyone is interested. At the end of the maintained section of the road is the South Mineral Campground, run by the NFS. It is very nice, but so are the other sites and they're free. In fact in some of the dispersed camping areas near the river the forest service has provided very nice vault toilets.

I decided I try heading even farther up the road and check out the Bandora Mine. This route is part of a trail in the Colorado Backroads guide by Wells and Peterson.

Just past the South Mineral Campground on the way to Bandora Mine.

After passing the campground, the road enters the deep woods and passes this little waterfall.

Ice Lake Creek. Ice Lake is a popular hiking destination.

But very soon the road emerges from the forest and hangs onto the side of the canyon.

The road & creek had been going west, but then both turn south.

And then the road gets very rocky. I stopped to reconnoiter. It appeared easily passible, just very, very bumpy.

Rocky road.

 From here I drove through a minor brook and saw the mine. The road cuts through the mine tailings then down close to the creek where I looked back to take the photo below.

Bandora Mine. Like most in this area, long abandoned.

The road continued on, fording the creek a couple more times. There are supposed to be nice camp sites not much farther where the road ends, but I chose instead to drive back down the road and look for a camp site in one of the pretty areas along the river that I'd seen on my drive in.

There were many sites to chose from. I ended up here.

First night's camp site with a wonderful view.

June 12, 2013

The next morning after coffee and breakfast I took a nice walk up the creek. There were lots of flowers, butterflies, and great views. With one exception I'm not including my flower photos in this posting as I took better ones later which I'll include in future installments. I found this macro photo interesting...

When I took this photo of a small cinquefoil flower I did know that there was an ant in the picture. It wasn't until I was post-processing the image that I realized the ant was eating another ant! Look closely.

Reflection in a beaver pond.

I'd been keeping an eye out for dragonflies and damselflies, but had seen none on my walk up the river. On my way back to camp I walked along the road and found this one guy on the shoulder. The only Odonate I saw the entire trip.

A Northern Bluet damselfly.

South Mineral Creek, which I keep referring to as a river, because I'm from New Mexico.
The road runs parallel and along the river though the valley.

There were lots of butterflies all along the river.

Common Alpine butterfly

Field Crescent butterfly

A Greenish Blue butterfly - that's the common name, not just a description.

When I'd stopped at the federal lands information center in Durango the previous day, the helpful lady highly recommended that I visit the old mining town of Animas Forks. What was left of the town has been "stabilized" by volunteers to preserve as much of the history as possible. To get there one drives through Silverton.

Silverton, CO. View from US-550 south.

Silverton is a tourist destination and the terminus of the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. It is not as polished or as pretty as Telluride. It is a smaller town which gives off more of a working-class vibe. There is no popular ski resort here and though the area is lovely, it is not as spectacular as around Telluride. Consequently, there are not the crowds of tourists either, which some may appreciate.

When I stopped at the Silverton Tourist Bureau for info, the excursion train backed into a siding nearby for maintenance after dropping its passengers at the station in town. I took many photos, but it was not a scenic spot for really nice photographs. The two photos I include here of the engine, I converted to B/W to provide a bit of historical flavor.

To get to Animas Forks you take the road past the Mayflower Mine, up along the Animas River.

Above the old Eureka Mine site the road is recommended only for high-clearance, 4WD vehicles, though I soon discovered that Colorado folk are not afraid to take their passenger cars up roads that give me pause.

An old mine above Eureka.

I was surprised just how many other folks were headed up this same road. As I was a slow poke, I kept pulling over to let the Jeeps and SUVs go past. Then arrived at the ghost town.

Two houses in Animas Forks

The foundation of an old mine workers' bunkhouse with the mine itself in the background.

Another of the stabilized houses.

I wonder if the miners had time to admire the view? Probably not.
Perhaps whoever owned this fine house had time to look out the window.

There was a small flock of Gray Jays in the woods behind the town.

Took this out of my window on my drive back down the mountain.

After returning down the mountain, I stopped in Silverton for an early dinner on my way back to find a camping spot again along South Mineral Creek.

Camping along South Mineral Creek.

There were sites in the trees with grass if one wanted to pitch a tent, but with the camper I chose to get closer to the river. I enjoyed sitting there admiring the mountain peaks in the evening light and listening to the river lullaby when I went to bed.

Here you can see my camp chair and the lovely view.

This concludes the first post covering my first two days in Colorado. Thanks for reading.

My next post will cover the old mines of Red Mountain and an extremely scenic drive along a high ridge overlooking the Million Dollar Highway. I've already processed the photos for all the following posts, so hopefully I will get them written very soon.