Tuesday, June 27, 2017 - VELOCITY, HIPPIE TOWN, GLADSTONE

Charles & Jane and we had lunch in town then headed for Velocity Basin.  Storm Peak/Velocity is recognizable from several different trails.  It is where Olympian Shaun White practiced at the secret half-pipe that Red Bull built for him.   Here's an interesting video.  You may have to cut and paste the link in your browser.  It's not the video I was trying to find.  If you are interested, google Shaun White, Silverton & see what you find. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuashKKpuZk

Today,  we were stopped by snow.  All this snow is actually the road to Velocity.  

You can see where some type of vehicle made it part way thru, but we chose not to try it today.  The snow was pretty dirty, but Jingles didn't care.  We traveled with a pretty muddy dog after this stop. 

The terrain here looks a little different:

This is the old Lead Carbonate Mill: 

On the trail thru Bonita Basin and Minnehaha Basin to what we call hippie town.  Lore is that some hippies came here to live off the grid, but had a change of heart once winter arrived. 

Two of hippie town buildings still standing.  You can see a mattress nailed to the top of a tree stump on the left side of the house - has been there forever.  The old Lincoln Continental that had become a haven for marmots has been removed.  

Someone has bought the land that abuts this property and is allegedly building a house.  The digging to date looks pretty weird:

Once again, the trail was blocked by snow, but the views from up here are so beautiful and Jingles was able to clean some of the mud off, running thru the clean snow. 

 The only critter we saw all day was this small deer:

You can't get to the Gold King Mine that blew out a couple of years ago (gated & locked), but we did pass some of the land restoration that is being done.  Had we been able to continue past Hippie Town, we could have looked down on that mine.  We came down and drove thru the Gladstone area, home to many mines.   

Here's so old mining structures that were still intact when we first started coming up here.  

Some of the ugly side of mining is visible here:

 Charles trying to figure out what is hidden behind the chicken wire & tar paper:

We received a ham radio call that one of the tour trucks was stuck in snow at the top of Corkscrew.  Charles & Jane went up to see if they could help pull them out.  Our job was go into town until we could get a phone signal, call the tour company in Ouray, and radio results back.  Well, three Jeeps with winches hooked double and a fourth Jeep hooked with a tow strap were eventually able to pull it out.  If I get some pictures, I will update this blog later. 

Here's one:

While we were sitting on the other side of town talking to the stranded group, I just took this picture of the outskirts of town:

June 25, 2017 - PICAYUNE, PLACER, CALIFORNIA

Some of the historic information provided in this blog is from "Backcountry Adventures Colorado" by Peter Massey, Jeanne Wilson, and Angela Titus.  And, as always, Click on the pictures to view a larger size. 

Long ride today with Cathy & Larry and Charles & Jane.  Well, long for us -- they kept going when we headed back.  We took Picayune to Placer, over California & Hurricane to Gladstone & then home.   We left Silverton and drove along side my favorite river, the Animas River.  Lots of mines are scattered along this route known as Bakers Park (after Charles Baker, one of the first explorers in the 1860s). 

Here are remains of the Sunnyside Mill in Eureka.  The Sunnyside Mine is behind the mill and was discovered in 1873.  By 1910, it consisted of 10 miles of tunnel and employed 300 miners.  More about this mine when we are able to actually get to the Sunnyside Mine.  But a good view of the mill:

This old car has been parked here as long as we have been coming here:

Another pass by Little Niagara:

Picayune takes us to an elevation of 13,000 feet. It starts off as a narrow shelf road in a wooded area:

We were disappointed to see that the Treasure Mountain Gold Mining Company's boardinghouse is now off limits.  In the past, we have been able to go in and explore.  It had a connecting structure with a bathroom with bath, toilet & had hot & cold running water.   A cook stove & other artifacts  are still there.  It looks like the building is about to fall off the side of the mountain (currently stabilized by three cables), so I suspect it's good that it has been closed.

 Back on the trail headed to Placer Gulch:

We stopped for lunch at a turnout and let Jingles have some "snow time."

 

Continuing onto Placer Gulch, we find where there used to be old mining structures, there is now rubble:

 

The Sound Democrat Mill was built in 1905 and  is still standing.  In   1909, four stamps were added to the mill to make it a seven-stamp operation, according to a story in the Aug. 30, 1996, Durango Herald. At that time, it also began serving the Silver Queen Mine.The Sound Democrat Mill did not enjoy a long career, closing in 1911.

Next up, California Gulch, elevation 12,930.  The trail getting there is still snowy, although the dust is turning it black in places:

That's Charles following Larry:

Pretty blue water Lake Como still frozen:

We see that Poughkeepsie Gulch will be closed for awhile; 

can't even see the name on the sign:

The rest of the trail is fairly narrow (or as Jane says "it's really narry") & passing can be difficult.  We did have a problem today and the rental Jeep coming up actually was trying to climb our rear tire.  With a little instruction, he managed to get past us.  He had quite a parade behind him and they all backed down to a wider spot.  Just another day on the trail.  Sorry, didn't get a picture of this event. 

One of the Red Mountains:

Almost to the end of California/Hurricane Gulch:

On the road to Gladstone, which leads us back home:

Back home & 

Looking forward to Handlebars' green chili soup tonight!