A Controversy

One of the things the miner's of the 19th century left us

are miles and miles of shelf roads through the mountains

These roads stretch from Lake City (upper right) over to the southwest to Silverton and to the northwest to Ouray. Mind you Animas Forks and Capitol City are both ghost towns.

Folks enjoy going around this loop, which is called the Alpine Loop, in Jeeps, 4wheel drive vehicles, dirt bikes and OHV's (off highway vehicles). The problem is there is a small area (5 miles or so) that you have to be on a state highway. The OHV's are not allowed on state highways. So folks had to be trailered from just west of Lake City and dropped off south of town. The locals wanted those OHV's, mostly ATV's (all terrain vehicles), to be able to drive through town and stop at our businesses. It was a huge controversy. The business owners won and this is the first summer...that you could completely navigate the loop and not be trailered.

At first I was against it. Then I got to thinking if these business's had to close due to lack of business, this town would go the way of Capitol City and Animas forks......become  ghost towns.

Hopefully it is all going to work.

The Canyon

We took my brother in law to the Black Canyon National Park this week. It is about and hour and a half drive from our summer home.

This canyon became a National Park in 1999. It is called the Black Canyon because it is so deep and narrow at one point that the sun only shines there 30 mins. a day.

There are like eleven observation points through the park.

A view of The Painted Wall

There are also trails near and down into the canyon and picturesque picnic areas throughout.

Look closely. Back in 1882 they actually built a narrow gauge passenger train thru the bottom of the canyon. It stretched fifteen miles from Sapinero to Cimaron,Colorado costing then $168,000 a mile to build. The train ran into the 1940's

In the 1960's the Gunnison River was damned and Sapinero and most all of the tracks are now under water.

These days Forrest Service operates a hour and a half boat trip above the old tracks into the canyon.

The Golden Ticket

As I mentioned in a precious blog, my sister and husband have been here this week. While my sister worked (remotely), Tom and I took Mike to The Black Canyon National Park.

If you are a U.S. citizen (and 62 or older), you can purchase a life time pass permitting entrance all Natl. Parks for everyone in your vehicle. We sure have gotten a lot of miles out of ours. We always keep it in the car, so it is there when we need it. Tom calls it the GOLDEN TICKET.

First stop was the visitor's center, where we saw a ranger swearing in junior rangers for their badges.He asked all of the required questions. Like will you respect animal, plants, and so forth. Then he asked it they promised to keep their rooms clean...to which neither replied :)

Ranger Tom

My Tom found this life sized painting of a National Park Ranger where you could poke your face through for a picture. Ha! I will post some pictures of the Canyon next post.

Shortcut

One of my sisters and her husband are visiting from Texas this week. Polly is working from here, so we have been entertaining her husband Mike. On Tuesday we took a trip to a National Park near here, The Black Canyon.

It is a little faster to get there if you take the Blue Mesa cut-off.

Most of the area is open range, which means there are no fences between you and the livestock.

You are actually traveling through the Ute Indian Reservation....where they have a "few" rules.

to be continued.

A Diamond in the Rough

A friend of mine enjoys buying old homes in town and remodeling them. I guess the new term is "flipper".

She redid this cutie recently, after securing it in a foreclosure auction. I pass it every day on my way into town. 

It was in terrible shape. She spent several months redoing it from inside out. She was going to use it as rental property, but since her children are grown, she and her husband have decided to sell their large home (which just sold), and stay in this cute cabin while here in the summer. Every time I see it I think of Thomas Kinkade. All it needs is a lake out in front. Interesting the fence she installed. Part wood, and part corrugated roof panels.

Linking to Good Fences: HERE

A Mountain Drive

Anytime I want to get out of the cabin, it is nice to drive up the mountain to Deer Lakes.

It is always cooler up there, since it is above 10,000 ft.

 and I usually can find some flowers to photograph.

It is a great place to fish too. I like that you can get a one day fishing license ...which is great for your guests who have no need for a one year pass.

 This aerial view will give you an idea why Lakes is plural. There are four small lakes. Each one is a slightly lower elevation from the one at the top. The top one being the one on the left. We always fish in either two or three, but enjoy hiking up to one.

 There are a lot of other things to see in the area, like this abandoned cabin.

It is also the number one place to spot a moose. The two we spotted this day were in the distance, and half hidden by brush.

Do you have a favorite drive of destination when you want to get out of the house?

X Marks the Spot

It is very quiet here in the mountains. One thing you don't hear is aircraft noise,

mainly because we don't have an airport.

You do see planes flying over...mind you I said see , not hear. They are usually so high you can't actually spot them, but the jet stream behind them. We always try to guess where they are headed..

There is one noisy aircraft I hear going over(once a day), and it is a smaller plane headed from Denver to Durango.