Silverton, Colorado

Silverton, Colorado – Trip Report
Saturday August 8 through Saturday, August 15, 2009

Saturday, August 8 – Arrival day
Report submitted by Rich Wohlers

The group arrived during the day at Silver Summit RV Park. Those in attendance were
Rich and Cork and their son from Denver, Eric
DuWayne and Tina
Jeff and Carol
Mike and Laura
Jerome and Teresa
Bill
Rich’s friend’s Dale, Don and Dave (the three D’s)
Some of those who arrived earlier in the day took a test drive up Kendall Mountain just outside town. We enjoyed cocktails and company late in the afternoon and agreed on the trip for Sunday.

Sunday, August 9
Report submitted by Rich Wohlers
Trail: The Alpine Loop

The group left Silverton at 9 AM sharp. The low this morning had been around 30ºF and was about 37ºF when we left. We took the 550 highway towards Ouray and turned off at the Mineral Springs trail. Along the way we encountered a number of bicycle riders. There was an organized bike ride over the mountains this weekend. Man, do you have to be in shape to do that ride. We all aired down, watched some motorcycle riders and took off. This is not a difficult trail, but it will be a long day. In total we put on around 90 miles. We stopped and gazed at the beautiful scenery; stopped at Engineer Pass and took a group photo and stopped near there for lunch. At Lake City it was suggested we stop for a drink at the Packer Saloon. The Packer theme was for the football team, with lots of memorabilia on the walls.

On the road again we headed for Cinnamon Pass. What a spectacular ride out of Lake City. We passed a beautiful lake and then further into the canyon along the Gunnison River. This was a spectacular place. The only issue along the trail was an apparent vapor locking problem that DuWayne was having. We would stop, release pressure in the fuel rail, wait a while and he could continue. We also found a suspect connection at the fuel pump and fixed that.

We got back to camp about 7:30. Tom was waiting for us. We all got busy with dinner and such, looking forward to the next day.

Monday, August 10, 2009
Report submitted by Mike Whittington

Trails: Mineral Creek, Poughkeepsie Gulch, California Gulch, Animas Forks Ghost Town then back to Silverton.

Trail Leaders: Rich and Corky Wohlers
Eric Wohlers, Mike and Laura Whittington, Jeff and Carol Sanders, Jerome Blunck and Theresa Loss, Bill Cavan and Tom Muzik.

The temperature on Monday morning at 7:00 was 35 degrees. The weather was perfect all day without a cloud in the sky.
We left Silverton at 9:30 and headed north on Hwy. 550 for the trail head at Mineral Creek. Immediately after leaving the pavement, the trail began an uphill climb through pine trees and rocky terrain. None of the trails would be considered difficult by our standards but according to the guide book, Mineral Creek and Poughkeepsie Gulch are rated as most difficult “black diamond”. The trails ranged from rocky and narrow through the trees to shelf road high above the tree line.
From Mineral Creek after passing the Mickey Breene Mine we took a right into Poughkeepsie Gulch. Poughkeepsie Gulch was a lot of fun with several creek crossings, a long rocky uphill climb with water flowing down the trail and a few technical sections including a stair step climb up a rocky ledge followed by a quick left hander then another stair step section.
After completing the climb over the ledges we stopped for lunch at an overlook above the tree line. The view was spectacular with tundra and mountain wild flower and indications of mining activity on the hillsides above and below us.
After passing Lake Como, a beautiful alpine lake, we crossed California Pass and followed the trail down into California Gulch and on to the old ghost town of Animas Forks where we stopped to look at the old buildings and mill sites.
Animas Forks was active between 1875 and the early 1920’s. In 1885 the summer population reached a high of 450 people. The Silverton Northern Railroad reached the town in 1904 when the giant Gold Prince Mill was built. The mill lasted only six years before it was closed. At the time, it was the largest ore processing mill in the region. There are five or six original homes still standing in the area, the jail, the wooden remains of one of the mills and the huge foundation of the Gold Prince Mill.
After touring Animas Forks we headed back to Silverton via Animas Creek Road.
All in all we had a great day.

Tuesday, August 11
Report submitted by Jeff and Carol Sanders
Trails: Black Bear Pass to Telluride and back via Imogene Pass

Another early morning departure, 10 vehicles.
Rich, Corky riding with her son Eric, Mike and Laura, Bill, Jerome and Teresa, Tom, DuWayne and Tina, Dave, Dale and Don, Jeff and Carol.

E-ticket ride.
Rich led the way.

Eric lost a brake line on the way down but still near the top. He was able to stop and the crew did a trail repair that left him with 3 brakes. Later near the bottom, the other Cherokee driven by Dale also lost a brake line. The ride down to Telluride is exciting, breathtaking, and scary. It is a one way trail. We had off camber loose rocky turns to negotiate. There were places on the trail where you only had 1' of clearance that separated you from being a statistic. Many of the turns are of the switchback type where a short wheelbase jeep has to complete a 3 point turn just to make the turn.
When we got to Telluride we cruised the town looking for some grub. We ended up at the Corner House Grill. There were not any auto parts in town so we took parts from Dale's Cherokee to fix Eric's Cherokee so Eric could get on the road and return to Denver for work.
On the return trip we had to stop numerous times for DuWayne & Tina's vapor lock situation. We even pulled the hood on their jeep and strapped it to the top of Tom's. The only thing this did was to save the step of having to open and lift the hood each time it vapor locked. (one of the other reports talks about the problem).
We made it back to Silverton with our lights on.

Wednesday, August 12
Report submitted by Jerome Blunck
No trails run today. Durango & Silverton Railroad, Mill Tour

Wednesday morning we are up earlier than on the proceeding days to walk to the train depot for our trip on the Durango Silverton narrow gauge train. It is a brisk morning of another clear beautiful day with only some minor clouds to give a little dimension to the sky. At the Silverton depot, a bus is there to take us down the mountain to Durango where we will board the train. The group going on the train ride consisted of:

Rich and Cork
Jeff and Carol
Mike and Laura
Jerome and Theresa
Bill

The rest of our group not going on the train explored the Silverton area on their own.
Burt, our bus driver on our trip to Durango, was a wealth of information regarding the area and how it was mined. He started his talk by telling us about the miners and many saloons and brothels in the early days of Silverton, which is a hard rock mining town similar to most of the small towns in the area. However, Durango was founded by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway (D&RG) in 1879, which finished the rail line to Silverton in 1882 to haul silver & gold ore from the San Juan Mountains. The train has been in continuous operation since completion of the line.
The D&RG railroad was founded in 1870 by William Jackson Palmer, a Civil War general, as a narrow gauge railway system with the intention of connecting Denver with Mexico City. Narrow gauge tracks (36 inches between the rails) were better suited for the tight curves through the mountains. One interesting note, General Palmer placed mile markers along the track measuring the line from Denver similar to how highways are marked today.
We made it to the train depot in Durango in time for Theresa and I to go to the pastry shop before the train departed for Silverton. Mike headed to the same shop shortly after seeing my apple turnover.
Our train departed the station at 9:45 and we head out of town under a full head of steam. The tracks took us along the valley for a while before starting up the canyon toward Silverton. We were in an open-air gondola car near the rear of the train, which turned out to be a great place to observe the incredible scenery. If you have never seen the San Juan Mountains in Southwest Colorado you are simply missing out on some remarkable countryside (a little like the Swiss Alps).
Within the canyon, the train at times appears to be hanging from the canyon walls with deep drops below us a bit like on Black Bear Pass on our trip yesterday down into Telluride. The exposure today and yesterday is enough to last anyone for some time. Mike keeps pointing out the bent rails in the water at the bottom of the ravine. In addition, some of the revetments constructed to support the tracks are a little scary considering their height. However, our little steam engine that could pull us steadily up the grade and we arrive in Silverton a little after 1 pm.
After some lunch, some of us went to the Mayflower mill a couple of miles out of town to see how the metals were separated from the ore processed there. It was surprising how little gold they processed from a ton of ore. However, the mill did process over a trillion dollars worth of metals. We were able to walk through the mill to see the large crushers, holding bins, clarifiers, and other equipment. Some of the equipment was very old and unique such as one of the first industrial electric GE motors. In addition, there was a large tramway to bring the ore down from the mountain. The miners would ride in the ore buckets up to the mines from the mill below. Safety was not high on the list of priorities in that day.
Later that night, we went to the Handlebar restaurant for a great dinner with peach cobbler for dessert. Mike demonstrated his mastering of shooting of a straw wrapper by bouncing one off Bill’s hat and hitting DuWayne while barely missing Tina. Tom gave lessons on various drinking straw tactics the prior night. During dinner, we are entertained by various stories and tidbits of information such as what not to eat in the Far East. Tom summarized well some of that information in one of his emails by stating “Off the record, we learned that some people got married for tax & college loan reasons, a "shower buddy" is a good source of information, some people need their spouse to remember what their college major was, blind dates can work out, and the penguin walk is a bad thing.
After leaving the restaurant, we all walked back to the RV Park a contented group. I want to thank the club and everyone who came to the Silverton for making this a fantastic unforgettable trip.

Thursday, August 13
Report submitted by Tom Muzik
Trails: Stony Pass

Corky (and her driver Rich), Tina (and her driver DuWayne), Carol (and her driver Jeff), Theresa (and her driver Jerome), Laura (and her driver Mike), Bill and Tom all left the Silver Summit campground a little after 9AM. Our first stop was at a Cable Pull Station on the way to Buffalo Boy Mine. The mine opening was gated off, but the remains of a narrow track cart track where still visible. Each time we visit a mine like this, we are reminded of the amount of work it takes to extract minerals from the ground. Tons of rocks, for ounces of gold.
The climb to the top (12,600ft) of the Buffalo Boy mine was fairly steep by the way of loose gravel and rock road. Upon arrival at the mine, we were greeted with the chirps of marmot and picas, letting us know that we were uninvited guests to their little paradise. It was fun to see them chase each other around the open fields near the mine. Being well above the timber line, the comical little animals were living in the rocks and bushes in the area.
Most of the elaborate cable system for the Buffalo Boy mine was still visible. We spent some time trying to figure out how all of the missing pieces would fit together, after which we headed up to the top of the mountain. We had a nice view from the top, but it became obvious to all that we were due for some rain. The two open Jeeps, Jeff's and Tom's, put on their bikini tops and hoped for the best.
The beautiful greens wide open areas at the top of the mountain tempted Tom to twirl in the field and sing “The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music”, like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. Unfortunately, sanity prevailed.
We then headed down from the mine and back up the road to Stony Pass (12588 ft). Stony Pass is a wide open saddle that connects two wide open valleys on both sides of the mountain. The wild flowers, such as the beautiful Columbine, covered large area of the valleys. The wild flowers were a daily treat on each 4X4 run. As we headed down the other side, the rain we feared soon arrived. We dropped down a few miles and crossed the soon to be mighty San Juan River (now just a shallow creek). The San Juan River actually starts at the top of Stony Pass, Soon afterward we crossed the creek, DuWayne's radiator decided to let off some steam. Given that, it was a good time to stop for lunch. Lunch time was just enough for a little stop leak to perform its magic.
We could have continued on this trial for many more miles, but decided to head back the way we came. As we began our long climb, DuWayne's jeep decided to be a Jeep and have some vapor lock issues. Rich had brought along an IR temperature gauge and measured both DuWayne's and Tom's (both modified fuel injected CJ-7’s) gas tank and muffler temps. Dewayne gas tank was well over 100 F higher in temp than Tom’s. The hotter muffler was heating the fuel in the gas return line. That, along with the elevation and the distance from the gas tank to fuel pump was causing the gas to boil in the fuel line between the gas tank and fuel pump. After several vapor lock stops, we actually got pretty good at venting the fuel line and continuing up the trail. Each time, Jeff (our trusty firefighter) had his fire extinguisher close in hand.
We crested Stony Pass again and headed down to Silverton. An a excellent suggestion was brought to the group, and agreed by all, that caused use to end our day’s run with some ice cream from Smedley's on Main Street. Despite the rain, yet another great day of Jeepin'.

Friday, August 14
Report submitted by Mike Whittington
Trails: Mineral Creek, Poughkeepsie Gulch, Route 110 through Gladstone back to Silverton.
It rained all night and is still raining intermittently throughout the day. What a change from the beautiful blue skies since we arrived. No problem…we’re still goin’ wheelin’.
The group has dwindled. On the trail today were Mike, Rich and Corky, Bill and Jeff (Jeff understandably decided to leave his uncovered Jeep back in camp).
We decided to do a short run today with a repeat of Monday’s run up Mineral Creek and Poughkeepsie Gulch. The obstacles in Poughkeepsie were a bit more challenging today due to mud. This made the rocky climbs over the more challenging section more interesting. The mud was so slick that we all decided to take the safe route and winch over the rock ledge.
We then continued on until Lake Como where we stopped for lunch by the lake. After lunch the group headed back to camp via Hurricane Pass and Route 110. On Friday evening, most of the group headed into town for a brass band concert or to enjoy a last dinner at one of the fine establishments that Silverton has to offer.

Saturday, August 15
With the exception of Rich and Corky, we headed for home. What a trip! I think this is something that will remain with us for the rest of our lives. Thanks to all for making it so much fun.