Silverton Colorado Extravaganza

Silverton Colorado, July 12-18, 2015
Participants:
Jerome, Ric & Lisa, Lyndol and Mary, Bob B. and Corey, Norm and Pat, Rich and Corkey, Chad, Joanna and Nash O., Mike and Laura W.
Monday, July 13
The Alpine Loop - Mineral Creek, Engineer Pass, Cinnamon Pass, Animas Forks with lunch in Lake City
By Mike Whittington
After a morning meeting outlining the planned route for the day and a brief safety talk by Chad, we left Silverton at 9:15. The Alpine Loop is one of the most famous routes in the San Juan Mountains. After traveling south on Hwy 550 we turned on to the Mineral Creek trailhead and aired down for the week. Mineral Creek is listed as a difficult trail due to several stair steps and narrow shelf road. Since we would be returning to this area later in the week, and knowing this was going to be a long day, we made good time on Mineral Creek trail passing old mine ruins, deep canyons and many waterfalls.
At the end of Mineral Creek Trail, we started up Engineer Pass. Engineer Pass was a major stagecoach and freight route when it opened in the late 1870s as a toll road. We passed lots of mines and points of historical interest marked with signs. When we saw the sign that read Engineer Pass, 12,800 feet, we knew we had reached the summit and the decent into Lake City, our planned lunch stop. Before we got to Lake City we passed what was left of Capitol City with old processing mill ruins and a couple of restored houses. We also passed an old wooden dam. It had an old flume that led to a hydro-electric generating power house, now long gone.
After lunch in Lake City, we headed south down Hwy. 146 for a few miles and turned on to Cinnamon Pass Trail. Again we passed by many old signs of mining activity and drove over narrow shelf road as we climbed higher towards Cinnamon Pass at 12,640 feet and down the other side to the ghost town of Animas Forks which had several restored buildings including the jail and the foundation for a huge stamp mill that operated over 100 years ago. We would return here later in the week for a more relaxed visit.
From Animas Forks it was a relatively quick drive on a dirt road back to Silverton where we gathered at the picnic tables in front of Wohlers for a beer, margarita or whatever to reminisce about the day, the amazing mountain colors, the wildlife we had seen and discuss plans for the next day.

Tuesday, July 14
Mineral Creek, Poughkeepsie Gulch, California Gulch, Animas Forks
By Mr. Jerome Blunck
The morning started out nicely, Mike gave a pre-trail briefing that started at 9:00 and then turned the meeting over to Chad for a brief safety talk. After the meeting, we all headed northward on the Million Dollar Highway, a 25 mile scenic stretch of U.S. 550 between Silverton and Ouray, Colorado which was originally built as a toll road. After reaching Red Mountain Pass we headed down into Uncompahgre Gorge. There are numerous hairpin turns on the highway with shear drop offs. Just past the avalanche tunnel we turned right off the highway onto Mineral Creek Trail.
Once on Mineral Creek Trail, we shifted into low range for the climb along the Uncompahgre River. At times, we are hanging on a shelf ledge above the river. Prior to reaching our turnoff about 2.5 miles up the trail we passed the Michael Breen Mine on the east side of the trail. At the turnoff we turned right onto the Poughkeepsie Gulch trail. The start of the trail is in the woods but soon turns into a tight rock trail. This is one of the most difficult trails in the area. It continues upward along the Uncompahgre River as did our prior stretch of Mineral Creek Trail. Along the way we passed the Old Lout Mine.
At about two miles into the trail near Lake Como, we came to the Rock Obstacle, which has no bypass. We all congregate in the large opening at the base of the obstacle and watch Mike try to climb the slight V notch assent. It has been misting and the rocks are damp and slick. Mike tries several times and realized he like everyone else will need to winch. There are several different routes on this obstacle with numerous winch points at the top. A couple more smaller tricky obstacles and we are at the top of the trail.
At the top of Poughkeepsie Gulch trail, we connected with the California Gulch trail. We climbed for a short distance to the top of the trail near Hurricane Peak. From there it is mostly downhill through a beautiful valley along the West Fork of the Animas River. The views are breathtaking with valleys filled with spring flowers. At times there are fields of color provided by a dense growth of yellow flowers. Patches of snow remained here and there due to a late snowfall. We stopped an abandoned ore processing mill to look at the massive structure with large wooden beams and columns. The large beams and columns were numbered, possibly indicating the structure was built elsewhere and reassembled at the mine.
We made our way down to the abandoned town of Animas Forks. This town is being restored and since last time we visited in 2009, period correct roofs and windows have been installed in several of the buildings. Numerous plaques tell about the residents that lived in the town in its heyday in the 1870's and 1880's and what they may have done. One plaque told of the snow reaching the second floor of the house.
We walked down to the jail which was built similar to a log cabin but instead the logs were heavy timbers laced together. The door had heavy wrought iron hinges and latch that were made to period correct dimensions. Chad gave us a demonstration of being locked in the jail behind the heavy window bars. Fortunately, he was able to break out of jail.
From the town it is a gentle descent toward Silverton along the Animas River. Along the way we passed more mines. Near Silverton we passed the Pride of the West Mill, which is now a museum that displays much of the equipment used to process the ore from the mines above it. Also, there are the remains of the aerial tramway that carried ore down the mountain.
Back at the Silver Summit RV park, there is still daylight and time to relax, have a bite to eat, and a short walk into town, which looks pretty much as it may have 100 years ago. Basically only the main street, which is also a highway, is paved with the side streets being dirt. Many of the buildings have the old west fronts along with wood floors and tin ceilings, etc. The bank still has wrought iron grills at the teller windows and a large vault. The San Juan County Courthouse, a beautiful stone court house built in 1907 sits at the edge of town along with an adjacent museum. The town sits in a small valley surrounded by pine covered mountains. From our RV park we can see a waterfall and the train when it comes into town.
Later we all head off to bed for tomorrow is our train ride.

Wednesday, July 15
Durango and Silverton Railroad to Durango
By Rich Wohlers
Today was train ride day; so the morning was open for whatever people wanted to do. Bob, Corey and Jerome did some exploring in their Jeeps. Lydol and Mary had brought their dual sport motorcycles and wandered around on those. Some of us enjoyed looking around town, buying stuff and having lunch.
We all gathered together at the train station before departure time. It started raining, but our spirits were not dampened. The train whistle sounded and we left the station. We were in the open cars and in my opinion, those are the best seats. Some of the cars are enclosed, but it seems to me you miss a lot with that kind of traveling. We still had a bit of a drizzle for a short time out of town, but then it stopped for the rest of the ride. We did see mounds of hail for a while, but it ended and the air temperature warmed up. Of course, it got warmer as we went down the mountain.
This is a great trip and if in the area of Durango or Silverton, you cannot miss doing it.
The train follows the Animas River out of town all the way to Durango. It is a wonderfully scenic ride. The train makes a few stops along the way to drop off hikers or pick them up. There are some private residences that people use the train to access. We even had a stop for an area that offered Zip line rides. There is a large building that used to be a hotel that is now a private residence at this location.
As we got closer to town, we were entertained by the newest craze in Durango….mooning the train! Boys and girls seemed to enjoy showing us their white, white sides (not a political statement, just what was observed). The group was met by Chad, Joanna and Nash, who had driven down from Silverton. They had recently ridden the train.
Once in town we had some time to kill before dinner. Most of us wandered through the train museum. It is a very nice museum. We then walked around town until it was time for dinner at Ken & Sue’s Restaurant. We were seated in a very nice area in the outside and our location allowed us to enjoy a lot of company and laughs. They had a very nice menu and dinner was enjoyed by all.
This day was Ric’s birthday, so Lisa arranged for a wonderful cake surprise. It was very good.
The night was over and we all climbed in to the van that was rented to take us back to Silverton. Nash counted 15 deer on the road home.
Thursday, July 16,
Black Bear Pass and Imogene Pass
By Lyndol James

Eight jeeps left camp in Silverton at eight am. Mike and Laura led the way followed by, in inexact order, Rich and Corkey, Bob and Corey, Jerome, Chad, Johanna and Nash, Ric and Lisa, Norm and Pat with Lyndol and Mary in the rear.
Not a cloud was in the sky as we headed up the highway to the Black Bear Pass trailhead. Getting off the highway we ascended to Black Bear Summit passing multiple waterfalls, wildflower meadows and streams. The scenery was truly spectacular.
Reaching Black Bear Summit we met a couple of the lead guys in a group of about 150 Toyota FJ’s, we would later learn that the town of Ouray was hosting an FJ summit. One of the kind men took our group photo at the summit, another assisted Pat and Norm around the first tight turn.
We began the five and a quarter mile descent into Telluride, that is the famous Black Bear Pass of Youtube fame. We crossed a waterfall that fell all the way down the mountain, and a few tight turns.
All went well for a time then perhaps a quarter of the way down, Ric ( instead of going wide at the turn as others had) took the turn tightly and got hung up with his rear wheels on a rock. It was discovered that he lost a bolt off of his rear lower control arm, and because he had no working rear locker, this made the rear of the Jeep shift forward on the turn. So the rear end of his jeep was hung up on a rock, the front of the Jeep was pointing straight off the mountain. Lisa was out of the jeep. Chad, Rich, Mike and Jerome were all trying to assess how best to proceed. All of this was going on as a line of not very patient FJ'ers waited behind Ric to make their descent. It took a lengthy discussion and a lot of engineering knowhow, strapping and winching a rear axle, and Bob’s Jeep to assist with a tow, but Ric safely made the corner, somewhere in the process he broke his rear axle.
The rest of the trip into Telluride went well, with many tight switchback turns, and we passed the Smuggler-Union Hydroelectric Power Plant that is next to beautiful Bridal Veil Falls on a 4,900 - foot cliff overlooking Telluride. It was built in 1907 to power the Smugglers-Union mine that was 2000 feet below, it is still in operation today.
As a lady leaving the plant was late for work was caught unhappily behind us for a while as we made our way down to Telluride.
We got into town just a little after one for lunch at a great burger place Rich knew about. After lunch, repairs were made to Rick’s Jeep while those of us not necessary to the Jeep repair enjoyed a stroll down main street in Telluride and did a little shopping.
The axle was quickly repaired and we were on our way to Imogene Pass by 3:30. Again the scenery was fantastic and in the beginning we had good views of the descent from Black Bear Pass we traveled earlier.
After a while we stopped at the site of Amboy, a processing mill town in a beautiful area with great rock hunting a pretty little stream and while we were stopped in that beautiful area, we tried to fix a problem with Ric's electrical system. It was a nice little break and we even got to see a small herd of elk way up on the mountainside above us.
After resolving the battery problem we were off again to explore Imogene pass.
On the way to the summit we encountered a vintage Grand Wagoneer that had quit on the way up to the top of Imogene. Our club came to his rescue and was able to daisy-chain tow him up to the 13,114 foot summit. The Summit did not disappoint, it felt like the top of the world ( almost that cold) but with a great view of the San Juan Mountains.
We started our descent that would eventually take us through Yankee Boy Basin.
We stopped briefly to talk to some folks in a Toyota who were waiting on their friend in a Bronco who was changing his fuel filter while parked in a waterfall. Hard to describe how beautiful the area is.
As we went on we saw that the gentleman in the Grand Wagoneer got his vehicle working and was on the trail behind us. We passed waterfalls and wildflowers and something Laura was able to identify for us as California Corn Lily.
As we continued our way into the basin Ric lost a nut on his tie rod and started to slip sideways on the trial. It was a lovely area with waterfalls and wildflowers and it was nice to get to enjoy it all out of the Jeep while clever minds made the repair to Ric's Jeep. It was also really great that Ric didn't lose his tie rod on one of the corners of Black Bear coming down into Telluride. By 7:40 we were again fixed and jeeping out passing Camp Bird Mine and into Imogene and Yankee Boy basins.
We were nearing the county road we would take into the picturesque town of Ouray when talk of pizza started, we were all hungry by then.
Rick and Lisa opted to return directly to camp, as did Norm and Pat. Some of the rest of us made a bee line for a local pizza place that was closing in 40 minutes.
As we rode into town we noticed the large FJ summit taking place in Ouray. When we arrived at the pizza place we placed our order and looked forward to a warm pie. A few minutes later our waiter came back to tell us that the restaurant was out of pizza. Some of us changed our order to gluten-free pizza only to have the waiter return to tell us that the restaurant was out of cheese. We walked town in search of any form of sustenance but it seemed the FJ’ers who were stuck behind Ric and Lisa on Black Bear pass had the last laugh - they had eaten most all of the food in Ouray.
We left Ouray after nine and very hungry, we took the Million Dollar Highway back to Silverton and camp. By nine thirty all of us had made it back to Silverton. Eight Jeeps had left Silverton at eight O’clock that morning, and all eight Jeeps made it back to Silverton at nine-thirty that night.
It was an adventure to remember.
Friday, July 17
Kendall Mountain
By Ric Freymond & Bob Boltner

Everyone made the run today and was up, out and ready to go by 9:00 am. Today we did the Kendall Mountain Trail that started right in Silverton and quickly climbed to over 13,000'. I had to turn back at the intersection to Titusville Mine due to battery issues, (Bob continues) Just as we neared the summit the clouds moved in and the snow started. Yes Snow in July!
As we neared the summit our path was also blocked by snow drifts from the previous winter. That's life in the Rockies! We had to do some creative driving to get the group turned around on some very narrow switchback mountain roads. We got everyone safely turned around and we changed destination to the Titusville Mine. We were able to approach to within about 400' of the mine when we were again blocked by snow drifts. What to do? Use all available HP and crash our way thru! We made several attempts with us having to pull the only Club Toyota out of the snow first. We are not a group to give up. Mike W with his 40" tires was sent in to blaze the trail. After several attempts at throwing all of his 175 horsepower at the drift he eventually blazed the trail.
Chad went next with his LS powered Toyota something or other. He was literally like a kid in a Toyota dealership playing in the snow. The snow really excited him. He went second, third, fourth and fifth. But persistence paid off and he finally made it thru. Next at the attempt was the Super Green Machine with its twin turbo Chevy 4.3 engine. The run was amazing! The wheel speed was so high the snow literally began to melt an turn to steam. The sound of the angry beast roaring thru the snow echoed thru the valley and actually triggered several avalanches and rock falls. I kid you not.
After all that excitement. The group returned to Silverton for lunch. We met up with Mike and Laura, Rich and Corkey and Lyndol and Mary for lunch at Handlebars. (Bob continues) The group explored town during lunch. The intellectual part of the group decided to learn even more about Colorado, and we went to the Mayflower Mill. Very interesting. And the smart people went to the Silverton Museum.......amazing. After the educational tours it was time for the daily OTR evening wine tasting and cocktail party. Munchies, deep fried everything incl. Twinkies (Thanks Rich), no dinner that night also. We partied till late in the night.

Most everyone headed for home or elsewhere on Saturday. What a great trip!!!