Tabor Campground

The View From My Campsite

Friday, August 10 - Tabor Campground, Turquoise Lake, CO .5 Miles Today, 12,533.6 For the Trip

I may end up posting more but I have moved, and while it is only 1/2 a mile from my previous campsite, the Verizon connection is much slower. Don't know if it was a move to a different tower or traffic is heavier, but posting is difficult. Anyway, I'm now in site 12 at the Tabor Campground. It is a first come, first served site & in many ways nicer than the last one. It is true I no longer have a picnic table, and it is a longer walk to the dumpster & bathroom, and it is essentially a parking lot for boaters (although not too many are using it since the lake is so low the ramp is not usable), but my site is at the end, isolated from the main parking area & the view is worth a million bucks!

I'll relax for a bit, then head into Leadville to see Dick & Anne.

Until later!

Leadville, CO

Sunset Over Turquoise Lake, CO

Thursday, August 9 - Leadville, CO -22.5 Miles Today, 12,533.1 For the Trip

Not much news for the day. I did get my haircut, and stopped at the coffee shop Anne recommended; good coffee & a nice carrot cake muffin. After that Dick, Anne & I went for a ride over parts of the 100 mile bicycle race they are working on this Saturday. It is quite an affair - it combines mountain biking with road biking, including a climb from around 10,000' to 12,000'+. Lance Armstrong ran it 2 years ago & won, but last year his time was beat by a number of riders. I'll look for the DVD of last year's race just to show a friend back in Oswego who likes to ride.

No photographs today, so I used one of the sunsets from last night.

Dinner was a hash to use up the last of the steak & vegetables. I had to cook it in the trailer - as soon as I started cutting up the ingredients it started to pour. At least I remembered to put the smoke detector under my pillow so I didn't have the alarm going off in the middle of cooking. Of course as soon as I had it going on the stove the rain stopped.

Tomorrow is moving day - I have to be out of my site by 12:00 for the people who reserved it for the weekend. I hope to find room at the Tabor Campground, which is just a parking lot. There are a bunch of empty sites, however a number of RVs have been through this park looking for spaces, and moved on. If Tabor is full in the morning I'll head to Camp Hale. There is plenty of space there, however every time I come back to Leadville to see Dick & Anne I have to go over Tennessee pass & wait for the light at the one lane section of US 24 where the sink hole ate one lane.

Until Tomorrow!

Leadville Mines

An Old Mine, Leadville, CO

Wednesday, August 8 - Leadville Mines, CO - 26.4 Miles Today, 12,510.6 For the Trip

It was even colder this morning - 37°F when I woke up at 6:30. I didn't bother to turn the furnace on during the night, but with the inside of the trailer at 44°F, I fired it up before climbing out of bed.

Dick and Anne are in Denver today but they gave me a key so I could do laundry & take a shower. I have still managed to find a way to avoid trying to shower in the Escape trailer. Not that it couldn't be done - there is hot water, a shower head and all, but the space it pretty tight for my 6' body.

After doing a couple of loads of laundry & my shower I headed out to the east side of Leadville to photograph some of the old mines. As far as I know, all but one of them are no longer active, but the weathered wood & colorful tailings piles are fun to shoot. The roads are all either gravel or dirt & the back of the RAV4 looks like it did in Utah, except the dust is grey rather than red.

The view from the mines is magnificent. Even if they didn't find what they were looking for, I can't imagine the miners not appreciating the surrounding mountains. Of course they probably also cursed them since they had to find a way to get up & down them! While the mines are no longer producing minerals, some of them are open for tours. I included some photos from the Matchless Mine & Baby Doe's Cabin. I didn't take the tour.

There are a couple pictures of the Mineral Belt Trail. It goes all the way around Leadville, passing many of the mines, complete with signs identifying some of them. It is paved and open to walkers & bikes. After returning to town on 7th Street, I stopped to take a photo of Locomotive 641. At the station where it is parked they are still offering train rides through the countryside.

As usual, more photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Until Tomorrow -

Crystal Mill &Ghost Town

Crystal Mill, Crystal, CO

Tuesday, August 7 -Crystal, CO - 6 Miles Today, 12,484.2 For the Trip

The 6 miles for today was my drive from the campground to Dick & Anne's & back. We actually did far more that that in his 4 Runner.

I was up early today - I actually set the alarm for 6:00AM, although as usual, I woke up about 15 minutes before it went off. The plan for the day is to drive to Crystal, CO to see the old air compressor building & the town, which, while officially a ghost town, is full of people. Because Crystal is 6 miles from the town of Marble on a 4 wheel drive road we took Dick & Anne's 4 Runner rather than my RAV4. I know the RAV4 is called a 4 wheel drive vehicle, but it is really only designed for good quality roads. It has no low range, no skid plates protecting important parts, and not any where near enough ground clearance. If you are tempted to try the road in a "citified" 4 wheel drive vehicle, don't! Lots of large rocks to climb over, loose gravel & rocks, long drops off the edge of the road (there is a photo of a truck that went over). In short, you don't need a super modified 4 wheeler to do the drive, but you do need a real 4 wheel drive vehicle & an experienced driver. We had both & it was a great trip.

We took US 24 north out of Leadville, got on I 70 & got off at Glenwood Springs, headed south on CO 82 & CO 133, then took FR 314 to Marble where we followed the 4 wheel drive trail to Crystal & the Mill. We made a short stop to see some coke ovens in the town of Redstone along CO 82. I have photos of the restored ovens as well as some in the original condition. After that it was on to Marble. Marble produced some of the highest quality marble ever mined. It has been used for many statues, the Washington Monument & the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. While the quarry closed for awhile, it has reopened and is still producing high quality marble. Another interesting point - the Crystal River runs along side the road & every once in a while you can see what looks like a truck load that fell in.

After a butt busting 6 mile drive from Beaver Lake at the edge of Marble, you first reach the "Mill". While often called a mill, it was actually designed to produce compressed air used for drilling a local tunnel. While not the best time of day for photos (late afternoon would be better for lighting the face of the building) I took some photos, then we made the short drive to the town of Crystal. While at times it had hundreds of residents, it currently consists of about 10 buildings, all of which are summer homes. I bought a book on the history of the town & mill from the author's sister who spends the summer in one of the buildings.

After eating lunch in Crystal (we brought our own; although there is a small store there, it was closed) we headed back to Leadville. We stopped to photograph a small waterfall that probably looks better with spring runoff, and took CO 82 through Aspen & Independence Pass to get back to Leadville.

Photographs of all are at today's LakeshoreImages page.


Dinner was a partially frozen Salad - I defrosted the refrigerator and it works really well! Of course part of that is because it went down to 42°F last night.

Until Tomorrow!

Father Dyer Campground, Leadville, CO

Hand Drilling, Boom Days, Leadville, CO

Monday, August 6 - Father Dyer Campground, Leadville, CO, - 28.3 Miles Today, 12,478.2 For the Trip

I did make it out to Turquoise Lake this morning in time to get a site - While I can't stay over the weekend when all the sites are reserved, I'm in site 8, at the Father Dyer Campground, one of the many scattered around Turquoise Lake. A pretty pull through site, and one of the few that has enough openings in the tree cover to keep the solar panel happy. It is interesting - I have a stronger and faster Verizon here in the campground (out in the middle of nowhere, although a beautiful nowhere) than I did in the city of Leadville. I also have a good AT&T signal.

After setting up the trailer I headed back into Leadville. The plan was to get a haircut today, but I couldn't get an appointment until Thursday. Instead, I found a car wash and took a layer of road dirt off the RAV4. I am still getting Utah red sand (dust) washing out from under the tailgate every time I wash the car. Will it ever go away?

Nothing other than a campground photo today so I'm using one from yesterday's Boom Day Celebration. Hope for something interesting tomorrow.

Dinner will be meatloaf at Dick & Anne's - I'm getting lazy not cooking for myself!

Until Tomorrow!