Back to Leadville

We had so much fun in Leadville a couple days ago before doing the Mosquito Pass jeep trail, so we decided to pack up the road bikes and bring them back to do more exploring around the area again.  The city of Leadville built the Mineral Belt Trail, a really cool recreational path around and through the city which goes through the old mining district as well with lots of scenic lookouts over Turquoise Lake.  The loop is just under 12 miles long and the entire path is paved so its a great short road bike trip.  Locals like to walk/hike it in the summer months then use it as a cross country ski trail in the winter.

Some of the old mining cars and track.  This place just reminded both of us so much of Butte since everything revolved around gold, silver, and other precious metals back in its heyday in the mid-to-late 1800's.  We thought it was pretty cool to learn more about the town since Dianna's Aunt Rose was born there and moved to Butte shortly afterwards.

California Gulch with all of the old abandoned mines.

 An old abandoned mine near downtown Leadville.

Our Awesome Grandchildren

We don't get many chances to have all four of our grandchildren over without their parents, so we jumped at the opportunity last week when parent-teacher conferences came around and just happened to be on the same evening for Sara's and Bradley's children.  Even though Dianna and I were outnumbered by a factor of two to one, we still lived to tell about it!  We were able to get all four of them to sit steady for a few minutes while we got this shot:)  Bella, Andrew, Joseph, and Sophie - our awesome grandchildren! 

PAPA AND MIMI LOVE YOU!!!!

Argentine Pass or Bust!

 Labor Day weekend, and still lots of fun stuff to do before going home.......

We first spotted Argentine Pass when we climbed Gray's Peak last year about this same time (Really cool, you can see the Argentine Pass trail almost in its entirety from Gray's Peak on our blog dated September 2010 under the 'Grays & Torreys' posting).  Argentine Pass was used in the mid-to-late 1800's long before trains and highways existed to get folks across the Continental Divide heading west out of Denver.  The trail was built to move folks on horseback AND stagecoaches over the Continental Divide - WOW!  It was a one-day stagecoach ride from Georgetown to Keystone to go over this pass.  After having hiked the trail over this pass, it's really hard to believe that anyone in their right mind would even attempt to go there any other way except by foot!

Here's the west side of the pass that we hiked up as seen from the Peru Creek valley.  The trail is barely visible above treeline cutting across the mountain.

Another shot of the top of the Continental Divide at Argentine Pass (slightly right of center).

As we began our climb, we could look back at one of the abandoned mines at our trailhead.  You'll see this same mine a few pictures later:)



We had a few critters watching us hike up the trail.  Mostly pika, but a few chipmunks too.

Right away, we could see Gray's Peak (one of Colorado's 14'ers) directly north of us.  The first time we attempted to climb Gray's Peak last year, we only made it to the base of the left snow patch near the top:(



Another shot of Gray's Peak.  As soon as we get higher up, we'll be able to see Torrey's Peak behind it.

Lots of bees feasting on nectar from the thistle plants.

Here's what I'm talking about regarding the stagecoach trail - carved into the side of this steep mountain.  Actually, this spot looks really good compared to some of the other narrow and steeper portions.  We're only about 1/2 way up to the summit at this point.

Hey look, there's the trailhead where we started about an hour ago - a little bit below the center and sightly to the right.

Now we can see both Gray's and Torrey's Peaks.  Gray's is dead center and Torrey's is the one directly to the right.

We made it to the top of the Pass, sitting on the Continental Divide!  Another shot of Gray's and Torrey's Peaks.



Zoom shot of Gray's and Torrey's from the top of Argentine Pass.  You can almost see people on top of both of these peaks.

Looking west down the Peru Creek valley, you can see the trailhead where we started our hike in the center of the picture.

View from the top of Argentine Pass.

Starting back down, you can see the stagecoach trail we just hiked up.  Yikes, really steep!

Lots of the wildflowers have already seen their first freeze, it won't be long before the snow starts falling again (and we'll be skiing:)

Some of the fireweed is still blooming. 

Once we got back down to the trailhead, we decided to do some exploring at some of the old abandoned mines - this was taken just above the Pennsylvania Mine.

One more adventure scratched off our list!



Mosquito Pass

Over Labor Day weekend, we decided to mix things up a bit, so we did a long road bike ride, a Jeep trail, and a hike over a 13,200' pass.  This day, we took a break from biking and hiking and did some 4-wheeling.  We headed over to Leadville as we had heard that Mosquito Pass was a fun trail to drive over.  Mosquito Pass is the highest 4 wheel drive trail in the US, topping out at 13,185'.  We started out in Leadville at a bit over 10,000' already and began our journey.  Here's Dianna enjoying the view from the top of the pass.

After leaving Leadville, we began our climb up through some high meadows - a picture perfect day for a jeep ride.  Lots of old abandoned mining camps.

Most of the trail was in pretty decent shape and we passed another dozen or so folks enjoying the trail too.

About 1/2 way up, we could see many other trails in the area.  Mount of the Holy Cross is off in the distance to the west of us.

As we got the the summit, we got a bit of a history lesson.  It's hard to imagine horse drawn wagons going over these trails and passes over 150 years ago!

Father Dyer's headstone at the summit of the pass - he was known for carrying mail and gold over the pass via snowshoes and skis.

We were even able to play in the snow a little bit on top of the pass!  Gauging by the temperatures this day, I'd suspect this snow will still be here when the first snow this fall begins flying iin a few weeks....



Yes, we did run into a few obstacles on the way back down on the east side of the pass, but it was still a perfect day for the trip and the scenery was awesome....  We love our Jeep!