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!



A Century Weekend!

This was a century weekend for us, as we took our road bikes out and rode over 100 miles in a little over two days - something we never dreamed of doing even a year ago!  Maybe it had something to do with the excitement of the 2011 Pro Cycling Challenge (Hopefully the USA's answer to Tour de France) hitting Colorado this past week, but it was fun for us nonetheless.  Nearly 150 professional cyclists were in Colorado this past week racing over 500 miles in 6 stages.  The fifth stage ran from Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge, while skirting Keystone and Swan Mountain Pass, a ride that Dianna and I ride routinely almost every weekend.  On Friday, we did our ride from Keystone over Swan Mountain to Copper then over Vail Pass and back to Keystone via Frisco and Dillon.  A short ride for the professionals, but nearly 50 miles for us old timers.  Saturday was race day through Summit County, so we just did a short mountain bike ride/hike then went over to Swan Mountain to watch the race.  We finished the weekend by riding enough on Sunday to give us 105 miles for the weekend!

Here's some of the festivities from the race over Swan Mountain.  The first rider to reach the summit is awarded the KOM (King of the Mountain) title.  The summit is clearly marked by the red arches at the top (and LOTS of fans cheering them on).

Lots of folks just having fun awaiting the racers to hit the summit.

This guy had to be hot!  (University of Northern Colorado Rams, although I think he could have represented ZZ Top in an earlier life)

After about an hour wait, the riders finally got there.  This was a breakaway of 4 riders that had leaded the peloton (main group of riders) for most of the day.  On this pass alone, their lead on the peloton was cut down from 2 minutes to only about 30 seconds.  These guys looked beat, they had already covered nearly 100 miles this day.

Right behind the four leaders was the main peloton, including Levi Leipheimer, the overall winner of the race for the week.  We were cheering for him since he's originally from Butte:)

Here's Levi in the yellow jersey, one that he wore all week except for only one day.  The leader with the best overall time for the race gets to wear the special yellow jersey each day while riding.

After about two or three minutes, the entire peloton has pretty much passed where we were and the race went on the Breckenridge for the finish that day.  The support vehicles with extra bikes and equipment follow all of the riders.  Pretty amazing that these guys are all so evenly matched and can finish a 100+ mile race as close together as they did!

Another fun wekend in Keystone!

In A Quandary

Well, it's mid-August and about time for us to do our annual fourteener (peaks in Colorado with summits at least 14,000') hike!  The weather forecast was in our favor,so we decided to tackle Quandary Peak just south of Breckenridge.  Hey, it's only 14,265' and a 3-1/2 mile hike each way.....  Just because the Summit County trail map indicates that the Quandary Peak hike is a 'most difficult' hike, it can't be that bad, and besides, we've had a whole week to rest since conquering 12,500' Ptarmigan Peak last weekend!  Here's the peak as seen from the trailhead.  We started out about 6:30 am, just at sunrise (this shot was taken after we got back).

At about 8:30, we're half-way there - still the toughest part yet to come.  If you look closely, you can see the other hikers going up the ridge on the left.  We've already passed up about 6 or 8 folks (coming down) that started at 2 am and hiked up under a full moon to the summit to watch a meteor shower and the sunrise!  Those folks are crazy (and we're not).



We had plenty of company along the way up.  These guys were much quicker and more agile than us, though.......

A few pika as well.....

We're almost there - the summit is in sight!

We made it'!!!!!

View from the summit - that's why they are called the Rocky Mountains!

Way down there is where we started this morning at the base of Hoosier Pass.

Hey look, it's mid-August and there are lakes below us that are still partly frozen!

Fletcher Mountain sitting at 13,950' and Mount of the Holy Cross (also a 14'er) in the middle background.

 

That's a long ways down!

Looking eastward, we've had our quick lunch and it's time to start our decent back down the mountain.

Still lots of hikers coming up the mountain, our trail goes straight down the spine.

Looks like these guys are just losing their heavy winter fur.

Awesome shots!

We encountered a whole herd of mountain goats with their babies.

Twin kids!

Finally made it back down, time to plan tomorrow's activities!  We felt pretty ambitious, so decided to tackle Vail Pass (from Vail) on our road bikes the following day.  Only a 20 mile trip, but another 'most difficult' route on our map.  Needless to say, we were both pretty tired after this weekend!  I think we'll attempt a couple of less difficult activities next weekend.....

Back at the condo,  the hummers are really enjoying our feeder!