Ashcroft Colorado

Ashcroft started in 1880. it was a silver town. there is a long an varied history. Silver town, WWII training camdp, potentional ski area, Olympic traidning area, and finally in the 1970's it was preserved. The Aspen Historical Society takes care of it now. They have done a good job. The building at the far end is a two story hotel. it still has some the fancy wood work at the roof line and around the windows. inside, the stairway up was rickety, and we probably shouldn't have went upstairs, but we did. It wasn't gated off like some other buildings. what a view. This is one of my favorite areas of Colorado. Although, one sign said that Ashcroft gets about 18 feet of snow in winter. Brrr! There are a lot of ground squirrls here. you see them and their holes everywhere. looks like the hawks and ermine have a lot of work to do.

Rest in Peace

What a bad week for celeb's. first Farrah Fawcett. then Michael Jackson. and today, Billy Mays.

out and about

Yesterday we decide to go find some ghost towns. so we decided on one near Aspen. From our house we went up and over Guanella pass. It's under construction until 2010 on the Georgetown side. lol, that side has lots of pot holes and narrow lanes so it's like a four wheel road. it was raining on top of the pass. But inspite of that, there were still a lot of cars parked up there and people hiking the different trails. decide it was too cool and wet to have lunch here so we went down farther. Had lunch at a lower picnic area. My Dorito salad, Mmmm! Continued on and over Independence Pass, where it is again raining on the summits. had some hail mixed in here. walked out to the over look anyway. On down past the restored ghost town of Independence. didn't stop today. then on into Aspen. didn't stop here either. public parking here is pay parking. it was getting late so we didn't stay. found our road and headed up to Ashcroft. Many tall thick stands of aspen trees. I understand why the town is so named. Many beautiful blue lupine flowers growing among the aspens. And this little guy. We pulled over on the side of the road and he just stood there flicking his ear and let me take a couple of pictures.

Saxon Mountain road

We started out on CR 130 on the Idaho Springs side. followed that up to the old townsite and mine of Lamartine. then took FR 712.2 all the way to Georgetown. Many pretty overlooks of the Mt Evans range and then of Berthoud Pass, once we get closer to georgetown. this last half of the trail... bone jarring. The book I have listed it as an "easy" road. I guess the atv's have ruined it. loose rocks all over these switch backs. no to mention fallen boulders. some places are one lane only. and with boulders in the way.. just enough room for the Wrangler to squeeze by. had I known it was this bad of shape I would have gone to the top of Saxon Mtn too. I here it has great views and informational signs. Oh, well. may be some time we will hike it or mtn bike it. in my opinion, that's all the trail is good for now. On a positive note. the views were great. the sky was mostly clear and it was a very warm 80 degrees up here! found a few cabin ruins. The jeep did very well with the higher clearence of our new tires. only scraped once.

Argo Gold Mine & Mill

on Thursday T & I took a tour of a local tourist trap. The Argo Gold Mine, Mill & Tunnel.

some history... In 1859, George A. Jackson made the first major discovery of gold in Colorado at the confluence of what is today's Chicago Creek and Clear Creek here in Idaho Springs. The great Rocky Mountain goldrush had begun and almost overnight 50,000 men poured into Clear Creek Canyon, stretching from today's city of Golden, West to Silver Plume and North over Seaton Mountain to Central City. After the gold was taken from the creeks, hard rock mining began. As these mine tunnels all over the mountains got deeper, they found it was harder to get the ore out and equipment in, plus the deeper it went, the more water was flooding the tunnels. Well, an idea was proposed and investors found. The digging of the tunnel would begin in 1893 in Idaho Springs. Tunnel was completed in 1910 in Central City. The total distance of the tunnel was 4.16 miles and the entire length of the tunnel has a .3 downhill grade to the portal to drain the water, which also provided an easy exit for the loaded ore cars.It was on January 19, 1943 .. too many of the mine shafts were flooded. They all let loose into the Argo. the water filled the tunnel to the top and the flow out lasted several hours. In February 1976 the property was purchased by James N. Maxwell to preserve the quickly disappearing history of mining in Colorado and Clear Creek County. The five-story mill was renovated and opened to the public as a historic and educational tour. Most of the equipment used for processing the gold ore remains in place.The Argo Mill was placed on the National Historic Register by the Department of the Interior in 1977.

Epcot Center Fungus

This must be the Epcot Center for fairies. found it on the rock wall behind our house. wonder if they have a fun time there

jet plane

My baby girl left on a jet plane this afternoon. she'll have a fun time this summer. visiting friends and family. good food ( I hope ) and good fun.

new flower bed

planting a new flower bed for

the humming birds. since our one neighbor moved she took the feeders with her. and the birds are buzzing around everywhere. I just don't ever seem to make a mix they like. so, they can have natural flowers next summer. note the pitch fork. lol.

Sunday stroll in the yard

we stayed home this weekend. I planted a new flower bed for humming birds. It's a mixed seed packet. I may still buy a few plants just to look at something sooner. My other seeded flower beds are coming up just fine. T decided to mow the yard. with all the rain the grass grows quickly up here. The landlords grandkids haven't been up to do it this weekend. P was wandering around the yard and asked to go up to the corner were we have a path up the hill. I said ok, and kept an eye on her from my flower bed. she came walking back rather quickly a minute later and told me she saw the mountain lion up on the rocks about 2 cabins over! She saw it's legs and realized also by how gracful it moved, it wasn't a dog. she wanted to go peek again. so I took my camera and pitch fork and we went back over. The squirrels were going crazy so I told her it's still around and we shouldn't be here. we went back over to the house. We even have excitement staying home!

Girl Scout Round up

Colorado Springs. I guess way back in 1959; many lifetimes, and before mine, ago ... lol! .. there was a "roundup" for grown up girl scouts. Ahh the smell of burnt marshmallows and muching on gorp. looking at the web site it's a class reunion of sorts for the now adult girl scouts. the activities sound fun. lots of site seeing and song singing. :) Hmm, my camp days... I remember nightly raccoon raids because some home sick idiot girl brought cookies from home and left them in her suitcase.. making newspaper/wax fire-starters, sit up ons... and of course songs. good times.

Herman Gulch Trl #98

The Herman Gulch Trail. #98. Hmm.. This is the only Trail I have seen with that Name. where is Herman Gulch #1? lol, just kiddin'. I know the Forest service numbers the trails. This was a good day yesterday. The sky was blue and the temperature was just right. Even when walking across the snowfields. Can't wait to try it again. I think we'll do it in July when the wild flowers are peak. I hear the lake is a beautiful green color like Hanging lake in Glenwood Springs

Herman Gulch trail #98

Distance one way: 3.5 miles
Elevation: Trailhead: 10,400' ; Herman Gulch Lake 12,000'

This trail has a couple of great "stair-master" hills. The trail starts off on the moderate side for about a quarter mile until the first split. The sign here says Watrous Gulch and Bard Creek trails to the right. Herman Lake and Jones Pass to the left. The sign says it's 3.75 miles to the lake from the trail split. I think the sign is old, because the Forest Service Web page said the entire hike to Herman Gulch is 3.5 miles each way. We turn to the left, the trail turns into an old sawmill road and it's steep. Let's just say when the road gets close to a stream with several cascades, I had no problem stopping to take an pictures and water breaks.

After the steady climb on the road, the trail enters a meadow with the stream on the left and a thick forest on the right. The trail "levels" out for a while now. just smaller hills. There are lots of rocks and tree roots. We have to be careful not to twist any ankles. There are some early spring wild flowers coming up. A hiking book I have says there is a riot of colors in July. I'm thinging we'll be back.

We take our lunch break at about the third meadow. Enjoying the views and pointing out different mountains. T was standing up and had a piece of granola bar in his hand; pointing at one of the mountains... When a bird flys down and tried to take the granola from his hand! He's standing right next to me, so I screamed. The bird flew away empty beaked. lol, I'm so jumpy! well, he came back and brought reenforcements. some other hikers passed by at this point. One guy stated that his friend was here last week and these birds landed on his backpack as he fed them pistacios. Looks like they are used to getting fed. He called them Camp robbers. They are a grey bird about the size of a blue jay. Same family I'd say! After they left P put a few Cherrios and peanuts in her hand to see if it would come to her. They did and even landed on her hand and ate. I have pictures...some of the best on this hike; if I don't say so myself! lol! After our lunch we found some sticks to use for walking, looks steep after this point. We continue on.

It's not so much steep, as there is still a lot of snow drifted up back here. The snow pack is getting soft in spots. You can see the footprints were people fall in! We try to stay on the hard pack trail. Some places the many springs are leaking from the ground and melting snow on the way to the creek. it's pretty muddy. already our boots are looking wet, and pant legs are wet. This continues on until the mountain range gets close and the trail starts to go up more. The snow trail starts to go more or less straight up at one point. I know this is not the real trail. In summer there will be more switchbacks. I think it would be easier. I love my walking stick now. We reach a level area and can see the summits ahead. looks like a couple more rises up and maybe there will be the lake. T encourages us to continue. P & I want to call it quits. But we go on. 15 minutes later we are at the lake. It is pretty. But snow covered. there is one small spot that is thawing. It's soo quiet up here. we stay for about twenty minutes before we notice grey clouds are starting to come over the mountains. Time to go. On our way back down, we notice a trail sign a little farther east of where we came up the hill... The real trail doesn't look as steep. But, Alas, it has a lot of snow on it and we don't want to get lost. We're careful on the way down. the snow is getting slushier. We do pretty good and my knees don't really hurt until that last steep part that is the old sawmill road by the waterfalls. A couple of tylenol and a few rest stops later - we're back at the jeep. I really like this trail. We'll do it again. and hey, it's also part of the Continental Divide Trail!

Only in America

ONLY IN AMERICA….MUST WE SPEND BILLIONS BECAUSE WE CAN'T LET CHRYSLER GO BANKRUPT, AND THEN, LET CHRYSLER GO BANKRUPT.

ONLY IN AMERICA….CAN CONGRESS FORCE FANNIE AND FREDDIE TO BUY SUBPRIME LOANS, AND THEN BLAME FANNIE AND FREDDIE FOR BUYING SUBPRIME LOANS.

ONLY IN AMERICA….A MAJOR CRISIS REQUIRES SWIFT ACTION TO PASS A BILL WITHOUT READING IT, THEN THE PRESIDENT VACATIONS FOR THREE DAYS BEFORE HE HAS TIME TO SIGN IT.

ONLY IN AMERICA….YOU CAN BE LEGALLY ILLEGAL

ONLY IN AMERICA….THE CONGRESS MAKES LAWS THAT THEY DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW

ONLY IN AMERICA….WHERE YOUR VICE PRESIDENT DECLARES 'JOBS' A 3 LETTER WORD.

ONLY IN AMERICA...DOES THE MILITARY GET INVESTIGATED BY HOMELAND SECURITY AS POSSIBLE TERRORISTS, WHILE OUR BORDERS ARE WIDE OPEN.

ONLY IN AMERICA , CAN YOU GET A TAX REFUND ON TAXES YOU DIDN'T PAY

ONLY IN AMERICA, YOU HAVE MORE RIGHTS BEING ILLEGAL, THAN YOU DO LEGAL

ONLY IN AMERICA, CAN YOU BE 13 AND HAVE AN ABORTION WITHOUT TELLING YOUR PARENTS, BUT MUST HAVE A WRITTEN NOTE FROM YOUR PARENT WHY YOU MISSED SCHOOL.

ONLY IN AMERICA, CAN CHRYSLER GET $10 BILLION IN AID FOR THEIR COMPANY OF 30,000 EMPLOYEES. I GUESS IT IS DIFFICULT TO RUN A COMPANY FOR $333,333 PER EMPLOYEE.

ONLY IN AMERICA….WE CARE ABOUT 3 GUYS THAT GET WATER UP THEIR NOSE, WHILE OUR ENEMIES ARE BEHEADING US AND BLOWING CROWDS OF PEOPLE UP WITH SUICIDE BOMBINGS.

ONLY IN AMERICA….YOU CAN SAY OTHER INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES WORK, BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THOSE TECHNIQUES ARE.

Chicago Lakes Trail

Distance: About 7 miles to lower lake, 8 miles to upper lake, depending on the book/web site you read

Elevation Gain: Trail gains 200 feet, then drops 400 feet, then gains 1,400 feet to the upper lake

We went up to Echo Lake on Sunday. The weather is iffy.. scattered sun and grey clouds. But, we want to hike. So the three of us park near the lake... and head out to a trail we haven't finished yet. we started it in December, but well... there was a lot of snow piled up. lol. Anyway - to the trailhead -- This is where the Chicago Lakes trail gets interesting. You'll climb about 200 feet in elevation, then drop down about 400 feet to Chicago Creek. The trail follows a shelf along the hillside. While there's a major drop-off on the side, there is also a beautiful view of the valley ahead. We stop and take a few pictures where the trees open up. We enjoyed guessing where we were going from here. The hike to Chicago creek at the bottom is steady up's and down's. Can you say nature's stair master! But you'll know when you're near; you'll hear the rushing water.

There's a creek crossing on a couple wooden planks. Hike a few more yards and you'll come to a road. Follow it up the hill about a mile. You'll pass next to the Idaho Springs Reservoir, then two cabins before the Chicago Lakes trail becomes single track again. There is a sign at this junction with permit forms, even for day hikers. We filled one out, while other hikers just past by looking at us. Well, if a bear eats us... I want the rangers to know who we were.

Catch our breath here, because the trail is about to start climbing. The trail climbs a couple hundred feet, then evens out, then climbs again, then evens out. the flats are such a tease! You'll be doing this for the next 1.5 miles. While it can be tough at times, the scenery is great. We found lots of wildflowers and beautiful views. did a bit of splash hiking. all the rain has given way for lots of little creeks. A wildfire burned 400 acres in this area in 1978. With so many trees gone, you get amazing views of the peaks around the valley.
At about 3.5 miles into the hike, you get your first view of Lower Chicago Lake. The trail is actually above the lake, so you'll have to hike down on one of the many social/goat trails in the area to reach the shoreline. The upper lake is on a shelf higher than the lower. We tried to go on to it --- but the trail was so flooded and the brush was very unfriendly. We climbed up on a rockslide... but we could see no way around. Found a waterfall chugging down. sounded very nice. Then we hear nearby thunder... and it starts to hail. What luck. T says we should take a short cut down to the lake. ( short cuts are never a good idea). needless to say.. it was no trail.. not even for deer. We fight through the brush... and finally find the main trail. It rained the whole way back to the Jeep. Hot showers, coffee/tea & camp pies await at home.. Mmmm! It was a good hike. we want to go again when it's dry to see the top lake.