Colorado
These are just some of the
fantastic sights along the way. 
Our venture into Colorado was to visit with
some long time friends who live there. We arrived from the eastern slope out of
Utah to the western slope of Colorado. The landscape was desert and barren
until we started climbing shortly after crossing the state line. We
unfortunately had to overcome some mechanical difficulties before we could get
beyond Grand Junction. Once that hurtle was scaled, we had the opportunity to
meet with our friends in Ouray located south at the feet of the San Juan
Mountain Range.
Ouray is a quaint town of modest proportions
with a booming tourist season in the summer. Many people come the Ouray to base
their various mountain adventures such as dirt biking, hiking and
rock-climbing. Our friends allowed us to join them on their vacation and gave
us the opportunity to explore areas in their 4-wheel drive Jeep. The “Rocky
Mountain High” was at its best with us climbing to the high outback places in
the mountains around 
Silverton.
Silverton is an old mining community at high elevation who has a blooming tourist crowd during the summer. Us being gold prospecting oriented, were interested in looking around the old gold mines and the fascinating history they carry. Many of the old mining sites are being restored as historical markers that represent the opening up of the high mountain country to the gold rush past. Many of the mine operations still have the old stamp mills inside where they prepared the ore for processing. There are still some mines in operation but these are few due to the high costs involved and the lower price of gold. Most all of the mines are load mines which means that they are digging out the gold bearing rock along veins they found. There is also a narrow gauge railway that runs between Silverton and Durango. This is the remains of the extensive railroads that were built throughout the area to move the gold ore out and equipment in. The railroad is now only a passenger line that has a steam locomotive to pull it through the mountains. Many people take the rail line to visit Silverton from the Durango end of the line in the morning and then take the train back in the afternoon. We didn’t try to pull our RV over the 11,008’ Red Mountain Pass and marveled at the ingenuity and determination of the folks who settled these heights with mules and horses in the not too distant past. We, instead, chose to head back north towards Grand Junction.
Colorado Mountain Flowers Unknown gold miners cabin near Treasure Peak
Snow pack on the ridges of the San Juan Mountains Treasury Tunnel Mine, Red Mountains
This mine goes clear through the mountain and comes out on the Telluride side.
We had a failure of one of the RV support leg jacks and
had to have it repaired under warranty. This kept us in Montrose for a few days
until we could get the part and have it installed. From there, we went up to
I-70 in Grand Junction and proceeded to Glenwood Springs in central Colorado.
It seems that our mechanical trouble with our truck had not been cleared up as
promised by the Grand Junction Ford dealer. From the trouble we had with the
dealer in Grand Junction, we surmised that we would be here even longer to get
to the bottom of the problem here. We
were right; it took another two weeks to get the issues resolved with the
Glenwood Springs Ford dealer there. They refused to work anymore on the truck
so we had to go to a dealer in Rifle who found the problem right away and fixed
it. Not all dealers are alike, thankfully, since we have had no further trouble
and have had great performance from the truck.
Now we could take some time to meet with our friends and
enjoy some of the local sights. 
We
moved to a smaller campground, The Hideout, from Ami’s acres where we enjoyed the
changing of the leaves as falls came upon us in September. 
While staying there
we explored the area mountains and national forests. Carbondale lies at the
foot of the majestic Mount Sopris. Mt. Sopris denotes the northern corner of
the Snowmass wilderness and has many points of interest to enjoy. We were
treated with an early snow in September and enjoyed the natural beauty of the
white mantel across the mountains.
Carbondale Valley, CO Mount Sopris 12,953’
We took weekend jaunts with our resident friends who were happy to share some of the interesting places in the area. A quick trip through Aspen up Independence Pass was quite a thrill. Not a route to try to drive a 40’ RV by any means! The road narrows to one lane along some of the cliff edges where the width and length of a large unit would cover the whole road. You can’t see around the corner because it is so sharp thus not a practical route for a large vehicle. The road is marked to prohibit vehicles over 40’ in length.
Aspen is a thriving town throughout the year. It has a strong tourist population and caters to many wealthy people who find the region to their tastes. We browsed some of the shops and enjoyed a picnic in a park.
An August day at Independence Pass 12,093 feet
Aspen
Near Aspen, there is a road up into Maroon Bells, which is a beautiful preserved valley with lakes and hiking for those so inclined. It was a very windy day there when we arrived but it still allowed us to enjoy some of the magnificent views like the ones below.
Maroon Bells, CO
On another day, the road south from Carbondale took us to Redstone, McClure Pass, Marble and Crystal back up in the Snowmass Range.
We followed Crystal Creek towards its source but took a
short 
View from McClure Pass, CO looking toward the Snowmass Wilderness.
Snow fight at McClure Pass 8,755’
We traveled up the pass to play in the snow. We had a big day getting wet and were tired
so decided to come back another day to see more of Marble and Crystal with our
friends later.
The next weekend we met up with
our friends again and stopped by Redstone. Redstone is south from Carbondale on
the way to Marble and Crystal.
The town of Redstone has a
colorful history again seated in mining activity in the past. There are still
many coke ovens to be seen across the street from the main part of town that
were used to make coke used in manufacturing steel. Redstone now seems to be
the site where many artisans have made their homes and art studios.
Coke ovens outside of Redstone, CO
Redstone main
street
A few days later, we followed Crystal
Creek to the small community of Marble. We examined the old marble shipping
station there and went over to the quarries near by to take a look at what a
marble quarry looks like. They say much of this high-grade marble was used to
build several buildings and monuments in our country’s capital. The snow-capped
mountains feed the clear streams and lakes with ice-cold water and the creeks
were all flowing well.
Yule Quarry near Marble, CO
From there, our
friends took us in their 4-wheel drive to the remote town of Crystal which is
an old mining town being slowly restored. This is far back into the mountains
where there is no easy access and the roads become very rough and narrow. It is
not for the faint of heart looking down the drop-offs in to the canyons as you
twist and turn around the corners. 
Beaver Lake toward Whitehouse Mountain
The Crystal Mill has been the subject of many paintings
and photographs over the years. I believe they were milling ore here around the
turn of the last century. It is being slowly restored. The views here were
beautiful to say the least. Just around the corner from here is the old town of
Crystal. This town, being remote and accessible only with 4-wheel drives, is
very interesting because it still looks much like it may have many years
before. There are a few houses 
along the street and old saloon. 
The saloon was
closed. It appeared that most businesses were already closed for the season,
those being arts and crafts that the local residents made them selves. It was
late in the day so we didn’t have time to do further exploring before dark. 
The
road is very rough and narrow in places and to travel in the dark there was
inviting disaster. 
On yet another day, we traveled together back to Aspen for some more window-shopping. After the ladies had their fill we headed out of Aspen again to see the old mining town of Ashcroft. This town went by the wayside a number of years past as the mining industry wound down and now has been slowly restored as a museum of sorts. I think this status prevents people from destroying what’s left looking for old artifacts and antiques. I was impressed by how small the buildings seemed compared to what our buildings are today. The road through Ashcroft was a toll road at one time that charged prospectors and miners to haul their fright up to the silver mines not far past here.
The old ghost town of Ashcroft, CO
Out time in Colorado seemed too
short to us. We were surprised how quick two months went by. We had explored
the area, saw some of the elk, deer and bears, found our way back up into the
mountain tops and enjoyed the splendor this part of the country offers. Our
trip out of Glenwood Springs took us a little further east to circle our way
around to the Arkansas River. From the river headwaters, we continued further
south until we got to the central east side of the state before turning back
west. We wanted to head further south and west to warmer climes and look for
some gold. We panned on the Arkansas 
without much luck but were in more of a
hurry to get south because we weren’t used to the cold yet. So, we headed on
through Monarch Pass, 11,312, back to Montrose.
Leaving Montrose heading south to the San Juan’s Heading east up to the Taylor Mesa
Then we headed southwest
through the western end of the San Juan Mountains over Taylor Mesa through
Cortez on to 4 Corners leaving Colorado for New Mexico.