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Telluride - part 13 of Independence Day trip 2015
We left Telluride and headed back to Denver. But... we couldn't go straight home, without making a detour :) We love this small town so much and cannot skip it, even if we don't have time to stop by. We always have time to stop and see Ouray ;) Always!
But before we slowed down somewhere in the middle of nowhere just to look at the mountains and clouds.
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Ophir - part 12 of Independence Day trip 2015
Today Telluride is a famous ski resort in the Winter and the place that offers a lot of activities at the Summertime. But that wasn't always like this. The first gold was discovered in the area in 1858 and the first gold claim was made in the nearby mountains in 1875. The silver camp became a town in 1878 as Columbia. But due to confusion with a California town of the same name, the place was renamed to Telluride in 1887. It was named Telluride after Gold Telluride, valuable ore compounds of the chemical element tellurium which never were found in this area :)
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From Cortez to Telluride - part 11 of Independence Day trip 2015
If you are driving Highway 145 and tired of seeing just grey asphalt in front of your car, you can slow down and make a turn to the Forest Road CR 630. You will be surprised how quickly everything around changes. In a matter of minutes just find yourself in a different world. You cannot fly low above the highway anymore and need to drive slowly... But now you can enjoy the trees that stay so close to the road you can touch the branches with your arm stretched out of the car window. You will enjoy seeing the mountain slopes running up and this winding road brings you to a tiny town completely lost between high mountains. This is the town of Ophir, a small mining place incorporated in... I don't know exactly when :) The Internet says in 1875, the sign near the town reads 1881...
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Creede - part 10 of Independence Day trip 2015
We woke up at 6AM the next morning and were ready for new adventures to find. We had breakfast in the hotel and continued on highway 145 to Telluride.
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Bachelor Loop Creede - part 9 of Independence Day trip 2015
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Underground Mining Museum in Creede - part 8 of Independence Day trip 2015
Let's talk a little bit about Creede. This is a small town (population was 290 people in 2010), lost somewhere deep in the mountains. The first mine was open in this area in 1869 but didn't last long. Silver fever helped the small town grow in a few months and became one of very important in the area. Population of 600 in1889 boomed to about 10,000 in 1891. And the town collapsed back in 1893 when the Silver Panic hit all of the silver mines in Colorado. But Creede didn't become a ghost town. After 1900, Creede stayed alive by relying increasingly on lead and zinc in the ores. Total production through 1966 was 58 million troy ounces (870 metric tons) of silver, 150 thousand ounces (4.7 metric tons) of gold, 112 thousand metric tons of lead, 34 thousand metric tons of zinc, and 2 million metric tons of copper.
But these times are gone and now this is a nice looking town well hidden in the middle of nowhere. But the past is still here and even works in the town's advantage. There are a lot of the mines still can be found in the area and one of the attractions is to drive through the Bachelor Loop - almost off road and mostly one way road bringing you close to many historical mines and other interesting places.
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Lakes and Waterfalls - part 7 of Independence Day trip 2015
It didn't take long for us to reach Creede, the small mining town with a rich history. It feels a bit sleepy now, but still keeps some secrets and attractions. One of them is the Underground Mine Museum. There are plenty of mines converted to museums all around the state of Colorado and they are real. Visiting them is like stepping back in time. But they all lack one thing... they don't show you how the mining was changing during the time and what tools were used. They don't teach you about life of miners. The Creede museum is different and that is why we wanted to visit it and learn more about everyday work in the mines. The Underground Mining Museum is the place, where you can see and feel what the miners did in the mines.
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Lake City Parade - part 6 of Independence Day trip 2015
We enjoyed the parade and left Lake City soon after people cleared Main Street. We had a good time there but we had some more plans to see places this day. We followed highway 149, which runs up to the summits and down to the valleys. There are a couple of pearls the traveler can find hidden just out of the main road. One of these treasures is Lake San Cristobal, the second largest natural lake in the state of Colorado.
To read previous parts:
Cottonwood Pass, Taylor Park Reservoir - part 1 of Independence Day trip 2015
Lake Irwin - part 2 of Independence Day trip 2015
Peanuts and Meridian lakes - part 3 of Independence Day trip 2015
Crested Butte - part 4 of Independence Day trip 2015
Lake City - part 5 of Independence Day trip 2015
We still were walking along the streets and enjoyed the town when we heard the bell rung. That was the time and we returned to the main street...
To read previous parts:
Cottonwood Pass, Taylor Park Reservoir - part 1 of Independence Day trip 2015
Lake Irwin - part 2 of Independence Day trip 2015
Peanuts and Meridian lakes - part 3 of Independence Day trip 2015
Crested Butte - part 4 of Independence Day trip 2015
We were so tired last night and slept like a baby. Next morning we woke up early and started from Gunnison. The next planned destination for our adventure was Lake City. Tired of the beaten paths we would like to take small and not very crowded highways. The Silver Thread Byway (Highway 149) from Gunnison to South Fork is one of the roads that doesn't really attract many travelers. That was exactly what we needed...
But the very first stop we made was just after we turned off Highway 50. The view of Blue Mesa Reservoir was so spectacular... The reflection in the water was so enchanting... The sky was so morning-like...
To read previous parts:
Cottonwood Pass, Taylor Park Reservoir - part 1 of Independence Day trip 2015
Lake Irwin - part 2 of Independence Day trip 2015
Peanuts and Meridian lakes - part 3 of Independence Day trip 2015
We reached Crested Butte soon after we left Meridian Lake that afternoon. Unfortunately we had about an hour to walk along the streets before leaving the town.
To read previous parts:
Cottonwood Pass, Taylor Park Reservoir - part 1 of Independence Day trip 2015
Lake Irwin - part 2 of Independence Day trip 2015
We passed Crested Butte again, drove around the town and stopped near Peanut Lake.
To read previous part:
Cottonwood Pass, Taylor Park Reservoir - part 1 of Independence Day trip 2015
We left Taylor Park Reservoir and took a winding road along the Taylor River. We planned to see even more alpine lakes this day...
In about an hour we passed Crested Butte and took a county road towards Lake Irwin. We drove as long as we could and stopped only when the road became impassable for our Forester. Than we left the car and started walking along the road. We planned to hike from Lake Irwin and to see some flowers at higher altitude.
Independence Day long weekend is a good reason for traveling somewhere. And it's an even better reason to go to the mountains where it is not as hot as downhill and enjoy a nice, quiet environment, fresh air and endless mountain ridges.
We started early in the morning and by 10AM we were already crossing the Rockies.
Just a few more pictures of the mostly the same flowers.
Is this one a hibiscus? I am not really sure... but, probably. Anyway, it looks amazing, doesn't is?
Everything looked so sad yesterday when the show hit the Denver area. Everything looked definitely better just days before and... we can take a look at the flowers before the snow covers them...
The wild roses are definitely go for the second round of blooming and, honestly, I like it!
We all know that weather here in Colorado is not very predictable and can easily turn to the wrong direction. How'd they say? Don't like the weather? Wait 15 minutes and it changes... By the way, yesterday I heard Iceland's version of this expression - Don't like the weather? Wait 15 minutes, it'll be even worse ;)
As I said in my previous post, before we enjoyed walking in Boulder, we used to stop for quick lunch. You know, this is really easy to find a good restaurant in Boulder... All you need is to stop somewhere and you will be swamp with many options. But if you want something special, you can face a parking problem, so it took about 20 minutes circling around before we found a spot to park our car. And all these troubles because we wanted to have a couple of empanadas at Rincon Argentino :)
This year was quite unusual, wasn't it? I mean with the pandemic situation we all stay put and hadn't travel as much as we normally do. But even staying home we can travel back in time and take a look to some places where we've been before. How about starting with Boulder? Let's pick one nice, warm (but a bit cloudy) Saturday in the last February and... And... Boulder would be a great destination to wonder around, have some lunch and enjoy windows shopping.
Boulder is a nice town and we always enjoy spending some time there. And every time we find something new and unexpected. This time we found... geographic center of Boulder, marked with a colorful graphic on one of the small intersections. How could happen that we have never seen this spot before? Doesn't matter. We found it finally (even though it happened purely accidental...).
Disclaimer - don't look at the pictures if you are afraid to be stung ;)
Walking around and looking at flowers is a great pleasure and you also always can find something else. Actually, someone else.
Bees...
