Pere Marquette Get Together

We had a family get together in Pere Marquette State Park along the Illinois River near Alton Illinois.

On the way there we stopped at the railroad lift bridge in Boonville Missouri to check out the progress in making it a part of the KATY bicycle trail. The approach on the west end is complete and turned out well. Much more work is still required to allow use by bicyclists.

We arrived at the Lodge at Pere Marquette. This is the work of the Civilian Conservation Corp and is a spectacular bit of construction.

The main area of the Lodge is timber construction with sweeping panoramas of roof

Cabins are found around the grounds for those not staying in the Lodge.

We took off on a bike ride along the bike trails along the Illinois river. Lots of history in that area.

My cousin Phillip and Brother in Law John

The Village of Elsa is full of historic homes worth seeing

Julie and sister Carol

A strenuous ride on the roads above the lodge provides views of the river and Indian burial mounds 

Julie enjoying the day

The Lodge has a museum highlighting the wildlife in the area. It includes a simulated  bald eagle nest for the kids to explore

Nearby Alton Illinois has a tribute to Miles Davis. This was his birthplace.

This was a nice place to visit. Lots of things to see and do along the river.

Holiday Celebration on the Mountain

Every year ham radio operators have a field day in which they set up equipment and talk to other hams and keep records of the numbers of contacts. These field days are open to the public to promote the hobby.

A few days before the 4th of July we went to the Montrose Amateur Radio Club (MARC) field day to see the HAM radio operators showcase their equipment and antennas. It was a fun day meeting interesting people.  

Dave Casler was on hand to show the radio antenna he was working on. We spend some interesting time taking it apart to see what was wrong.

High frequency equipment was set up to allow communication around the world.

Lake City, Colorado has a very nice Fourth of July parade. It always starts with the announcement of the new government by the town crier to which the crowd responds "Hazzah".

Many of the floats have a western theme. This one advertising melodramas at the theater.

Our subdivision was represented by a vintage military era Jeep

Uncle Sam strode by

Many floats distributed candy, but my favorite were the folks handing out frozen pops.

Dieter enjoyed the parade too

After the parade we headed up Henson Creek to spend the day at Engineer Pass. Lots of snow melt to see along the way. We enjoyed seeing the stream disappear into the gravel pile .

Trip was made in a Chevy Tracker. The short wheelbase and skid plates make this an ideal vehicle for this kind of trip

Spectacular views at the top

Still lots of snow at that time of the year

We set up our chairs to enjoy the view. Julie just caught the food bag before the winds blew it away. Quite the place to have lunch.

Nature is still doing her magic even n that harsh climate

Selfies on Engineer Pass

I took this image to give some scale to the snow banks

Lots of mining activity took place in this area with some remains still in place

Boilers from the mine remain

Cable spools can still be found

This was one of my favorite finds. It is the mechanism that lowered workers into the mine thru the mine shaft. The remains of the sheet metal assembly on the left were a roof of sorts to protect the miners from falling rocks.

The geared cams were in place to arrest the descent if the cable failed. 

Found the survey marker 

Flowers were in bloom among the rocks

I enjoy seeing this cabin across the stream on the way down

These are the remains of a mill located below the pass

The mill was located just across from one of the most remotely cabins you can find

The Ute Ulay mine is found along Henson Creek. Efforts are underway to make this a tourist attraction and easier to explore. This view shows the remains of the dam.

This shows the state of development  of the hiking trails around the mine