Exploring the Bouillon King Mine Site

We stopped in the Rock Shop in Ouray, Colorado and picked up a book detailing various locations in Colorado to search for specific types of rocks. Traveling to most of these locations involves the use of high clearance, four wheel drive vehicles.

One such site for rock hounding is the Bouillon King Mine Site. This is a bit west of Red Mountain Pass up 3 miles on a one lane Jeep trail to well over 12,000 feet above sea level. It is quite the trip.

We were searching for limonite pseudomorphs after pyrite rock which is reported to be 3/16" cubes located in a gray matrix.. Our rock hunting skills are still very much at the amateur level so we didn't find the wonderful examples I envisioned, but had a nice day nevertheless exploring the area.

This was September 9th of 2019 and the wild flowers were in full bloom right next to piles of snow from the severe winter of 2018/2019.

Our dog accompanied us on the trip and loved exploring the mountain.

The trail starts out easy enough with room for two vehicles to pass

The switchbacks are tight

The views are spectacular

There are still piles of snow from the previous winter

Wild flowers abound

Little waterfalls result from the melting snow

This is an overview of the Jeep trail heading down from the mine site. That little white dot is a pickup truck

Zoomed in on the pickup truck heading down

You are pretty much at the top of the world

This is the one lane Jeep trail. Folks heading uphill have the right of way. If you meet someone coming up you are required to back up until there is a place to pass. You get a good workout with your mirrors backing up this trail.