Running around the Mountains

 We spent some time in various Colorado towns checking out the latest and greatest. This is what we found.

Cimmaron is the location of a nice narrow gauge display and if you travel back into the canyon a bit you'll find one of the few remaining narrow gauge bridges. This is normally a base for the narrow gauge train located on top, but while the train engine and cars were out being refurbished they found the bridge needed some attention also. It appears the repair work is now complete as the bridge looks pretty good.

While in Ouray we checked out the Hot Springs Pool. The pool has been upgraded with all kinds of new features including a water slide.

The fire department was getting ready for July 4th in the park

We found all kinds of new (to us) things in Ridgeway. We wanted to find the railroad rights of way coming into Ridgeway from the North for both the D&RGW and the Rio Grande Southern. Turns out the D&RGW ROW is now a walking/bike trail and is well marked.

Portions of this bridge are link and pin construction

The railroad museum in Ridgway is moving a little further north and has constructed a sizable loop of track to allow operation. I assume this is primarily for their recreated motor car. Nice to see the efforts they are putting into the museum.

Good sized loop of track

Lake City has their Arts Center where we were able to enjoy a melodrama about how Dracula dealt with the mid life crisis of turning 400 years old.

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