Hard Tack mine

If you head out of Lake City Colorado a few miles up the Henson Creek road you'll find a well done exhibit of Colorado mining history.

There is a mining tunnel originally intended to remove ore from the lower reaches of the Ute Ulay mine workings. The owners have added recessed side areas to the tunnel and stationed exhibits of mining history through the decades in each of these recesses.

The tour guide stops at each and tells stories of what happened in each of these time periods.
At the end of the tour you arrive in a large room filled with examples of ore, gold, silver and other rare minerals.

It is a great tour.

This rolling contraption was a toilet used by the miners. It was used on occasion to smuggle high grade ore from the mine as it was unlikely to be searched

One cavern is used as a display for rock and ore samples

Many glow when exposed to ultra violet light

Also on display are many photos of the mine when still in operation

Much attention was paid to the danger of entering abandoned mines

Spending time in Lake City

Lake City, Colorado is a secluded town in the middle of the mountains. It has an interesting mining history and has an economy now based on tourism with lots of folks travelling on the Jeep trails around the town.

We stopped by to grab a bite to eat at 'Southern Vittles'and buy tickets to an upcoming Melodrama at the theater. Topped it all off with ice cream cones along Main Street.

Took advantage of the electric car chargers in the town center

Had some good gumbo at Southern Vittles restaurant

Enjoyed one home owners sense of humor and his carved 'Curious Bear'

No trip to Lake City is complete without ice cream from the  San Juan Soda Company

Julie and Dieter

Fishing the Alpine Lakes

I received an invitation to hike to an alpine lake above Lake City Colorado to try my hand at fly fishing. This is a 5.2 mile hike from 8800 feet of altitude to about 11,200 ft. Quite a hike!

It involves a memorable Jeep Trail to an upper trail head and a wonderful (if strenuous) hike to a beautiful series of lakes know as Larson Lakes.

First stop was at the fly shop to get a fishing license and a few more flies

This is a good place to get a report on the fishing conditions in the area

Trail access made good use of the Jeeps low range capabilities and skid plates

The trail marker is rather optomistic as to the distance to the lakes - our GPS tracker showed it to be a 5.2 mile hike.

My hiking/fishing companions - L to R Bob, Doug, John and Brett

It was a steep hike in places

There were occasional mountain meadows

Almost there!

A little slice of heaven

The lakes were stocked by aircraft dropping fish while flying over. That must be something to see!

Everybody spread out and fished different parts of the lakes

The fish were biting. The best action was to be found where the upper lake flowed into the lower.

Steep sections on the way down were best navigated with the aid of walking sticks

 A particularly good book detailing fishing the Colorado High Country is "Fly Fishing the High Country" by John Gierach. Lots of good advice about fishing the alpine lakes...