Another fun Ghost Town Run in the Books. For this years run, we headed down to the Spanish Peaks and Westcliff area. Driven by the Spanish Peaks many times, though never explored, Westcliff would also be new to me. The main attraction for this years Ghost Town Run was the Cloverdale mine- started in the 1920’s and operated till the ’60’s, the Cloverdale Mine is located in a fine valley outside Hillside, CO.
For some time now, i’ve been wanting to get back up to Black Hawk & Central City. Growing up, my Brother and I would visit Mom on the weekend when she lived up there. First in the Gilpin Hotel, then other parts of the towns after the fire. It was some wonderful memories not only of the Gilpin Hotel, but of Black Hawk and Central City. Remember there would be live music on the weekends ( Ron Berg was my Brothers favorite musician) at the hotel and my Brother and I had the run of the mill of the place. I had never been back to the Gilpin Hotel after it burned down (we were there the night of the fire) and after Mom left town, I never really spent much time in either towns. Sure, the Snow Pizza Run we have with the club is in the hills above Central City, but we always seem to cruse on through town and never stop.
Ever since Mom passed, the urge to get back up to these towns for a visit has seem to get stronger. Earlier in the year I thought it might be fun to go up to Black Hawk for a night with friends from the club for old times sake. Then Covid hit.
But thanks to a good pal from the club, I was able to get up there Friday for a fun day visit to both towns. We first stopped at the Gilpin Hotel for Lunch, then, through his efforts, got a tour of the Hotel. It has changed a lot since I was there last, main floor filled with slot machines and the hotel rooms on the second and third floors now a restaurant and office rooms for the staff. But I was glad to here that Lucille, the resident Ghost was still there (I tried to have a personal moment with Lucille and give her an update on Moms passing but the place was just to busy to do so).
After the tour of the Hotel, we drove up to Central City, as my friend had it set for us to meet the current Mayor of the town. It was fun to remissness about the time growing up in Black Hawk and Central City over a few beers with the Mayor. After, he gave us a personal tour of some of the vacant building in town. A real special treat for me and flattered my pal from the club took all the time to put this together.
Some absolute wonderful memories of the Gilpin Hotel as kids. Even the night it burned down is a strong memory- never did get to thank the fire fighter for saving our cat Bob.
Didn’t even now this existed, but a Submarine came out of these towns. A pretty cool story.
An absolute wonderful museum in Central City. Worth the visit.
A fun time hanging out with the Mayor of Central City while talking about the time spent growing up in both towns.
Getting a personal tour from the mayor of some of the vacant buildings. The red square in the roof was known as a “Glory Hole”. These two buldings were pretty dang awesome.
Apparently, per the Mayor, Bob Dylan played his first payed gig outside of the Twin Cities on this stage.
So my Dad and I just recently finished putting together a fun little book about my recent daily walks in Downtown Denver during the Stay at Home orders. For fifty days, from the time I was furloughed/let go from Enterprise to being brought back, I went out for a daily walk, camera in hand.
The front cover is a five color hand printed serigraph image.
Pretty dang flattered that the Western History Department of the Denver Public Library just bought a copy:)!
Hard to believe that it’s been ten years ( to the date) since i’ve gotten back into the wonderful Henry Mountains in SE Utah. Outside of Hanksville, the Henry’s were the last mountain range to be discovered and placed on a map of the US by Major Powell in 1869. Back in 2009/2010 I headed out to the Henry’s for the 4th of July weekend ( my pal Sean would join me in 2010). A great spot to ring in the holiday. Ten years later we headed back out to the Henry’s for another long 4th of July weekend. A most enjoyable time filled with great company. Hopefully it won’t be another ten years for my next visit:).
Jackson checking out the ford for the Fremont River. Back in 2007 this crossing fought us. Paul would end up burning out a power steering pump and had to use two winches to get out.
Definitely one of my top campsites.
Back at the magic bus.
Butch Cassidy:).
Some fantastic vistas from the Henry’s!
Felt great to be back in these mountains.
Passing through an old burn on Pennell Pass.
Enjoying a great sunset from one of my favorite perches.
Paul May always seems to be well setup:).
Almost to the summit of Mt. Ellen. One of three prominent peaks in Utah. Daniel and Anna stayed back to care for a tired pup.
Shadow of Mt. Ellen across the desert.
My pal Matt celebrating at the top of Mt. Ellen. We crested the summit right as the sun was setting and the moon was rising.
Moon rise group selfie. On the hike back to the rigs, we’d stop along the ridge line to watch the fireworks show from Hanksville.
Another productive summer weekend. Finding that Summer is definitely my jam:). Headed up to the Property Friday morning. After cleaning the 4runner I headed over to Grass Creek for a short hike, only to watch the clouds roll in, not the best place to be during a storm as it’s bit exposed. So spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and taking pics of the Wild Flowers that were out in force. That evening my Step Brother and Nephew showed up. My nephew requested to talk trucks with me a while back, but I decided it was better to go for a drive in a truck rather than talk about them. So we went for a “Bumpy Truck Ride” to the wilderness boundary. He was having a blast.
Woke up early the next morning and headed over to Georgetown to meet up with my pal Travis. We headed up our clubs adopt-a-trail Argentine Pass, making it to the old town site of Waldorf a little after 10 am. The pass itself is still snowed in near the top with some good sized drifts, probably be August before it opens up. The goal for this outing was to hike over to an old miners cabin across from Waldorf. Other than being a bit out of shape, was fun to finally check out after wondering about it for some 17 years. It was a beautiful day up on Argentine, and plan to be up there a lot this year.
A hill side along the road to the trail head for Grass Creek, it was covered in flowers.
In the main meadow of the property, looking South to Rosedale Peak and the Mt. Evans Wilderness.
The Columbines are out at the property, has to be the most I’ve seen up there.
My Nephew ( almost 3) was having a fun time during our “Bumpy Truck Ride” drive:).
At the old town site of Waldorf, once claimed to have the highest Post Office in the US at 11,666ft. Behind the rigs is the old miners cabin that I’ve been curious about for so long and we finally hiked out to on this outing.
Near the old cabin, you have some great views of Waldorf and the “East Argentine Mining District”. In the bowl in the upper right can be found the old Santiago Mill and Mine site.
The old miners cabin.
Travis had never been to the Vidler Tunnel, below Argentine Pass. So we stopped to check it out. It was originally intended to be a access tunnel for the steam trains to get to the mineral deposits on the West side of the pass. Was completed in 1968 and is 1.4 miles long. Mt. Wilcox is behind us.
