"It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves – In finding themselves". Andre Gides.
Decided it was time to bring my camera for my daily afternoon walks downtown. Amazing how quiet it is. For a Saturday afternoon with nice weather, the 16th street mall is usually hoppin’.
A good sign to see some green on the trees.
From the Pavilions.
Didn’t see one person walking around the Pavilions.
End.
But if you are, thought i’d provide some links to some places that I follow.
And to update, i’m in week one of two weeks paid time off from work. Ever grateful that work did that. To be honest though, my first paid time off in a long time. I’ve applied for two part time jobs, so far a no go for Target Downtown.
Anyway back to being not bored:
Scott Brady just posted this trailer of the Expeditions 7 team crossing Greenland South to North. I’ve shared it with everyone….
I came across Chris Shontz back in 2018 while I was still pondering the Idea of living in Skageway, AK. I still ponder that idea, but Chris’s travels seem to help get me through the work week.
A fun family trio adventure from NM. Knowing that they’ve explored the Capitan MTNS (Lincoln County) early on, I was hooked.
A great man to enjoy while he fishes the lakes down in County Kerry, Ireland.
Proffitt’s Resurrection Land Cruisers TV
With two weeks unexpected paid time off and the current state of the world, find myself at home a lot. I try to break the day up with a walk in the morning and one in the afternoon but the rest of my time has been spent editing pics from past trips and getting them posted on the blog, along with watching photography courses from Kelbyone.com (a birthday present from my dad for 2019).
Actually have made a bit of progress on some past trips this week. Whats been posted on the static pages of the blog so far:
Argentine Pass clean up day. June 2011.
Holy Cross City Trail. September, 2005.
A note on the static pages: If there’s more than one day on the trip, or enough pictures to justify to pages, i’ll break that report up into “Acts”. Both the title and picture will be linked to the full picture report.
Currently re-editing pics from the Dork Squad Iceland adventure from 2017. Such a fun trip and an amazing place.
Pic: We stopped to check out some lava flow on the way to the Glacier Lagoon. Both super cool.
Stay safe out there.
So here it is a Wednesday and I find myself at home when I should be at work finishing my last day for the week. For the last few days i’ve been over at Enterprise helping with production there instead of Alamo. Mid morning I received a call from HR. After complimenting me on all my hard work and always being there, they told me to finish yesterdays shift and to take two weeks off- that would be paid time off. They are doing this with most of the employees given the current state of the world. I thanked both HR and the boss for at least giving us paid time off during these hard times- i’ve really come to enjoy being at Enterprise/Alamo.
So my first thought after hearing the news from work yesterday was to head for the hills. Spend a week at the cabin away from it all. But then I started to think about the small town communities and how there being affected by all of this. It’s best, as much as i’d love to pack the 4runner and grab the camera, to hunker down through all this. Wash you hands and make sure family and friends are safe.
Moving forward? Probably need a few days to process everything that’s been going on- lots of emotions, then start looking for some kinda job to fill the unexpected days off ( my new camera fund has been unexpectedly depleted. A hard life lesson and a story I probably wont ever go into) . And maybe clean the apartment………….Maybe.
I have been making progress on past trips and updating them in the static pages.
P.S, this is the first time in a very long time that i’ve had paid time off…
A pic of Denver’s 16th street mall during last weeks snow storm. Downtown has been early quiet.
I first started getting the 4×4 club up to Argentine Pass ( outside Georgetown, CO) way back in 2004 when I was the Event Coordinator for the club. Working with the Clear Creek Ranger District, we adopted the club for clean up and trail maintenance- our original adopted trail, Hubbard Cave outside Gleenwood Springs, I felt, was just too far for us to continually make an impact. Since then, we as a club have been going up twice a year with the Clear Creek Ranger District. At times, they would give us there tools so they could be on other trails with a “You know what to do response”.
Ever since I started exploring Argentine Pass and the East Argentine Mining district, i’ve fallen in love with the are and the history. For some time now (maybe since 2010?), i’ve had the idea to document as much of the valley as I can. What i’ve dubbed the “Argentine Project”. So i’ve decided this year is the year to make headway on it.
This warmer warmer weather has me excited for it.
Such a great view of the Argentine Valley. To the left, Mt. Wilcox. Directly ahead, the road up to Argentine Pass. The road i’m standing on, the old line of the Argentine Central Railroad.
Views of the East Argentine Mining District from an old mine above the grade for the Argentine Central Railroad. To the North (left) would be Georgetown and Silverplume.
Views from the old town site of Waldorf. Once claiming to have the highest post office in the US at 11,666ft.
The @honeybadger heading back down Argentine Pass towards Waldorf.
So much great areas to explore in the valley.
I headed up this morning for a quick visit to the cabin with Dad. Been a long time since i’ve seen that much snow at the cabin (last time was probably ’03?). Went to go for a walk and it was knee deep in most places (even the hay fields). This is after a week of warm weather and some good melting. Gonna be a good spring/summer at the cabin!
Still one of my favorite views in CO.
The road to the cabin is snowed in still.
Dad shoveling some snow off the roof.
Knee deep snow.
Didn’t get very far for my walk this morning. Deep snow, the warm sun and these Aspens kept me from going very far.
On our way out of the property, we came across the flock of Wild Turkey. Had to be around 30 of them.
Seems that this winter has been a bit quite for me. Haven’t gotten out as much as i’d like to, even with the three days off for work. The cold weather we’ve been having for February hasn’t helped anything. Pushing hard to upgrade the camera in time for the clubs annual “Cruise Moab” event in mid April- I told the committee i’d photograph the event this year.
Got word from my Dad this week that Grandma passed away. At 98, she was the last of the grandparents for me. Times like this that make me push harder for the things i’m most passionate about ( Photograph, 4×4 adventure and travel)
One of my favorite photos of Grandpa (Dads side). Went up to Cascade, MT to help him pack for the move to Salt Lake back in 2013. Right before he took this shot, he told his friends: “And here my kids think my grandson and I are packing right now”
Seems that it’s around this time of year that I start getting that itch for the warmer months. I love winter, but don’t really partake in any of the big activities- haven’t snowboarded since 2003. I love getting up to the cabin in the winter but that’s about it.
Lately i’ve been looking at maps for this years Ghost Town Run, a trip my pal Nathaniel Miller (owner of Big Choice Brewery in Brighton) started way back in 2005. Kinda fun to know that we’ve been leading this run for some 11 years now- there was a stretch from ’09-’15 that we didn’t lead the run. I took over in 2015 as Nathaniel has become quite busy with the brewery. My friend Travis (@thehoneybadger) took over leading it last year as I was still in recover mode from the Heart Surgery. Thought it would be fun to post a little photo compilation from the 10 years i’ve been apart of it.
Ghost Town Run 2005: The Alpine Tunnel district (I just phrased that).
Ghost Town Run 2006: Camp Hale.
Ghost Town Run 2007: Argentine Pass, Georgetown Loop, Wild Irishman and St’s John.
Ghost Town Run 2008: The Alpine Tunnel District.
Ghost Town Run 2009: The Alpine Tunnel district with some excitement on Tomichi Pass.
The Alpine Tunnel District: Going through pics for this post, realized that we have spent a good amount of time at the Alpine Tunnel and surrounding country (St. Elmo, Pitkin and TinCup). For good reason, the country around the Alpine Tunnel is wonderful and full of history. Plus a great network of roads makes for a fun weekend of exploring.
With excavation of the tunnel starting in the winter of 1880, the two sides (West and East) finally meet in the center, only being a few feet off from each other in the summer of 1882. The first narrow gauge locamotive came through the 1,772 ft long tunnel in July of 1882. 400,000 board feet of California Redwood Timber was used to support the interior of the tunnel. During the winter months, when done with there shifts, workers were required to leave in pairs as to not get lost in the deep snow. At the time of completion, the Alpine Tunnel was the highest railroad tunnel in the world, 500 ft below the Continental Divide and Altman (Alpine) Pass. Unfortunately, the road to the Alpine Tunnel on the west side is currently closed. A winter avalanche took out the Palisades- the Western approach to the Alpine Tunnel. The Palisades were a stretch of track clinging to a big cliff face. Workers hand cut interlocking stones to fill the 450ft gap and keeping the grade for the steam locomotive level. The Alpine Tunnel was abandoned in 1910.
Ghost Town Run 2015: The Alpine Tunnel District.
Ghost Town Run 2016: The Alpine Tunnel District with a fun run over Napoleon Pass.
Ghost Town Run 2017: Hayden Pass, the Cochetopa Hills, Bonanza and Otto Mears toll road.
Ghost Town Run 2018: A solo midnight run over Hancock Pass ( with a full moon lighting up the valley on my way to camp) and The Alpine Tunnel district, minus the Alpine Tunnel (A winter avalanche took out the Palisades).
Was fun to ride along for this years Snow Pizza Run with the 4×4 club. Spent the day playing in the snow then pizza afterwards at Beau Jo’s in Idaho Springs.
Here are my favorite pics from the run.
Go here for the full set of images:)
Headed over to the Stock Show this morning (1/24/2020) to watch the Draft Horses for a bit, then got distracted watching the trains as I walked back to the apartment.
Some images from the Draft Horses this morning.
Got distracted with the trains moving around during the walk home, 38th and Brighton area.
