Victor Cripple Creek

Once we reached about 10,000 feet elevation all of a sudden the terrain abruptly changed. I am not sure if this is altitude related or not, but the forest just gave way to a meadow. Webb pointed out that it reminded him a lot of Tennessee farms.

Victor, Colorado is a mining town of less than 500 residents currently. In the late 1800’s the town was booming with prospectors and miners. The history of the town is quite interesting, you can read more if you follow the link.  History of Victor, Colorado

This is a distant view of Victor, Colorado. The town sits below the tailings of a former large gold mine. This reminds me of mountain top removal mining in KY, the entire mountain in some areas seemed to be nothing but a pile of rubble, and often we know that these areas are poisoned with heavy metals and other waste from the gold mines. To continue the similarities the leftover rubble from the mines are often dumped into valley fills. Below is a photo of one of the mines near Victor and Cripple Creek.

Notice the similarities to Mountaintop Removal mining in Appalachia.

History of Cripple Creek Colorado

Cripple Creek, Colorado was once a city of 50,000 during the Gold Rush years. Now limited stakes gaming has been approved to bring in income to the region.  While in Cripple Creek Webb and I stopped into a little shop and noticed this extremely disturbing sign…

Since it was getting dark and late we decided to drive Northeast to Colorado Springs to access an actual paved highway. We came around the Western side of Pikes Peak through Woodland Park. Below is an image of Pikes Peak viewed from Woodland Park, Co.

Phantom Canyon part deux

ore photos from our recent trip through Phantom Canyon, CO! In this part of the canyon we are starting to really get up there in elevation.  Canon City is 5,332 ft.  The road climbs slowly, but for reference at the end of the road we are at nearly 10,000 ft.

A picture of our SUV (gas-guzzler ) on the side of the road, looks like a commercial. Ford trucks!!!

We found this strange pit mysteriously near the roadside. Don’t know what it’s purpose was.  Mostly I just hoped no one ever fell in, because it was filled with nastiness. There was nothing around to explain what this thing was doing out here in the middle of NOWHERE.

Webb don't JUMP!!!

As you can see…nastiness…

This is the only remaining original bridge along this road.

Yes those are wooden planks…

More road through the canyon.

A view from the side of the road, one of the many many times we abruptly halted our ascent to take photographs. It took us well over 2.5 hours to complete this trip one-way, but we stopped A LOT. At this point the temperature is dropping quite a bit the higher we go.  The difference between beginning and destination temps was 58-35 degrees F. The leaves at the lower elevations haven’t begun to change, but here the leaves are in full swing. (about 7000 feet)

These are Quaking Aspen. They grow in colonies and share a root system.

There were signs along the road marking where towns used to be during the gold rush.  All of these towns have since disappeared without a trace.

More aspen…

As you know this area of Colorado is famous for it’s major fossil discoveries including a practically complete stegosaurus fossil.  Amazingly we discovered perfectly preserved dinosaur remains in the woods!!!

Poor Barney…

The view at almost 9,000 feet.  You can see the road we drove in on down below as well and the Aspen which tend to follow the creek bed.  Amazingly it is entirely possible that ALL of the yellow Aspens you see in this photo are part of a single root structure.

Of course, Webb waves at the camera from the scenic overlook. It is cold so we keep our hands in our pockets.

Phantom Canyon

Finally a trip up Phantom Canyon!!!

Here’s some information about the tour from Sangres.com which has a lot of pictures and info about the gold Belt Tour and the surrounding area. This was a great resource for us while planning this trip.

Phantom Canyon Road was built to connect Florence, CO to the mines in Cripple Creek and the surrounding area. From 1894 to 1912, railroad cars filled with gold ore rolled down Phantom Canyon feeding up to nine processing mills running day and night in Florence.

It was 1890 when Bob Womack made the gold strike that started the Cripple Creek Gold Rush. Since that time, more than 500 mines in the Cripple Creek and Victor Mining District have produced over 21 million ounces of gold – more than the Alaska and California Gold Rushes put together. Gold is still being produced in the District.

The terrain begins in the dessert-like scrub and makes some pretty intense transitions to thick evergreen and aspen cover and then to meadow up around 10,000 feet.

The majority of the land along this route is owned by the Bureau of Land Management particularly on the lower portion of the road. Since 1996, Phantom Canyon has been designated an Area of Critical Environmental Concern by the Bureau of Land Management.

Here is a shot as we are entering the canyon as the blacktop becomes a dirt road. The green you see to the right is the path of the creek which carved this canyon. At the time the creek is barely 3 feet wide and patchy (even following a pretty recent rainfall) but there are numerous reports of 30 foot flash floods racing down the canyon.

There are two tunnels along this route, the Upper and Lower Tunnel. The entire road is a converted narrow-gauge railroad path.

Lower Tunnel

There are some pretty steep drops, especially as you emerge from the upper Tunnel.

Upper Tunnel

This next picture shows one of the cuts blasted out for the railway.  There is literally only room for one car here, and just beyond there is a sharp curve and STRAIGHT down.  We were very fortunate to encounter another truck just as we emerged from this spot…of course we took the right side allowing the oncoming vehicle to risk sliding off the edge.

Notice how the trees have changed to evergreens…big tall ones!

From the Gold Belt Tour Website

Up further we pulled off and explored some of the camping, hiking in the area and found this creek and large fire pit.

Colorado Senate Spot

I can’t help it, I actually love this campaign commercial, every single time I see it i have to laugh. Yes yes, I know that he doesn’t actually say anything substantial here except that out of state interests are attacking him. Still i just think it’s catchy the way that he begins the commercial.

Around here at least every other commercial is for some sort of campaign or amendment issue. There are so many amendments on the ballot this year that it actually requires extra postage!!! And the ads for the presidential campaign are numerous as well.

Dear Sir or Madam,

Something occurred the other day which i have never ever witnessed before in my household, someone put a new roll of toilet paper ON THE HOLDER! I was confused at first as to how it got there since I hadn’t put it there. This is not something that I nag about since I often neglect to replace rolls and the toilet paper is stored under the sink within easy reach.   My dear sweet husband did it. He also loads/empties dishwashers and vacuums too. I also mopped my kitchen and bathroom with a bleach solution for the first time (I usually use a swiffer). Very clean, and hopefully temporarily germ free. I felt like i was back at The Little Gym mopping/cleaning the mats, which is actually something I found relaxing and pretty enjoyable.

In other news, (though i’ve probably mentioned it several times before) with the cold weather we had a brief invasion of icky buggles. However, with the frosty conditions and a few bug spray treatments the threat has subsided for now (though I am afraid to speak too soon). I am not particularly terrified of bugs, except when they touch me. Particularly when a millipede strolled across the back of my hand, trust me, he/she got the squish treatment with GUSTO. I do sometimes get a little aprehensive when a friendly bug-eating spider disappears from view without warning, one can’t help but imagine it hunting you down and crawling on you while you sleep.

As far as our house (aka horrible rental) is concerned. The next task is to straighten up and hang curtains in the living room, a task I have neglected so far my excuse being…laziness. I have also prepared a written list of complaints to be submitted to the landlord, since phone calls seem to take weeks to get a response. The list consists of the following though not in these exact words.

1. Heater doesn’t work or isn’t turned on…I think this is somewhat essential considering it’s October.
2. Kitchen sink leaks under the sink and above all over the counter.
3. Deadbolt on front door broken, cannot lock/unlock from the outside.
4. Did anyone ever fix the roof which leaks and has several water marks from past leaks too?
5. Window in bathroom will not close, I just know the pipes will freeze, plus taking a shower with a cold wind blowing on you is not fun.
6. Bushes and weeds seriously overgrown, I thought you were going to trim this back. In your words, “I’ll hire someone to do some landscaping.” Our yard looks so ghetto and abandoned.  It’s really trashy.

Always bring your camera to Wal-Mart

Today, while passing Wal-mart customer service we saw a little girl pounding away at the job application kiosk’s keyboard. “Wow, the economy must be really bad huh?”

Once again, another reason to always bring your camera to your local Wally World. I’ve missed several notable photos by leaving my camera at home while going to the grocery.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my parent’s 28th anniversary. Happy Anniversary mom and dad! I think this is the first anniversary where all the kids are moved out of the house (if you count my sister being in college). So after nearly 26 years of having kids at home, i’m sure it’s nice to have a break.

Octoberish

When did October happen? I know that it is Sept. 30th and not actually October yet, but seriously!? Life often teaches us that when we are bored time slows to a crawl, and when you’re busy and enjoying things it goes by in a flash. Well I’ve been plenty bored, but it seems to have flown by.  I’ve been here over three (3!) months now, and Webb for six. It’s changing from Summer to Fall and Winter will be here soon enough.  Still, where did the time go?

My Dad has always pointed out that as you get older the days seem to go by faster and faster. At 25 I can’t imagine it going by faster than it already is.  I’m already saying, what happened to 23 and 24? Now in less than a month I’ll be 26, how did this happen?

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Yesterday I cooked what I think is my new favorite pasta dish of all time. An experimental recipe that actually didn’t end in utter disaster. I guess i’ll call it spicy alfredo for now, it remains to be seen if I can ever replicate the recipe.  Still it was a major hit and reheats well.  It’s also very simple and uses chicken, pasta, alfredo sauce and habanero sauce.

Grill chicken (I rubbed mine with a chipotle chicken rub and used my George Foreman grill). Slice chicken into thin slices or cubes. Cook pasta. Heat Bertoli Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce (in a jar in the pasta aisle) on the stove. Add about 5-10 squirts of Habanero Sauce to the alfredo sauce (err on the side of caution, stir and add more).

Habanero sauce may sound gross, but it will add more “heat” than actual flavor to the sauce, though as i said, add a little…taste test…then add some more.  Too much and you won’t want to eat it.

A camping we will go…

We went camping again this weekend. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera this time. We weren’t actually planning on going, but when Webb came home from work we just threw everything in the car in less than 15 minutes and hit the road. Pack-up, set-up, and take-down are super fast now that we know the routine. Plus our tent is super easy to put up even with just one person. We camped at the same place we did last time and actually got a good night’s sleep. It actually wasn’t that cold out there, about 49 degrees. Since the moon didn’t rise until maybe 1am that night and it was clear you could see the stars very well, we saw several shooting stars.

In the morning we packed everything up and drove a different way out to see if the road eventually looped around…unfortunately after a terrifying ride (steep and rocky) the road simply ended with no place to turn around. Thrilling, especially when we were discussing how we might possibly get stuck out there and what we would do. We managed to turn the car around without breaking anything and clawed our way back out.

Sushi is good

Tonight we went to Pueblo and ate sushi with our friends Angie and Steven. Very very good.  We went to a restaurant named MoMo in Pueblo, I would have to say that the Las Vegas Roll was the yummiest of all the many yummy rolls.  I also learned that you can disolve wasabi in your soy sauce and it is very tasty.  For dessert I had Green Tea Ice Cream which sounds very strange but tasted really great.  We’ll definitely being going there for special occasions in the future.

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Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera, and therefor have no picture of the nasty disgusting Wind Scorpion which Steven caught in their HOUSE?!??! Egad!!!

Sun Spiders/Wind Scorpions/Solpugids Sun spiders are bizarre looking arachnids (Order: Solifugae) most common to southeastern Colorado. Occasionally they are found along the Front Range. They possess large conspicuous jaws used to crush prey, but they do not have venom glands. Also present are prominent enlargements of the mouthparts (palps) that give the impression of a fifth pair of legs. Sun spiders are active animals, and a common name ‘wind scorpion’ reflects this behavior. They occasionally enter buildings, particularly in early summer.