Granite to Craig - Road Trip Day 13

First off, let me just say, spend some time in central Colorado. Driving around is amazing. Better yet get out of the car. Go rafting on the Colorado river. Or biking in the hills. Even just taking a hike. You will not be disappointed. Or you could do what we did.

Woke up around 9:30 and broke camp. I guess Badger slept in the car the whole night because the ground was hard and it was cold up at 10,000 feet. We got into the car and headed down to Winfield. The ghost town there was kind of quaint. The cabins were all nice. But that was kind of the problem. We were looking for something in a bit more disrepair.

So we headed out to see the Swiss Boy Mine. Now that is a hike. Keep in mind Winfield is already at 10,000 feet. To get to the mineshaft is another 1,500 feet. Plus not only is the air thin, but the grades are terrible. Also, there really isn't a trail up to the top. There is an old wagon road up to the bottom end of the tram lines. There are still two steel cables strung up to the top. I think these were used to lower buckets or boxes of ore to the wagon road below. But the wagon road ends right there. So once you start climbing above that it is right up the mountain through the underbrush. Badger and I did make it to the top. Stranger was getting light headed and decided not to push on too much beyond the bottom of the tram. The sad part is after all that, we forgot our cameras. Oh well. Not much to see anyway. The mine was all collapsed. The upper terminus of the tram was half falling over.

We had also left the water behind. So when we got back to the car between the three of us we polished of a half gallon of water.

On the way out, we also stopped at the Vicksburg museum. Again, quaint, but not the half falling apart structures we wanted to see. We also stopped for some burgers in Leadville. Which was much needed as we had neglected breakfast in our rush to get out of camp.

After that it was back north on 24. We did stop to see the abandoned town of Gilman. Now this is what we were looking for. Of course there were some "No Trespassing" signs on the way in. But those I think are mostly to make sure you don't kill yourself. So we pressed on. Badger kept saying it looked like the game Fallout, and I had to agree. Gilman is a bit more modern, abandoned only in 1984. But it has the look of something where the people just vanished one day. The friges and stoves are still in the kitchens. Though now vandals have knocked most of them over. A couple of trucks were still in the garages out back. Nuts, bolts, wires, chains, sheets of steel. All of it left behind. We evan found the infirmary and the floor was strewn with thousands and thousands of X-Rays. It really was amazing ot walk around there. Plus the town is set on a 600 foot promentory over the Eagle river. So beyond the rundown buildings are spectacualr views. We took a bunch of pictures and I will try to post them soon.

From there it back to I-70 and West. Part of this was along the Colorado River gorge. Just amazing. Even pictures could not convey 10% of what being there is like. Around every corner there is another spectacular view. Beautiful cliffs going up 500 feet or more on either side. I tried to get some pictures. So we will see if any of them turn out.

We then turned north on Highway 13. The land was more like high desert or scrubland. Still more beautiful scenery. Lots of deer and other wildlife too. One deer almost jumped in front of the car. We did make it Craig safe and sound though. So far it is a nice little town. We got a motel for the night.

We also went out to see G.I. Joe. It definatly was entertaining. But I kept having to ignore parts of the plot that really didn't make much sense. I also had problems with the idea of a super-secret organization, with super high-tech secret bases that no one knows about. The bad guys have never been heard of before, and yet they have thousands of minions. Sure, guys. But again, if you put on your suspenders +5 of disbelief, you will have a good time. Which is what it was supposed to be about anyway.

I also did like the little theater here. Just two screens. But it was cheap ($7) and the lady that ran it was very nice.

Anyway, off to bed.

-Dravis