This past weekend we spent a lot of time viewing the countryside here on earth as well as watching the shooting stars from the Pleiades.
New friends, Mike and Tracy, who are long term residents of Silverton were gracious enough to take us on an all day tour of the back country. We took what is called the "Alpine Loop" and went to the top of the earth in some places. It was stunning and I have some pictures soon.
It is interesting that an all day tour was only about 50 miles long. Texans have a hard time believing it can take so long to go such a short distance. It's true that we stopped for lunch and stopped a few minutes here and there, but mostly when you have to go under 10 miles an hour on these back roads...it takes ALL DAY!
I could imagine being someone on a wagon train who finally got to the mountains. The going was very bumpy since this is 4 wheel drive country only. Even at that, we had a little trouble once or twice. Mike did a fantastic job of driving...I'm glad it wasn't me.
Then Saturday and Sunday night we sat out under the stars and watched the shooting stars from the Pleiades. Saw about a half dozen. Fun but slow.
Sunday, Dan and I drove to Ouray (pronounced "your' ay") about 25 miles from Silverton. Bigger than Silverton but still a small town and about 1500 feet elevation lower than Silverton, it had totally different weather...warm and humid by comparison. (OK, nothing compared to Texas, but still....we are spoiled.) Nice drive that took over an hour with some of the tightest hairpin turns you could ever imagine on a "highway".
On the way back, we went to South Mineral National Forest. Really nice even though I don't have many pictures of it. It was overcast and not very conducive to images. Only a few miles from Silverton, we may go back and take some more pics later.
I had hoped to get nice wildflower pictures but they weren't to be had where we were. Without a four wheel drive, it is hard to get to them and it wasn't where we went on Friday. Oh well...something to look forward to another time.
Lindie Hunt
Tracy and Mike, our tour guides in front of Red Mountain...an incredibly big mountain that is very red from iron.
The color of Lake Como was striking. Full of lots of minerals, no fish because of the mineral content.
Guess who in front of Lake Como. No idea how high up we are but it is well above the tree line.
Dan feeding the wildlife at Animas Forks after lunch next to an abandoned, collapsed building from the mining era.