Our (Almost) Month in Creede, Colorado, Part 2

Mary told us about this beautiful reservoir not too far from our campground.

Beautiful spot!

Mary said there was a hiking trail all around the lake. We ended up taking the longer route just above the path she told us about, but it was a beautiful hike too!

We saw these interesting plants along the hike. I’m not sure what they are, but interesting!

Just around the bend from our campground was another beautiful spot called Pool Table. I’ll bet these aspens are beautiful in the fall!

This might be where it got it’s name; when you get to the top (about 9500 feet) there’s this huge relatively flat meadow.

Pretty wildflowers everywhere.

Beautiful views!

And a nice view of the Rio Grande River below.

We liked it so much we had to bring Bryce, Laura and Reeve up here while they were here.

Blowing dandelions!

Reeve out sitting in the field

Laura says when she hiked the Continental Divide years ago she saw these flowers and dubbed them “Toilet Brush” flowers. Kind of fits don’t you think?

We came across this marker; I think Woody was an old fisherman (notice the lure embedded?) that wanted his ashes buried up here. I don’t blame him, it is beautiful!

A beautiful hot springs resort. We went there with Bryce, Laura and Reeve and Barb and Zach joined us as well.

This is the only picture I took in the spa; Laura and Reeve enjoying the 94 degree family pool!

Steve and Mary came to visit along with her cousin Rex and his wife Lorraine. Steve has a brand new Rubicon (less than 3500 miles) so was testing it out.

One of the abandoned mines up there.

Fairly nice “road” and sometimes not!

We thought this was the road; turns out it’s a dead end ATV trail! That’s Lorraine scoping it out with Steve!

Turning around!

Another old mine.

While up there we came across this cool mine called “The Last Chance Mine”. It was purchased by the present owner to open it to the public as a museum. The building in this picture is over 100 years old; the current owner spent a lot of time and money restoring it to it’s present condition to use as their gift shop. It seems stable and strong, just not very level; it feels like it’s going to slide down the mountain!

Some of the many artifacts he’s found on the property.

The old outhouse, notice the sign? Pretty funny!

Rex’s Jeep on the right end; Steve’s next to it; he hasn’t had time to spend big bucks like Rex has!

Interesting wood carving, it looks like the current owner.

The owners house has this fabulous deck hanging out over the ledge! It’s probably 500-800 feet down! YIKES!!

The view from the deck. Jan really wanted to hang out with a glass of wine!

Artsy view from the parking lot.

The entrance to the mine. It’s no longer being mined, but the current owner did find a vein of Amethyst that he has made into some beautiful silver and Amethyst jewelry he has for sale; Jan resisted!

This tour was conducted by an intern from a Colorado mining school. Interestingly, when asked how he picked mining engineering, he said nothing sparked his interest until they mentioned mining and explosives!

This was an offshoot that the previous owners never pursued. The explosive holes were bored but never used. They have put dummy fuses in to illustrate how it’s done.

After our day long 17 mile adventure time for libations and food; one of our favorite spots is Kips.

Fun day with some really fun friends! (Steve is Almost smiling!)

This old 50’s cabin is where they all stayed in South Fork.

Jan and I took a trip over to this Great Sand Dunes National Park. It’s amazing that there are huge dunes in the middle of the mountain and plains here!

There’s Medano Creek that comes from the spring runoff from the mountains. This time of year it’s just a trickle and will dry up completely until the next spring.