Monday, June 29th MAGGIE & MINNIE GULCHES

We had a late start today and headed out solo.  The trail up Maggie was clear to the end EXCEPT for one patch of snow on the side trail which Jimmy managed to get stuck in.  At one time we had three ATVs with their wenches hooked to the back of us, but we were just pulling them down.  Next, we tried wenching our-self out with our wench wrapped around a rock, but it only pulled the rock up onto the trail.  Finally, one of the guys helping us found a large, well-seated rock further down the trail and wrapped our strap around it and tied the strap to the wench and we were able to wench out.  Once we were free, I looked down and saw Brett at the bottom of Maggie.  Had we turned our ham radio on, we would have heard him calling us and he could have pulled us out with his Jeep in nothing flat.

Lots of snowmelt making waterfalls where you don't usually see waterfalls and the usual ones are pouring out huge amounts of water.

A few wildflowers starting to pop out.  Some of the bluebells look as though they may have already peaked.  Hope this doesn't mean the flowers are going to come out randomly instead of all at once.

So okay, here's the story I promised a few days ago.  It doesn't look so bad in this picture.  I was driving back on Picuyane a couple of days ago and came to this very narrow curve on the ledge road.  There was a large rock on the inside.  I didn't want to take the outside with the drivers' tires on the rock for fear it would tip too far toward the ledge.  I asked Jim what I should do.  He said "I'm not telling you what to do."  I took the inside and really started tipping.  I asked him if we were going to roll over and he replied "Probably."  Then, he started yelling "Back-up, back-up."  Anyhow, on the fourth attempt, I was able to get across.  Like I said, it doesn't look that bad in the picture Brett took:

Thurs, June 25 ANIMAS, CALIFORNIA, PLACER, PICAYUNE

Jim drove us to the top of California via Animas Forks and I drove us back down and across Placer & Picayune.  We were not able to continue from California to Hurricane Pass because of  . . . surprise . . snowdrifts!  Still a LOT of snow on the way to California and the dozier was working to clear the path to Hurricane.

I have a story about my lesson in learning how "not to roll a Jeep" on the Picayune ledge road, but I have to wait for pictures from Brett.

This evening we saw Cathy & Larry and they had just seen a mama and baby moose, so several of us trekked out to Mineral to try to see, but alas, they had evidently bedded down for the night.  Today's sightings were a couple of deer and marmot.  Brett and group did see a herd of elk.

The good doc's house:

 The ugly side of mining.  

This old car has been parked here every since we've been coming out here:

 Lots of waterfalls on the Animas River:

 The Columbus Mine & Mill,

built in 1927; closed in 1948.  

Some of its best years were during WWII, producing zinc:

 The "disturbed" snow mid-picture is actually the cleared path on the trail:

 Almost to California Pass: 

Short hike to the top of California, Elevation almost 13,000 feet;

hard on us Florida Flatlanders:

 Snow ledge across the way looks ready to slide:

Lake Como still frozen:

Jimmy decides to hike up and join us:

 Old mining equipment:

 Headed down from California to Placer:

 Back side of the Treasure Mountain Gold Mining Company

Built in the early 1900s, many of the old buildings are still intact &

make for some interesting exploring:

Monday, June 22nd CINNAMON PASS to AMERICAN BASIN

We, along with Ronny & Bonnie, and Flo & Jim took Cinnamon to American Basin.  It's less than 30 miles but takes several hours.  The highest elevation at the Pass is 12,620 feet.  The Ute Indians were known to use this trail before white exploration.  Charles Baker used it in the early 1860s and reported finding gold resulting in a minor gold rush in the area.  The trail was established as an important freight road by Enos Hotchkiss in 1877 for wagons to pass between Animas Forks and Lake City.  Today, it is part of the much 4x4 traveled Alpine Loop between Ouray/Silverton and Lake City.

 A pretty bad wash-out on the trail;

almost like a cave under the road:

 Crossing the creek at the entrance to American Basin:

 Our turn to cross the creek:

 Washing the tires off in the creek:

 Handies Peak & American Basin.  We couldn't get all the way to the trailhead; 

once again blocked by snow:

 We had a picnic here, just above the creek:

 One of my favorite waterfalls:

Okay, here's my sad story about the day.  On the way back, we happened upon a doe in labor. The other two couples chose to go on ahead, but we decided "how awesome would it be to see her deliver her baby," and stuck around. Watching from a distance, we were extremely patient, timing her contractions, watching her pace as she tried to get comfortable.  I was panting with her, etc. I would have even brought her snow to sip on if I thought she wouldn't "hoove me to death" or whatever it is deer in the wild do. After patiently watching, from a distance, for three hours, we decided it wasn't happening anytime soon, and headed back to the RV. Our friends came over to see if we witnessed the birth. THEN, they told us on the way back, they took another trail and stumbled upon a doe that was hovering on the ground; stood up & revealed a newborn trying to stand up. HEY, I WAS PATIENT, and they just stumbled upon a newborn????  It was still a sight to behold.  You could see her whole body contract and her try to push with her hind legs.  A couple of times we could see what looked like a small hoof pushing against her belly from the inside.  Hopefully mom & babe are okay.  The does are very vulnerable while they are in labor and for this reason, will separate themselves from the herd to protect the other animals.  

Sat, June 20, PICAYUNE, PLACER

No posts for a couple of days.  We have been doing chores & being lazy.  Brett has built a fire the last several nights and we have enjoyed those along with S'Mores & hot chocolate.  The stars are so incredibly bright in the Colorado skies.

We had hoped to take Picayune and come back across California today, but California is still closed & not expected to open for a couple of weeks!

So, Jim, Larry T, Brett, Alexis and I traveled Picayune to Placer to Animas and back.  Highest elevation today was about 13,000 feet.  Still quite a lot of snow on this route as well.  Larry rode shotgun with us, so these shots are not only thru the windshield, but from the backseat!  Hard not to take a good picture out here.

We finished up the evening with another fire and a hot dog roast.  Chili, cole slaw, beans, & watermelon.  Too full for S'Mores tonight.  Thanks Alexis for putting it together.

On the road to Picayune:

At first, it looked like there wasn't going to be much snow on Picayune.

First side-trail, we were blocked by a fallen tree:

 On Picayune, headed to Placer: 

On Placer, looking down at the old mill; won't be driving there today:

Back on Animas Forks road headed "home"