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.