Colorado 2002Part 3: Silverton
Monday, we had a plan. . . we should have known better! We had two maps that very clearly showed the access road to the Silver Lake Trailhead. So we gathered lunch from Mad Mama's and set off. Well, there were too many roads (or non-roads) that weren't on the map and we kept coming to dead ends marked "private." Amusingly, there was a family from Texas doing exactly the same thing we were - when we finally met up on one of these one-lane mountain roads that had been brought to an end by (apparently) an avalanche, we learned they had been to all the same dead ends we had! There was one more fork we hadn't tried so we went back and took that one. We weren't on the Arastra Gulch Road anymore, but this one at least went someplace - to an old mining site. There was room to turn around so I said "stop!"
Tuesday, Silverton was the destination for "Ride the Rockies," a moving "city" of 2000 bicyclists that go from city to city (like RAGBRAI with mountains for you Iowans). So we had conveniently made plans to be gone that day and night. Click here to finish the trip with Part 4. . . . Click here to return to the Colorado index |
We arrived in Silverton (left) Saturday afternoon (Day 6). After
checking into the B&B (Inn of the Rockies at Alma House) and
doing laundry, we had a Mexican supper at Romano's and then went to the
Community Theatre production of "Morning's at Seven." We just saw the
signs and didn't have anything else to do that night! The play itself
had great potential, the actors were all very good
but for some reason they kept tripping over lines and forgetting names!
Even cast members we met afterwards admitted they were "pretty rough"
that
night and we heard the director exploding as we left the
building. But it was fun anyway. The next morning (Sunday,
Day 7) we worshipped with the UCC Congregation at the Catholic Church!
The UCC church is being
renovated and it seems that 100 years ago, the Catholics shared the
Congregational facility before the Catholic church was built, so they
are continuing
that tradition by sharing their space now! 
After church we got some "to go" lunches from the Avalanche Cafe and
headed off to our first ghost town: Animus Fork. This one was
accessible
by road. After my experience on the quarry road, this road even seemed
mostly passable! We wandered about there for a while, filled
several
bags with rocks. [We began making regular stops at grocery
stores to pick up more boxes as the rock collection
grew.] 
Animus
Fork is a "preserved" ghost town so there were actually some little
pamphlets with histories of most
of the buildings. The big one at the left (with John in the upstairs
window) actually had an indoor "outhouse." (an "inhouse?") The road
runs along the Animus River so we stopped several places on the way
back to town - this one (below right) was one of my favorites,
though the picture doesn't capture it well. You need the sound of the
water! 
And the millions of tiny little flowers don't really
show up very well either. But I'm using it anyway because it was my
"ideal" of a rock garden - it's what the landscapers try to
reproduce and they just can't get it as perfect as nature does.
Every
Sunday evening, the Silverton Brass Band performs in the middle of the
main street. They have some excellent musicians and
were clearly enjoying themselves, as was everybody else. Had dinner at
the Black Bear Cafe where they were playing oldies from a web
site -
the titles and artists scrolled across the monitor so we entertained
ourselves seeing how good our memories were! And, of course, we ended
up feeling
pretty old when we realized these were popular 40 years ago! On the way
back to the B&B, we happened on a "pick up" group of musicians
at
the Avalance - dulcimers, guitars, harmonicas, autoharp, penny whistle,
banjo. . . a multi-generational group just
having a good time. In the summer at least, Silverton has a lot of
culture to offer. I'm not sure I could live with their 14 day growing
season (yes, really) but it was a great place to visit. 
There
was also a lovely
little creek which made a great setting for lunch. After lunch we
decided to follow the creek and see if we could get
to its source. This was not likely since the mountains are very high,
but we did
have a nice, long hike. Can you see the little white speck of the car
in
the picture to the right? (just above the center of the picture)
That was taken about half way up. Loads of
little rapids and waterfalls; John filled several bags with rocks. We
found a number of old
mines (and no, even though I took a picture (left), I wasn't silly
enough to go in and explore) and finally ended up at what seemed like
the top of the world
at the old headworks (below right- yes, that's snow) - where they
gathered all the ore and sent it down on a tram or pulley to the mill
way across the valley. I think that climbing
up there and making our way back down (of course we did stop and relax
a bit - below left) was easier than the drive in and out, which was
VERY scary. I do understand now why everybody who lives
here has a jeep or SUV of some sort. But since those mountain roads are
only wide enough for one vehicle in most places, it's STILL pretty
scary driving on
them. After that adventure, we definitely were ready for a
soak in the
hot tub in the yard at our B&B. Nice setting - lie
there and let your body relax and look at the mountains!
