Wednesday, November 1/2017

Heading out

We awoke to sunshine this morning and that is always a good thing.  I like to think of it as a Good Omen for today's travel.  So far, we have been pretty lucky where the weather is concerned.  No major issues and dry pavement!!

Today's travels took us down the historic and scenic Colorado 141 highway.   What an interesting drive.  It was filled with incredible scenery and even a few (6 to be precise) mountain goats!!  It is a 52 mile stretch that travels the Unaweep-Tabegauche Scenic Byway.   The Naturita area was home to the Ute Indians until 1880 when they were moved to Reservations.  The first settlers named the place Naturita meaning "Little Nature".  By the early 1900s, the mining boom hit and gold, silver and carnotite ore bearing radium, vanadium and uranium were mined and the town road the highs and lows of the mining business until 1983 when the last mill was closed.

Cottonwood trees display their yellow Fall colors

I get a little "Tree" crazy!!

Rugged mountains follow the road.   Or should I say
the road follows the mountains!!

Tall mountains in the background

Tractor Crossing!!

Reminds me of Utah but we are still in Colorado 

We stopped for gas at Gateway, Colorado and caught a bit of history there.   There were over 3500 mines in the West End that once bustled with activity during the hey day of the uranium mining. There were tons of makeshift roads in this area crisscrossing the Mesas like spider webs, and  rugged mining towns were thrown together overnight.  Today, only a few of these mines are still worked.  History is literally seeped into the surrounding rocks around here and many artifacts of past years remain strewn thoughout the area.

Had to giggle at this sign.

The mission (well it looked like a Mission) at Gateway!!

Cliffs and the Dolores River

There truly is so much to see in this short 52 mile stretch and I think it would take days to actually enjoy what this has to offer.  Although the "141" is mainly an auto tour, one can get out of their vehicle and take several hikes to nearby attractions.  Some are right along the highway, like the Coke oven used to burn coal at high temperatures. Coke, is the solid remainder that can be used as a fuel in blast furnaces for working iron.  The Coke Oven along the side of this highway was used for the blacksmithing needed on the Hanging Flume Project.

The Dolores River -  At some point, this river and the San Miguel come
together.  There is an overlook for this.

Once again....incredible scenery

Sharp corners, inadequate guard rails (in some case, NO  GUARD RAILS)
Deep ravines and Shelf Roads!!

Flume along canyon wall

The Hanging Flume is along this scenic highway and we stopped at the roadside pullout to see what that was all about and I am so glad we did.   This project was an incredible undertaking and I can not believe that not one person was killed in the making of this "flume"

The late 1880's saw a major gold strike in the area and several "rich" folks from St Louis bought 6 1/2 miles of mining claim along the San Miguel and Dolores Rivers.   The gold was there but  that required large quantities of water to wash the gold from the gravel beds.  So, they constructed a wooden flume and hung it onto the canyon walls high above the river.  It was an open water chute 6 feet wide and four feet high built from 1.8 million feet of board lumber.  It rested on brackets bolted to the cliff with the end of the bolts driven 18 inches into the rock.  Additional support came from a brace pointing diagonally down from the outer edge of each bracket to a groove cut into the rock wall and anchored with a spike driven through the wood, deep into the rock.  Simple but yet incredible engineering for the 1880s I'm thinking!!
The flume transferred 80 million gallons of water over a 24 hour period!!  The total length of the ditch and the flume was 13 miles and it functioned for three years but failed to turn a profit as the gold was too fine and washed away with the hydraulic pressure!!  Basically......all that work for NOTHING!!  Today,  The Hanging Flume is listed by the Worlds Monument Fund as one of the "100 most endangered Sites in the World".

You can see the flume about 3/4 of the way up the canyon wall

What remains of the flume.  Nature is slowly reclaiming the wall.

the San Miguel River and the Flume above it

Our spot for the night

We camped along the "141" at a cute little roadside campground called The Ball Park.  It was small but unique in that each campsite was cared for and sponsored by a local family.  All had picnic tables and campfire rings but none were the same.  Some were dedicated in the memory of family members and those long passed.  It truly was a special place to stop and all that is asked of the users is to please leave a donation and pack your garbage out!!  Well. that was certainly easy to do!!

Many of these little birdhouses were strewn throughout
the campground.   Another really unique thing about this park.

Camping along the San Miguel River

Booko, checking out the river

John - first day back into his shorts.
It was 76 degrees today!!

Booko, rather intent on his ball

It squeeks and he is not really sure about that!!

Sunset behind the surrounding hills

GET OUT of my chair!!  John forgot Booko's chair
so he is not impressed with that!!

All in all, it was an awesome ride today filled with incredible scenery and so much history although, I imagine there is history along all the highways we are so lucky to travel!!   Life is Good!!

Great campground