Monday, July 13, Silver Jack CO

50 degrees at 7 AM this morning, cloudy skies.   We decided to leave early and see what we could discover at Silver Jack Reservoir.

Went first to the Overlook, which had nice morning light.  We took a steep trail from there down to the reservoir and then to the dam.  Instead of a spillway, this dam had an interesting round intake which carried the water to the stream beyond the dam.

Hiked back up the hill – this altitude makes it difficult!   We continued west on N414 and saw a few deer as the road got much rougher.  Greg was kept busy avoiding ruts and pot holes for a while.  We went over Owl Creek Pass at 10,114 ft., pretty scenery, and stopped near a stream for breakfast.

Finally (20 miles) reached the valley with ranches and pastureland.  Turned south toward Ouray and the Alchemist and Pharmacuetical Museum.  We had called ahead and were getting there just in time for a 10:00 tour along with four Coloradoans.  The owner, Curt Haggar, greeted us and gave a brief intro of how and why he started this museum.  Both he and his wife are pharmacists and began collecting old memorabilia back in the 80’s. 

Then he took us through the door (from an old 1800’s pharmacy) to the museum which was stuffed with bottles, labels, books, equipment, advertising and more.  He brought out chairs for us and began with the Big Bang and talked about the development of drugs and pharmacies through the ages – Mesopotamia, Africa, China, Egypt, etc. to the 1700s and USA.  He had many examples of old time medicines from England and then the US – potions and elixirs and such which made all kinds of claims.  It wasn’t until the early 1900s that the government made any laws and even then they were lax.  Heroin and Morphine were common and of course Coca-Cola used cocaine and was originally marketed as a medicine.  He ended with a warning about additives and processed food, saying that we were merrily poisoning ourselves.  His enthusiasm was great and we learned a lot.

After that we walked around town a bit and hiked up to Cascade Falls, which was a pretty (but uphill, huff, puff) walk.  The Falls were very nice and there were quite a few people (and dogs) enjoying the now sunny day.

We stopped to purchase a couple of postcards and get a recommendation for lunch, which was the Backstreet Bistro.  It was a tiny sandwich/coffee shop and we enjoyed splitting a huge Rueben sandwich.

We headed back north to the town of Madison and the Museum of the Mountain West.  The guide was just beginning a tour for a foursome from Corpus Christi, TX so we joined in.   The museum is another collector’s life long journey.   He, Robert, collected items and then began moving historic buildings to this property. 

 He had a wheelwright’s shop, a general store, doctor and dentist offices, a 1913 Lutheran Church, a one-room school house, a chinese laundry and several others.  We went through most of them and looked at items used “in the day” – anywhere from late 1800’s to 1930.  There was a collection of old mechanical games and music machines, one of which played piano and violin,  another which had a horse race, and of course a player piano.  Lots of interesting items, but we were ready for the tour to end when it did.

Heading out of town we stopped briefly at a National Forest Service office and the kind lady there told us about a campground at McClure Pass, about 30 miles away.

We headed north and east and reached the McClure National Campground in Gunnison National Forest, a no-fee, no services campground tucked on the hillside above a valley with beaver dams.  We arrived late – around 6:30, went for a walk and had a bite to eat – still full from lunch! Lots of bunnies in the area.  Deer as well.

The day was warm – it reached high 80’s! – and the evening cooled nicely but only to the 50’s.  Cloudy skies.  No campfire tonight, but we slept well.