9/17 Cripple Creek, Florissant & St. Elmo's in Colorado

 Friday September 17

48 degrees this morning.  We are at about 9000' elevation!   

Leisurely morning with ham and egg breakfast tacos and oranges before we head up the last crazy few miles to Victor. 

 There are signs of massive strip mining there, also known locally as surface mining, leaving some pretty barren looking areas.  We did see a few signs that indicated that there was restoration going on, but didn't notice the actual restoration.

Victor was home to the world's greatest gold camp, which produced more than $125 million of gold. There is still some minor mining going on, but not the huge production of the early 1900's.

We continue on 67N to Cripple Creek, which was also a big mining area.  More touristy now, with a regular train ride, museums and shops and a few bars and restaurants as well.  We scored a few postcards and picked up two small geodes for the girls.

On to Florissant Fossil Bed National Monument.  Have seen this on maps for years so decided to finally check it out.  Unfortunately the visitor's center is closed, though they did have a few manned tables outside with information and a small display of fossils.  The main draw is a trail that goes to several huge petrified wood stumps from ancient redwood trees. 34 million years ago, this was a warm temperature area with seas and redwoods which were buried by volcanic eruptions. 

 Now it is a great area for fossils.  "The Big Stump", is estimated to have come from a tree  230' tall and between 500 and 1000 years old! You can still see the grain in the petrified wood and count the rings on these once huge redwoods.

We saw two coyotes while on the trail - they look so much huskier than the southern coyotes we've seen that we first thought they might be wolves.  But, no (no wolves in CO); perhaps they are already beginning to get their winter coats. They were running, so all we have are a few blurry photos.

They were doing some geological mapping in the area, looking for other buried stumps.

I thought this sign was cute.

From here, we headed west and into the mountains for a look at St. Elmo, a mining ghost town that is well maintained.  Beautiful road to St. Elmo with a nice stream and the beginnings of Fall color high on the mountains.

You could see why native Americans, particularly the Utes, frequented this area rich in wildlife, water and other resources. 

There's a lake in there somewhere.

White men arrived around 1870, and a rich vein of Silver was discovered later that decade at the Mary Murphy mine. Lead and gold were also mined.  A railroad was established and the population of St. Elmo's reached 2,000.  As mines played out and regulations limited mining, the railroad left as did most of the people.The present-day St Elmo's consists of fifteen or so old buildings, most of which were locked up. 

 

There was an open "general store" which sold a mix of tourist cold drinks, trinkets and antiques.  

They also sold little bags of seeds which these chubby chipmunks took full advantage of.

Heading back out 162, we stopped at Cascade Campground, a US Forest Service spot with nice but primitive sites for $11 a night.  It had 20 sites, half of which were empty. Greg cooked hamburgers on the grill and we walked a short distance to check out Cascade Creek. Nice cool evening with a terrific pine scent in the air.