Places Visited:
Cortez, Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Mesa Verde,
Colorado.

Saturday, July 7, 2001
Sundance RV-Park, Downtown Cortez, Colorado, 970-565-0997 Elevation
6,200'

We have met the nicest couple in the RV parked next to us. They are
from Oregon but now full-time spending winters in Lake Havasu, Arizona
and summers in cooler spots. Vern and Elaine join us at 8:00am this
morning. The four of us are going to drive the great circle scenic
loop. For those of you not familiar with the "great circle" scenic
drive in southwestern Colorado it is a drive from Cortez through
Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Ridgway, Placerville, Telluride, Rico and
Delores ending up back in Cortez. This drive is highly touted as one
of the top scenic drives in the country. Describing the drive and
accompanying scenery vastly exceeds my ability. The best I can do is
say that the route takes you over six awesome mountain passes.
Numerous 13,000' to 14,000' peaks rise directly from both sides of the
road. The San Juan Mountains and area is the highest contiguous
landmass in North America, including Alaska. The San Juan's contain
the greatest geologic variety of any North American Mountain range,
with the largest expanse of alpine peaks & tundra in the Lower 48
States. If that is not enough the San Juan's contain the Rio Animas
de las Perdidas: River of Lost Souls, North America's highest river.

Just north of Durango we stop to watch a glider operation. There is a
grass landing strip next to the road. A prop plane is dragging
gliders into the sky one after the other. Each glider has a pilot and
a paying passenger. The thermals start around 10:00 and last all day.
Vern and I decide we are going to come back on another day and do
this.

Between Durango and Silverton we negotiate 10,910' Molas Divide and
Coal Bank Hill another 10,000 plus pass. Between Silverton and Ouray
is the 23-mile Million Dollar highway, billed as America's most scenic
highway. This highway winds its way through a series of 14,000' peaks
then over 11,018' Red Mountain Pass. There are numerous sharp curves,
steep grades and in many places NO SHOULDER at all. There are two
tunnels, several hairpin turns are very tight with no room to swing
wide because of vertical rock walls and vertical dropoffs. We
experienced two totally awesome "double 180" and one "triple 180"
degree switchbacks. Combining two or three hairpins in succession
increases the excitement exponentially! The entire 23 miles of the
"Million Dollar Highway" is a serious grade either up or down. In
most places there is no railing. Snow removal in winter requires that
the snowplow be able to push snow over the side, a rail would prevent
that. Without a rail and NO shoulder the vertical drop is
spectacular. It was funny how cars on the cliff side drove with
inside tires ON the yellow center stripe. We all laughed at the ones
headed toward us that had inside tires on "our" side of the road. We
had enough room to avoid them so it was not that big of a problem but
the look on driver and passenger's faces was priceless.

The geologic diversity we encounter is staggering. This entire area
has been uplifted. In one area we can see limestone and shale layers
that were deposited on some ancient seabed and now uplifted, then just
as suddenly every rock formation in sight is volcanic in origin.
Remember that the valleys in this area are in the 8,000' to 9,000'
level. At times we can see where sedimentary rock has been pushed up
so that the sediments now angle at 80-degreees or more. Sometimes we
can see the magma that pushed it up, other times the magma never broke
the surface. In some places the sedimentary rock is covered with ash
from an ancient volcano. Then around the corner the sedimentary rock
is capped with igneous rock from a volcanic flow. Several sandstone
mountains are interspersed in with the sedimentary and volcanic
materials. Many of the 14,000' peaks surround the caldera of ancient
volcanoes.

Mine shafts are evident all along the way especially in the higher
elevations. Most are easily spotted by the tailings that have been
thrown out the opening. Others have a wooden structure around the
mouth.

Along virtually the entire route we are skirting around mountains that
protrude above the tree line where only tundra survives. Snow is
still visible on all of these peaks. The snowmelt is feeding
multitudes of waterfalls that merge in the valleys to create rivers.
Virtually every river of any size has rafting operations on them.
Rafters all wear wet suites because the water from fresh snowmelt in
these high rivers is only 36-degrees. Water that cold puts new
meaning into "NO SPLASHING".

We spend an hour or so exploring Silverton. Silverton appears to be
supported by the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Train that brings
loads of passengers up every day. The passengers spend several hours
in the town before boarding the train for a return trip or getting on
a bus for the ride back to Durango. Several businesses in town offer
jeeps for rent or guided jeep trips through the mountains on old
mining roads. Hiking, mountain biking and an assortment of related
outdoor activities are also available. The 350 full time residents
represent an eclectic group. Silverton has not yet attracted wealthy
individuals to construct magnificent residents, hotels, lodges, and
resorts in the town. What we see in the 6 or 8 square blocks of town
has been there since the 1870's. Very few modern structures are
evident. Only the Main Street of Silverton is paved. All others are
gravel just like the 1870's.

Twenty-three miles north of Silverton, up the "million-dollar-highway"
is Ouray. Ouray, unlike Silverton has modernized. It is home to a
population of fashionably elite. Ouray sits at the head of a
beautiful canyon with magnificent vistas in every direction. New
money has constructed modern motels and residences. All the
accoutrements that well-healed tourist clamor for are available in
Ouray. From Ouray north the highway threads its way through a lovely,
well watered, valley. Along this highway several resorts have sprung
up.

The drive from Ouray to Telluride takes us through a variety of quaint
villages right out of the 1880's, private ranches are scattered
through the valleys as we negotiate our way around a number of 14,000'
peaks. Several places along the way offer magnificent vistas.

In Telluride we drive around gawking at the 1890's vintage Victorian
homes that have been refurbished. We also admire the 1890's
architecture scattered around downtown. Vern and I take the gondola
over to Mountain Village Resort on the other side of Gold Mountain.
Vern was as impressed as we were. When we meet back up with the women
Vern wanted Elaine to see Mountain Village Resort so we drove through
the entire place inspecting where the "other half lives".

Just north of Lizard Head Pass we tour the trout lake area so Vern and
Elaine can see the assortment of cottages spread around the lake.
Trout Lake is surrounded by 14,000' peaks and is situated in the
caldera of what appears to be a gigantic ancient volcano. The lake is
fed by snowmelt from the surrounding mountains. Many people are along
the bank fly-fishing.

Across from Lizard Head Pass is a broad meadow where we stop and watch
a heard of 20-plus elk feeding in plain view. Several elk were
feeding in other places in the meadow. Along the way we have been
spotting mule deer.

South of Telluride and Lizard Head Pass we see the Basque shepherd and
his flock of sheep. This time it is near dark and he and his dog are
gathering the sheep off this huge mountainside into a small area
around his travel trailer. He is giving communication to the sheep
that we are not able to understand. He waves his arms in a manner
that tells the sheep if they don't scurry on down into the flock he is
going to put the dog on them. It is remarkable, small groups of sheep
are hurriedly moving to join the large flock while the dog remains
within a few feet of the shepherd. If one of the small groups of
sheep are not moving at a trot down the slope the shepherd waves his
arms and starts moving toward the slow group. If that does not work
the dog starts toward the laggards. That works, the laggards break
into a full run. Sheep obviously do not want the sheep dog any
closer. In short order the shepherd had somewhere around a thousand
sheep in a tight flock next to his small travel trailer.

It is turning dark fast and normally this would signal the end of
another exciting day, however Joyce has found an advertisement for a
band scheduled to be performing in the small town of Rico. We were
planning to stop there and eat and dance the night away. It was
9:00pm when we arrived in Rico, there was not much activity when we
pulled up in front of the place, a quick, unanimous vote and we kept
on driving. After all, we had started on this journey 13-hours ago
and we still had an hour to drive.

We arrived back home after 10:00pm dead tired after a super day. Thank
goodness we did not stay for the dance.

Sunday, July 8, 2001
Sundance RV-Park, Downtown Cortez, Colorado, 970-565-0997 Elevation
6,200'

Today was a day of recovery. We needed it after 14-hours of jam
packed spectacular fun yesterday. By 6:00pm we were rested up enough
to join our friends for a "concert in the park" located across from
where we are staying.

Monday, July 9, 2001
Sundance RV-Park, Downtown Cortez, Colorado, 970-565-0997 Elevation
6,200'

We spent the day in Cortez touring local places. At the cultural
center I spent about 10-minutes trying to grind corn using a metates
and manos. A metates and manos performs the same function as a mortar
and pestle. I have no idea why they are called different things,
possibly the etymology of metates and manos is Spanish while mortar
and pestle is derived from some other base language. The metates is a
stone with a concave upper surface used as the lower millstone for
grinding grains while a manos is a stone used as the upper millstone
for grinding foods (as Indian corn) by hand in a metate. It was
difficult to say the least. I worked HARD. To grind enough corn for
a meal an Indian woman would have to move the manos back and forth
over the corn kernels for a long time. We read somewhere that
grinding corn was the job that Indian women dreaded most, I can see
why.

We have been watching a colony of prairie dogs in the vacant lot next
to our RV-Park. Prairie dogs are fun to watch if you are from back
east. People in this area shoot them and do all manner of things to
get rid of them. Prairie dogs look a lot like an eastern gray
squirrel. These chubby, foot-long relatives of ground squirrels use
muscular forelegs and claws to excavate networks of tunnels up to 15
feet long and 6 feet deep. They build a mound around the entrance
hole that they use as a lookout post. This mound of earth around the
entrance also keeps water out. These architects and engineers
ventilate their underground houses by building one entrance higher
than the others to pull fresh air through the burrow like a chimney.
Prairie dogs spend their day eating grass and watching for predators.
When one prairie dog barks a "danger" alert, all dive for their holes.
The only predator we notice is a scrawny black cat that stalks them
all day. One summer resident of the RV-Park said that their cat would
occasionally kill one and drag it home. These people were not
enthused about their cat killing the prairie dogs since fleas on
prairie dogs are known to carry the plague.

Thought for today: No matter what happens, somebody will find a way
to take it too seriously.

Tuesday, July 10, 2001
Sundance RV-Park, Downtown Cortez, Colorado, 970-565-0997 Elevation
6,200'

Today was our day to tour Mesa Verde (Spanish for green mesa). The
entrance to Mesa Verde National Park is located just 10-miles east of
Cortez. Immediately upon entering the park you began a steep climb
from 6,000' to over 8,000'. There are wonderful views of Cortez and
the flat land located north of the mesa. The museum inside Mesa Verde
was exceptional. A series of dioramas depict the different eras of
inhabitants of Mesa Verde all the way from 500 BC to 1200 AD. It is
easy to spend several hours absorbing the information presented in
numerous exhibits. Mesa Verde stands out from other cliff dwellings
in this area of the country because of the sheer size and numbers of
cliff dwellings that have been preserved. Tours are available to take
you down to these ruins located in semi-caves mid-way up spectacular
cliff walls. It was HOT today so we decided to skip the tours and
just view the pueblos structures from afar.

Although I am not writing much about Mesa Verde National Park it is a
definite "must see". The only reason we are not spending any more
time there this time is the heat. It is just too hot to go hiking.

Now for a little humor, never, under any circumstances, take a
sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

Wednesday, July 11, 2001
Sundance RV-Park, Downtown Cortez, Colorado, 970-565-0997 Elevation
6,200'

We wake at 4:30 this morning in order to get an early start on today's
adventure. We are going to hike to the summit of a 13,000' mountain
deep in the San Juans. But first we have to get to our "base camp" to
borrow the terminology of Mount Everest explorers. Our transportation
to "base camp" is San Juan Back Country Jeep tours in Silverton,
Colorado. We are scheduled to board the jeep at 8:00 with our RV
neighbors Vern and Elaine and another couple that we meet boarding the
jeep. Our "jeep" today is a 4-wheel drive Suburban with a big hole
cut in the roof and padded roll bars installed across the top. We are
seated in bench seats for the short ride out of town. Five minutes
out of town our driver, a pretty, young, gregarious, blonde, 25'ish,
female Silverton native, pulled off onto an unpaved mining road and
stopped. This is where she "stowed" the bench seats allowing us to
stand up and hold on to the roll bars. As this "woman" driver zooms
down the gravel, mountain trail she begins telling stories about her
"lead-foot". We are at 9,500' and heading to 13,000' plus while
hanging precariously to the side of sheer cliffs. There are no jokes
about women drivers on this day.

At this time we all have to say thanks to Dave Damouth who told us
that a jeep ride out of Silverton was a "must-do". Thanks Dave! You
are absolutely correct. None of us will forget it.

Our jeep clings perilously to the side of steep mountain cliffs as we
slowly work our way up. Magnificent vistas unfold around us. Visual
overload. Shortly we are at tree line. This is the altitude where
trees are no longer able to survive and varies from area to area but
here occurs around 11,500'. A profusion of small yellow and purple
flowers cover the tundra above 11,000'. Later we learn that the
flowering plants we see at this altitude will be consumed by
truckloads of sheep being hauled into the area. We began passing snow
banks on a regular basis. At 12,000' we encounter alpine lakes. They
look pristine but are all contaminated with mercury and other heavy
metals left over from indiscriminate mining practices. We did not see
any big horn sheep but did see numerous marmots, weasels, and other
small mammals.

At 12,930' we reach our "base camp". This is where we disembark the
jeep and start our climb to the 13,000' peak, on foot. Wow! Where is
the OXYGEN? We all trek to the top with cameras to record the event.
It was hilarious to listen to all of us panting for OXYGEN. There is
not much of it at 13,000'. This was THE way to make an ascent to the
top of a challenging mountain peak. From the top we are able to see
more than 70-miles. Abandoned mines are scattered around us like
litter on a Florida highway. Spectacular waterfalls cascade down the
cliffs high in the alpine basins surrounding us. Snow is ever present
at this altitude, some if it in banks over 10-feet tall. We are able
to grab handfuls of this snow as we drive by the huge banks. Imagine
leaning out the top of a suburban and grabbing a handful of snow on
the 11th day of July. Even though we are seeing and doing this it is
hard to sink in.

Back in Silverton we dine before heading out to the "Old Hundred Mine"
tour. While in Silverton we see 18-wheelers returning from delivering
loads of sheep as far up into the mountains as possible. The 18-wheel
rigs are only able to transport the sheep a few miles outside
Silverton up a fairly well maintained gravel road. From there the
shepherd will have to herd the sheep to their new grazing land above
the tree line. Did I mention that those trucks smell BAD! Real bad!

The "Old Hundred Gold Mine" tour was another "must do". We rode an
electric mine train 1,600' into the mountain before unloading to watch
live drilling demonstrations with a variety of pneumatic drills. We
peered up vertical shafts that ascend over 1,200' to access other
levels. The level we are on is used to carry ore to the surface where
it will be trucked to mills for processing. In this area a variety of
precious metals are locked in veins of quartz. Gold, silver, zinc,
tin, lead, copper and other metals are suspended in the quartz. Miners
follow the vein of quartz as it runs through host rock. Quartz must
be processed in a mill to make it release the valuable metals. I will
explain that process later. Any rock other than quartz that was
encountered was unproductive. Miners dig tunnels back into a mountain
by drilling a series of 20 seven foot deep holes into the rock then
pack the holes with explosives and blow it to small pieces. After the
dust settles miners' return and muck the rubble up. Muck is the term
miners use to describe the rubble resulting from the blast. Mucking
is the job of loading the muck into oar cars. This muck, loaded into
oar cars, is then railed to the mine door. Muck at this time must be
separated into oar bearing rock and non-oar bearing rock. Non-oar
bearing rock becomes tailings that are just dumped out the mouth of
the mine. Oar bearing quartz must me hauled by some means to a mill
where the valuable metals can be extracted.

Back in the mine we examine chutes and shafts where miners used
gravity to help transport muck to the mine entrance. Miners used
these chutes and shafts to connect various levels. Upper levels would
just dump muck into chutes and shafts where gravity would transport
the muck to the bottom of the shaft where the muck would be loaded and
transported to the mine entrance. Hopefully, the mine entrance was
far enough down the face of the mountain that the oar could be easily
transported to a mill.

Immediately upon entering the mine the temperature dropped to 48
degrees and stayed there for the entire time. The mine entrance is
located at 10,000' in altitude that may account for the ambient
temperature of 48 degrees. In addition we had to wear raincoats and
hard hats in the mine. Water dripped from the walls and ceilings
throughout the mine.

From the mine tour we traveled several miles down the road to the
Mayflower Mill where we toured the completely operable mill. Mining
and Milling operations have been shut down because of low prices and
environmental concerns. The Mayflower Mill processed oar from its
mine as well as other smaller mines.

Oar from the Mayflower mine was transported to the mill over a
9,526-foot tram. The aerial tramway is 8,526 feet long between the
loading terminal and the discharge terminal with a drop in elevation
of 1,300 feet. In 1930, this was the longest continuous aerial
tramway in operation. Despite the ever-present danger of avalanches or
a fall from the buckets, transportation was by this aerial tram. The
tramway transported married men living in Silverton to and from work.
Wives, in full dresses, would frequently ride the tram buckets to the
boardinghouse to shop at the company-owned commissary where prices
were usually better than in town. One manager of the boardinghouse
even transported a grand piano, a gift for his wife, using the
tramway. From the top of the tramway, a second, 300-foot auxiliary
tramway transported supplies on up to the boardinghouse and workshops.
Unmarried miners lived in the boarding house located just above the
mouth of the mine.

Get this picture. High on the steep side of a mountain face is this
mine entrance. There is NO road leading to it. The only way to get
oar down to a processing plant is via this tram. The only way for
miners to get to work is via this tram. By some sheer miracle the
company was able to construct a boarding house for unmarried miners to
live in just above the mine entrance. Remember all of this is hanging
precariously on the side of a mountain so steep that they do not
construct a road up to it.

Tram buckets carried from 1,600 to 2,000 pounds of ore. There were 52
buckets on the tram at any one time. The weight of the ore coming
down the tramline provided the power to haul empty buckets back to the
mine. Each bucket made one round trip every 45 minutes. Several
times a year a specially designed oilier bucket was sent on a round
trip to oil the cable, protecting it from the weather. Compressed air
was used to dispense the oil.

In the fall of 1957, Universal Studios filmed the movie "Night
Passage" with James Stewart and Audie Murphy at the mill and used the
tramline in one sequence.

Inside the mill oar was deposited into mills that tumbled the oar
around in large cylinders with steel balls until it was pea size. A
series of conveyer belts transported the pea size gravel to another
tumbler consisting of 11 foot long steel rods with a diameter of about
6 inches each weighing in excess of 500 pounds. This tumbler was
slightly longer than 11 feet. As it slowly turned the top steel bar
would roll down crushing the pea size gravel into dust. Actually, it
turned the gravel into a very fine substance. There was little dust
since water was mixed with the oar at the beginning of the milling
process to cut down on dust. At this point we have slurry of
approximately 40 percent-crushed rocks and 60 percent water. From
this point chemicals are added to the slurry. Certain chemicals
attach to attach themselves to different metals and suspend them in a
solution where they are separated from the quartz rock and other
metals. The rest of the process has to do with the various settling
ponds and other processes that were used to separate out the valuable
metals.

Over its lifetime, more than 900,000 ounces of gold were produced at
the Mayflower Mill in addition to tons of silver, lead, zinc, copper
and other metals.

Wow! What a day. Now it is time for us to take the scenic trip back
to Cortez through Durango. It's tough but we have to make that scenic
drive once more.

We ate dinner in Durango around 8:00 and did not make it back home
until after 9:00. What a day! We have been having fun for over 16
hours. It is time for some rest. There is such a thing as "too much
fun".

Thursday, July 12, 2001
Sundance RV-Park, Downtown Cortez, Colorado, 970-565-0997 Elevation
6,200'

We used today to recover from yesterday.

Since we were taking the day off I will use this space to provide some
useful information to RV'ers. Just outside of Silverton is the
abandoned town of Eureka. Just follow Main Street through town then
continue 5 or 6 miles along the well-maintained gravel road. Loads of
RV's are boondocking in the flat area along the Animas River. There
is at least one RV Park in downtown Silverton. Five miles south of
Silverton is a small RV-Park operated by the city of Silverton. This
park is purported to be the highest in altitude of any RV-Park in
North America. It is probably located at around 10,500 feet.

Between Cortez and Telluride on highway 145 there are several areas in
the National Forrest to boondock along the Delores River. Between
mile marker 43 and Rico there are several excellent boondocking sites.
One of the places is National Forrest property the other belongs to
the City of Rico. Both are incredible.

The City of Cortez operates a free dump station along with potable
water on the west side of the city park located adjacent to main
street.

Mike & Joyce Hendrix