Independence Mountain - Day 5

Thursday, Aug 06

Batting .333 today in terms of objectives.

I rode to Walden (18 miles away) hoping to:

Visit the North Park Pioneer Museum - Check!

Dump a trash bag at the Waste Transfer Station - It was closed.

Pick up some groceries such as eggs, bagels and bacon.  - I found bacon but no eggs or bagels.  So bought nothing.

Anyways, the Pioneer Museum is actually quite the American gem.  It doesn't look very big from the outside:

But like an online reviewer had stated, the museum is like Doctor Who's Tardis Box, way bigger on the inside.  There were over 4200+ exhibits according to the lady minding the entrance and greeting visitors.

I only took pictures that caught my attention, there was a lot to look at but not much in terms of descriptions or documentation with the exception of who provided it on loan or donation.

 A depiction of a bunk house's contents...I'd not seen what was apparently

sheep wool covered chaps before, but there they were.

Lots of Americana objects that were in common use from the beginning of white settlement of North Park through fairly recent times.

 Walden is really proud of the above event.  It's on their Welcome signs at 

the entrances into town.

 Some kind of surveying equipment, repurposed.

 Americana without rifles....no way.

 Old Classroom

Do they even display George Washington's portrait anymore

in modern classrooms?

 Movie Projectors of old, didn't realize they were so large

 I didn't know about this event....apparently still ongoing: LINK

 Interesting knick knack in the middle....note the text

The outside of the museum had farm and ranch implements, quietly rusting away:

Plan on spending at least 2 hours to just briefly peruse the museum's offerings.  There's no entrance fee, they depend instead of donations from visitors.

I rode back to the top of Independence mountain to escape the heat of the North Park Valley floor.  Nice and cool (and very overcast) back at the camp.