Uraling with Martha to Freemont Pass and the Clinton Gulch Reservoir

Saturday, May 30

Another good day of camping and Uraling.

Martha and I rode out on Fiona, my '99 Ural Patrol with the Beemer engine soon after a sumptuous breakfast.  We headed towards nearby Leadville with temperatures in the low 50s but bearable with our riding gear and layers underneath.

Gassing up in town, then we headed north on Colorado Highway 91 towards Fremont Pass and the Climax Mine located near there.

We spotted and checked out an exhibit by the Climax Mine Company, showing a series of information signs about the mine and its history.  Pretty new exhibit as the signs didn't show signs of wearing yet from exposure to the sun's rays.  We are, after all, more than two miles up from sea level at this point!

 photo courtesy of Martha

I liked these small posters hung up on the inside of the metal scoop device by which one enters the exhibits area:

 Note the 1950's poster....think it inspired someone who

later had a hand in designing the B2 Stealth Bomber?

 The locomotive engine depicted in the top photo

of the poster above, is the same one that we saw

at the Leadville Train Station yesterday

 Martha by one of the exhibits

 Posing Fiona a bit north of Freemont Pass

From Fremont Pass, we continued north on CO Hwy 91 for a few miles until we got to the south parking lot of the Clinton Gulch Reservoir.  We elected to hike across the dam to the other parking lot and traveled a bit towards the mountains see in the photos below.

The view from about the middle of the dam

 photo courtesy of Martha

Very nice pic by Martha, good use of a foreground anchor object eh?

 Martha on the trail

We didn't go all the way to the end of the reservoir, things got a bit muddy with the melting snow.  We returned to the southern parking lot and got a few more pics:

 My favorite photo of the day.....Martha suggested the angle.

photo courtesy of Martha

Saturday's sunset was pretty good, I almost missed it but Martha noticed the colors in the sky in time for me to rush out to get one good shot before the light faded.

A try at Hagerman Pass and Riding the Leadville Train

Friday, May 29

While Martha studied for her National School Nurse Certification in the URRV this morning, I rode out with Yagi, my '06 Yamaha TW200 to see how far I could get towards reaching Hagerman Pass.

I would end up going just over 3 miles past the "Hagerman Pass 7 Miles" sign near Turquoise Lake.  Things got muddy pretty fast around mile 3, the melting snow on the dirt road making things a bit interesting at times.

 The view towards the pass at the furthest point achieved by Yagi and I

Retracing my route, there was one spot where I went into full outrigger mode to negotiate the slippery melting ice and snow:

Back on the dry portion of the Lake County Route 4, I posed Yagi right about the same spot where I posed Valencia, my 2011 Ural Patrol back in August of 2012.

Made it back to the URRV with no issues and in time for a quick lunch before Martha and I got geared up and left for Leadville on Fiona, my '99 Ural Patrol.

We got to the Leadville Train Station in plenty of time for the 1PM departure time, so a few photos were taken:

The fare was $45/person for reserved table for two in the Private Car near the end of the train just before the caboose.  You're free to roam about the train though as it moves up and down the 9.5 mile route alongside the Arkansas River, up on the side of the mountain.

There were perhaps 30 people, at most, on the train so it was quite nice and uncrowded.  The conductor told Martha a busy train load would be about 100 people.

 The conductor had to give his tour/spiel through the confines

of a face mask.....such is the new now.

 Valley view, showing the Arkansas River Headwaters

 Mount Massive framed by nearby hills

 The Water Tower where passengers can disembark for a few minutes

to stretch their legs and take pictures.

 The tightest bend in the train route: Birdseye Curve

 Martha demonstrating Social Distancing

Upon our return to the Leadville Train Station, we motored on down towards Main Street to a nearby bakery where Martha secure dessert for tonight: Apple and Raspberry Turnovers!

A couple more murals:

 Ski Joring!

more info at leadvilleskijoring.us

We headed on back to the campsite and while Martha relaxed in the URRV, I went out with Yagi again to explore the back trails near the campsite.  Found several sites occupied by campers of all sorts, from tent campers to fifth wheel trailers.  Some nice sites for future use were located as well and recorded by me.

Boondocking near Turquoise Lake, CO

Martha and I drove Umarang, the URRV, out to Turquoise Lake yesterday.  About three and a half hours and we were free of the cesspool that is the Metro Denver area.  Probably could have made it here in three hours but construction on the I-70 Superslab slowed things to a crawl several times.

After a brief mis-routing by googlemaps, we finally found the right entry road to a dispersed camping area near Turquoise Lake, about five miles east of Leadville, CO.

Found ourselves a pretty good spot though you can still hear the cars drive by as they head to/from the lake's roadway.

Campsite altitude: 9800 Feet

It's National Forest Dispersed Camping, very close to a private RV Park called Sugar Loafing RV Park I think.

That's Mount Massive in the above picture's background, the second highest Fourteener in Colorado and #15 in North America.

After breakfast and once it had warmed up a bit from the 40°F (4.4°C) overnight low temperature, we geared up in layers and headed out to explore the nearby lake.

We tried several scenic overlooks as we circumnavigated the lake but the best views were from the Shimmering Point Overlook, a short hike is involved, easy on the way down and bit of a breathing strain on the way back up.  We were after all, above 10,000 ft at this point!

photo courtesy of Martha

After checking out all the overlooks, we headed into Leadville to see what we could see.  Traffic was light as it was a weekday and we meandered for a bit, checking out Main Street and some of the murals that catch the eye:

photo courtesy of Martha

 Tabor Opera House

I believe it was County Road 4 that we took out of town, we neared the Mount Massive Golf Course and checked out the views of this fourteener.

A gnat managed to fly in under Martha's helmet visor and lodge in her right eye so we had to stop at this spot for me to get it out from under her lower eyelid.

photo courtesy of Martha

Got back to the URRV in time for lunch and we spent the afternoon relaxing in the warm sunshine and temperatures.  Fiona is doing great, there was some mushy action on the part of the newly refurbished sidecar shock absorber but I guess it finally got enough oil in the right spots and started doing its job.