Continuing on our drive on The Silver Thread Scenic and Historic Byway--see my previous posts, here and here. We stopped for the night inLake City, located in Hinsdale County, Colorado, which is the most remote county in the lower 48 states of the USA! Nestled in the heart of the San Juan Mountain Range and the Gunnison and Uncompahgre National Forest, just minutes from the spectacular San Cristobal Lake, Lake City is surrounded by 96% public land. Incorporated in 1875 the town began as a gold and silver mining town.
Activities in Lake City today include hiking, camping, rafting and boating, hunting, fly and ice fishing, horseback riding, and mountain biking over the many spectacular mountain trails. In winter, activities include cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, ice climbing, ice skating, and skiing on the town's very own ski hill.
Due to its high elevation at8,661 feet (2,640 m) and its proximity to some of Colorado’s most rugged and beautiful wilderness, Lake City is a great base for exploring with 4×4 vehicles or OHVs-- off-highway vehicles--on the abundance of trails and roads around Lake City. The most popular adventure for off-road vehicles is the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway. This sixty-five-mile road is generally only passable from June through September of each year. The Alpine Loop Scenic Byway connects the towns of Ouray, Silverton, and Lake City, and the route even features a few authentic ghost towns including Animas Forks. The road navigates two mountain passes that sits 12,000 feet above sea level: Engineer Pass and Cinnamon Pass. Both passes provide unforgettable views of some of Colorado’s famous 14ers including Uncompahgre Peak, Handies Peak, and Sunshine Peak.
I enjoyed seeing some of the town's rustic cabin homes--my fantasy is to own my own little cabin getaway someday. Notice all the chopped wood stacked outside one, waiting for the winter months!
Many other homes in town were pretty Victorian style, from mansion size to cottage style.
Lake City has many historic older buildings dating back to the mining era.
There are also many charming stores and restaurants to explore.
The Lake City Town Park in the center of town had a couple of amusing planters hanging in the trees--click on the photo collage to enlarge it to see them better.
We enjoyed a delicious pizza for dinner at the Silver Slice Pizza Company--there was pepperoni under the folded crust!
We got up early the next morning to continue the final part of our drive on The Silver Thread Scenic and Historic Byway...more scenes from that drive will be in my next post.
We loved visiting Lake City and we promised ourselves that we would have to return for a longer visit one day in the future.
When I saw that these falls are located just a short detour off The Silver Thread Scenic and Historic Byway--CO-149--I knew that we had to take a drive someday to see these beautiful waterfalls in person. In early August of this year, we drove down to Southern Colorado and stopped first at the historic mining town of Creede--click here--to see that post.
When we left Creede, we enjoyed the drive on CO-149--The Silver Thread Scenic Byway-- as we headed towards our next destination of Lake City. The weather was not cooperating, as it was the rainy season in Colorado, but it did not deter us from enjoying the scenic beauty of the land we passed...the Weminuche Wilderness.
Please click on to enlarge the photo
Information from the Forest Service Department website:
"At three quarters the size of Rhode Island, the Weminuche Wilderness is the largest Wilderness area in Colorado at 499,771 acres. It is part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, established by the Wilderness Act of 1964 to "secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness." The Weminuche was designated by Congress in 1975 and expanded by the Colorado Wilderness Acts of 1980 and 1993.
The Weminuche spans the Continental Divide, North America's geological backbone, with its headwaters diverted to both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Eolus, Sunlight, and Windom peaks rise above 14,000 feet, while many others reach above 13,000 feet. With an average elevation of 10,000 feet above sea level, the Weminuche is rugged country, but its ecosystems are fragile.
The Weminuche protects the headwaters of both the Rio Grande River and the San Juan River (which then runs into the Colorado River) providing clear drinking water to millions of people."
The North Clear Creek Falls overlook facility is situated as a stop on the Silverthread Scenic Byway right along State Hiway 149. The 100 foot ( 0.48 M) long gushing waterfall is directly fed by the meltwaters of the high altitude mountains of the San Juan Mountain Range near Slumguillion Pass around 11,500 feet (3505.2 M), and Spring Creek Pass at around 10,500 feet (3200.4 M) elevation.
The video above of the waterfall can also be seen on YouTube on this link. We stood for quite awhile watching the majestic waterfall while we stood in the rain. What a thrilling sight!
Please click on to enlarge the photo
One of the informational placards at the waterfall viewing platform which explains the geologic formations of this area caused by volcanos 27 million years ago.
We hiked one of the trails to see more of the unusual volcani terrain, with views of the winding river far below. It felt like we were in a very otherworldly place!
Traveling back on The Silver Thread Scenic and Historic Byway--CO-149--we passed a few cattle ranches and then reached Slumgullion Pass. Located just outside of Lake City, Colorado, Slumgullion Pass is an ultra-high mountain pass with an elevation of 11,530 ft (3,514 m). We learned that because this pass has grades on the north side of the pass up to 9%, that State Highway 149 is the steepest, maintained paved road in Colorado! Slumgullion Pass is named for the nearby Slumgullion Earthflow, a gigantic landslide whose yellowish soil reminded early settlers and miners of slumgullion stew.
We stopped to see the view from Windy Point Overlook. The overlook offers a superb view of the majestic mountain peaks surrounding Lake City. Colorado has 58 mountain peaks higher than 14,000 feet (4267.2), and five of them are in the San Jaun Mountain Range near Lake City. Next post I'll continue on to Lake City--the only town in all of Hinsdale County, Colorado.
Hello and welcome!
I'm Pat, a lifelong New Yorker who has recently moved to a suburb of Denver in the beautiful state of Colorado, so that I can live close to my children and grandchildren. I look forward to learning many new things about my new "mile high" city and I will share them on my blog.
New York City will always be my second home, and I will also continue to share many posts about it.
My blog's name in Italian means a "Thousand Favorite Flowers." I chose this unusual blog name because researching and writing for my blog, and taking photogrpahs for it, is like another "memory flower" that I am collecting in my bouquet of life.
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Colorado
You can fall in love at first sight with a place as with a person ~ Alec Waugh
Mt Evans
I was uplifted above a world of love, hate, and storms of passion, for I was calm amidst the eternal silences, bathing in the living blue. For peace rested that one bright day on the mountaintop. ~ Isabella Bird "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains"
RMNP
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Rocky Mountain National Park
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.” ~Roald Dahl
Rocky Mountain National Park
And our first pure mountain day, warm, calm, cloudless, - how immeasurable it seems, how serenely wild! I can scarcely remember its beginning. Along the river, over the hills, in the ground, in the sky, spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm, new life, new beauty, unfolding, unrolling in glorious exuberant extravagance, - new birds in their nests, new winged creatures in the air, and new leaves, new flowers, spreading, shining, rejoicing everywhere. - John Muir
Colorado Beauty
“Still round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate, and though I oft have passed them by, a day will come at last when I shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun.” - J.R.R. Tolkien,
Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, NY
Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. ~Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
My hometown: Brooklyn, NY
"Every day I walk out into the world to be dazzled, then to be reflective." ~ Mary Oliver
My buddy Bo
1998 - 2013 I still miss those I loved who are no longer with me, but I find I am grateful for having loved them. The gratitude has finally conquered the loss.
Grand Dog Lucy
“In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.” ― W.H. Auden
Pepper
1991 - 2008 Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened. ~Anatole France
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