Kendal Mountain (Silverton, Colorado)

Kendal Mountain overlooks the town of Silverton, Colorado. The town is at about 9,000 feet, so the mountain peak is probably over 12,000 feet. Regardless, the view is magnificent.


The view from the peak has more to offer than just a peek at the teeny tiny town. Here is a look in the opposite direction. Kinda desolate lookin', huh?


The trail to the peak passes by several old mines. This is no wonder, because these roadways were originally hacked out of the mountainsides over 120 years ago to allow access to the working mines. The feat is amazing if you consider that it was done by pick axe, dynamite, and mule power.


One of Silverton's most popular attractions is the Durango/Silverton narrow gauge railroad. It ferries passengers between Durango and Silverton three times daily during the summer tourist season. If you ever end up in Durango, allow yourself a day to take the unbelievably scenic trip. Although it is only 35 miles, it takes nearly 4 hours for the huffin' and puffin' train to make it up. The return trip is a bit faster.

The Brass Band Festival - Silverton, Colorado

There has been a brass band festival in Silverton for the last 28 years. Musicians come from all over the country to participate in this long weekend of music that echos off the surrounding mountains (Silverton sits in a bowl at 9,000 feet elevation).

We attended the last performance of the long weekend. The band, normally in fancy uniforms, was casual. The band's dress of choice seemed to be jeans and t-shirts. That must be because playing wind instruments is hard work. The audience was in coats, as the temperature was low, the sun was sparse, and the wind was mighty (but not as mighty as the band).



The band, and leader, take a bow.


And here's a bit of nostalgia for you. This is Bill Fries (pronounced freeze), better known as C. W. McCall, country singer and songwriter. His biggest hit that I can remember was the 1976 trucker song "Convoy" (gotta copy on that rubber ducky). Today he was reading a tribute to Abraham Lincoln as the band played the background music.
Bill, after a successful career in places like Nashville, moved to Ouray, Colorado in the early 80's. He became mayor and helped put the town on the top of the hot spots in Colorado for tourists. He also put together and narrated a multimedia presentation about the San Juan Mountains in which Ouray is nestled. This show has played every day for many years now, during the tourist season in Ouray.

Heath Ranch

I was ever so fortunate to have met a really wonderful man and his wife last year. Howard and Ruth belong to the ATV club in Montrose, which Sharon and I also joined when we bought our ATV's. Howard sponsors a club ride on his ranch each summer and we were invited along. Unfortunately we could not make it last year, but we were really looking forward to the one this summer.


On the way to his ranch we were lucky enough to catch sight of a hot air balloon prepping for take off on an early morning ride (or is that a float??).


The ranch is on Last Dollar Road (yes, the same extremely scenic road I have featured before). As we motored along the road we were held up by a sheep drive. This picture is after they got off the road, having left their special gifts along the roadway. Being fresh it got flung up on the trailer and ATV's, making for an aromatic start to the ride.


Here's Howard and his ever faithful co-pilot, Lucky, as we stopped for a bit of history at the entry to Big Pasture.


This is the view across Big Pasture toward the mountains.


This is Kim Lake, one of the three we rode by. Howard carries fish food with him and stops to feed the trout every time he rides on his ranch. Howard says the fish are his friends. You would certainly think so as the trout seemed to know he was coming.


This is the view from the driveway of Howard's cabin...


...and this is from the porch.


The ranch is Howard's good weather home. Can you imagine how hard it must be each morning to wake up to such terrible views????? Howard's winter home is closer to Montrose, very near the South entrance to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Poor guy doesn't have a view there either.

Many thanks to Howard and Ruth for a wonderful day (and the brownies and ice cream)!

Tin Cup, Colorado

We took a little trip, up the Taylor River to the Taylor Reservoir. Of course the purpose was to ride the ATV's and take pictures. We accomplished both.

Our 70 mile, 8-hour ride effectively started here, at Union Park. The army once used this area to winter-train troops. Believe me, in the winter this place is all white and plenty cold. I think the army may have been training troops in how to imitate ice sculptures.


We rode old mining roads and trails, which of course took us by old mines. Here the group was trying to figure out how we could repair this 100+ year old compressor. We didn't, so we rode on.


Part of our ride included following a historic railroad right-of-way. The water tank you see here has been restored. Others we saw were more on the ground than upright.


We followed the right-of-way until it stopped at the remains of the Alpine Tunnel, which had been opened in 1880 and used until 1910. Because of the danger of collapse, the tunnel was long ago blasted shut. All that remains is rubble and a few restored structures. One is the old train station. No, those are not mannequins, but at 12,000 feet those guys were moving very slowly.


Here you can look down on the town of Tin Cup, the eventual final sightseeing goal for the day.


From that vantage point you can also look at me. I don't get many pictures of myself, so I threw this in. Enough looking , no snide comments about my waist line or do-rag either.


And here we go, entering the town of Tin Cup, population: a few in the summer, almost none in the winter.


Tin Cup is just one of the dozens of the old mining towns that died after the precious ores ran out, only to be reclaimed for summer homes and/or tourist havens. I guess that's the new gold rush for this area.

Another Side of ATVing

I usually post scenic and/or people pictures from the ATVing trips. I can't often get the really great pictures of something going wrong. That's because I am usually in the middle of whatever is wrong. Example: Recently a rider got his quad stuck in a mud hole by running up on a partially buried log. It would have been a great picture to see me up to my elbows in the mud hole, trying to lift him off the log while being sprayed by mud flying off the spinning tires. So, I'm gonna let my imagination loose and show you a few pics I have caught of others.

The following pics were taken on the trails. I made up the captions, and I maaaaay have exaggerated a bit....

Yes I'm sure this is it! The GPS says it's here, the map says it's here, this has to be the trail.....


Wow, sure didn't expect to find a car wash out here.......


I know I'm the leader, but next time one of you goes first!!!!!!!!!!


Okay, I've got it now.....point it up hill, growl real big, then smash the gas pedal to the floor!


All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't pull Humpty's pick-up truck back on the trail again.


That's all folks!!!!!!!