Jeeping Up Tincup Pass

The past few days we have been very busy. We not only had Labor Day Weekend to contend with, but we had visitors from back in New York come out and spend a few days with us. It sure was nice to see some old familiar faces :-). Friday and Saturday we were busy working at the campground, but had Sunday off. We had been trying to decide what to show Mark and Keira, to give them a flavor of life up here in the mountains. We finally decided on renting a jeep, and taking them jeeping up to St. Elmo, over Tincup Pass to Taylor Lake reservoir, and back over Cottonwood Pass to Buena Vista. They were game, and off we went. We left pretty early in the morning, for us, to avoid the late afternoon showers.

First stop was St. Elmo's ghost town

We also introduced them to the favorite summer past time here, feeding the chipmunks!

They are not shy! I had two of them actually in my hood, squabbling over some seeds. Too funny!

Keira even overcame some initial qualms and had them eating out of her hand.

Tin Cup pass was originally used to move supplies between the St. Elmo and the town of Tin Cup. It was established in the 1870's. When trains came to the mining towns, none came to Tin Cup. There was a train that came to St. Elmo. There was a need to get ore, people and supplies between both cities and Tin Cup pass was used every day of the year during the early part of the 1880's for that purpose. The section from St. Elmo to the top the the pass is pretty torn up, and requires a vehicle that can handle rocks and roads that have large pot holes in them. This is a relatively easy section of the pass. The kidney rattling section was to come on the way down!

At the summit...the highest they've ever been!

We even had our picture taken...something we don't have done very often :-)!

Mirror Lake on the downside...too windy for reflections, and the clouds were starting to roll in.

I love the signs in these old remote towns.

 

A beautiful hawk was flying overhead for awhile, but never got close enough so I could identify it.

We stopped and had our picnic lunch near the dam at the end of Taylor Lake Reservoir, and then piled back in the jeep for the return trip via Cottonwood Pass. It was starting to spit rain at this point, and was getting windy and cold, especially at the top of the pass...I think it was in the 40's up there! We were keeping our eyes peeled for elk or moose, but did not see any signs...bummer. 

Back in Buena Vista, we took a short walk along the Arkansas Riverfront, and watched folks setting up for a music festival in the park. After returning the jeep, we headed back to the campground for the holiday running of the rubber duckie races. Thankfully, the rain showers were over by that time, and we had a very successful race, with over 70 duckies participating between the adult and children's races. We raised $153.00 for the Ark Valley Humane Shelter. We then headed down to a local favorite restaurant, Coyote Cantina, for a great Mexican dinner that all of us rolling out with very full tummies. We called it a day, and headed back to our respective beds, with plans to get together Tuesday for a hike to Mohawk Lake near Breckenridge. And that story and pictures will be in my next blog entry, so stay tuned!