Creede Colorado

Saturday, we drove 20 miles to Creede Colorado, where part of the new "Lone Ranger" was filmed.  We can't wait to see the movie as the scenery, in real life, is spectacular.  There is a quaint town center, and then there is the "Bachelor Loop Trail", seventeen miles of rough, narrow gravel roads, passing abandoned gem and mineral mines, and ghost towns.  All along the way were towering mountain peaks, also tumbling streams, which make up the headwaters of the Rio Grande River.  Oh, and wildlife, several deer, and a MOOSE!!

Downtown Creede

 Here, moosie, moosie!

Headwaters of the Rio Grande - crystal clear, by the way.

Scenic Bachelor Loop Trail

 



Creede is a ex-mining town that is populated with some real characters, along side artists and outdoor enthusiasts.  The Bachelor Loop trail is named for the town of Bachelor that was home to 1200 people at its zenith.  The town had saloons, a church, a school, a race track and all of the amenities of the time.  This was in the late 1800s. Today, all that remains are steel food cans, tin from roofing, and piles of rocks as foundations.  One grave in town has three bodies.  A miner's daughter became ill.  The miner went to Creede to get the doctor.  When he returned home, he saw a strange horse tied outside his cabin.  The miner walked in, saw a man standing over his daughter.  The miner killed the man only to later find the man was the doctor, the girl died, and the miner killed himself - all are buried in the same grave.

Creede has an outstanding exhibition mine that shows how the old timers did it.  Twelve hour shifts swinging sledge hammers in near total darkness. Ore and rock loaded with shovels by hand. Each miner shared a candle with another to do their work.  Horses were lowered into the mines  to perform the heavy hauling and returned to the surface daily -ugh.  The trail had several abandoned mines:

Abandoned mine, and a portion of the gravel road we drove.

 



We've been educated...there are no grizzly bears in Colorado,not since the late 70's, so the honey-cinnamon colored bears we've seen are just bears - boooo!  BUT, they are much larger than the black bears we commonly see in N.C., W.V., and other eastern states.

Sunday, we decided to try trout fishing, well, Rich wanted to fish.  I was all set to paint and picnic, but the weather didn't cooperate,  Rich had little fishing time (and no luck), and I waited in the car.  Colorado boasts great trout fishing.

Rich lost a filling in a molar, and we discovered just how remote South Fork is....there is only a "traveling" dentist available, and no one knew when he was due back in town.  We finally found one in Pagosa Springs, 50 miles away, and 1000 feet lower in elevation.  We packed up, and headed out.

We travel with a gps especially programmed for our coach's, height, weight, and length, so when it sent us out on highway 160, we had no qualms.  Jeeze, 7% grade for over 6 miles, across Wolf Creek pass at 10,800 feet, and the continental divide.  I was so glad Rich was driving.  Up hill was a strain with our CRV in tow, but downhill was a panic.  Trucks crept along at 25 mph, and we tried to stay out of their way.  There were numerous sand-filled, run-away up-ramps for trucks that burned up their brake capability.  We were glad to hit bottom, at 7200 feet, it felt like the longest 50 miles we've ever driven.  For the last four days, we have been seeing bicyclists in a coast to coast race.  Seeing them pedal up Wolf Creek was hard to watch.

We landed safely, and have checked into a roadside campground.  We have one tv channel, and very slow, intermittent wifi.