Kendall Mountain

Good early morning, my friends. When you travel with cats, they are kind enough to make sure you're always awake to see the sunrise. When the sun rose yesterday morning, this is what I could see from our window. It rained all night, but then cleared up for a cloudy and chilly day. We saw some sun breaks, but it never really warmed up very much. The forecast would have us believe that the rest of our time here will be sunnier, and presumably warmer.

 

Our first ride was to the top of Kendall Mountain, which is just behind the RV park. I didn't think to take a picture of it until late in the afternoon when it was half cast in shadow by surrounding mountains. I'll try again today. The first picture of the ride was taken as we began our ascent of this some 13,000 foot peak. Keep in mind that we are already above 9,000 feet when we're standing on the sidewalk in Silverton. And you can see the town in the image below. 

Our camper is at an RV park on the left side of the image above. I've marked it with an arrow in the image that follows.

Continuing on, we came to a break in the trees. Looking across the canyon, you can see the Million Dollar Highway snaking toward Durango.

Just a little farther on, we came to this old train car. There's no information about why it's here or how it was transported here. There are no nearby tracks, and so one would assume it was hauled up by mules or oxen(?). That's just a guess. I doubt it was hauled by any sort of vehicle, but I have no way to know.

One wonders what its function was. Did someone live here?

Was it some sort of "personnel" office? There is an abandoned mine up ahead.

As we moved higher, we were treated to more spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.

When we reached the top...oh my. I was glad for the sunbreak here because it shows off the colors of the aspen trees better. There was an icy wind up here, and so we didn't stay long.

Looking to our left, we could see a lake and more of the Million Dollar Highway.

As we came down the mountainside, we stopped at this abandoned mine shaft. It was really just a hole in the rocks.

The opening was fenced off, and there was water dripping from the rocks overhead.

I held my camera under the fence on the right side and snapped this image using flash. You can see some sort of rail on the left side. 

We marveled at how they could have blasted their way through this solid rock, given the technology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There were holes bored in the rocks where blasting charges might have been set.

Here's another one. As I looked I could see them all over the surface.

We ate our Clif bars and drank some water, and then continued down the hillside. I stopped to take pictures of the blooming things we encountered. The ones below are known as "Wild Mules Ears."

I believe these next ones are known as "Bristle Thistles." 

Right beside them was a patch of Wild Alpine Daisies. We've seen these all over.

We rode through forests of aspens on both sides of the road. I love everything about the aspens, including their smooth white trunks with the dark eyes.

Beyond, we stopped at another break in the trees to admire the breath-taking view.

There was a waterfall cascading down. It started near the top of this image and continued on down to the road. There, a buried pipe carried it under the road, and it continued its journey down the mountainside to a stream below.

It was a long and tiring ride. We were happy to get back to the camper for some lunch and naps. The kitties were right in the swing of things when it comes to napping. Sadie is particularly fond of this part of our trip.

She was getting very comfortable.

Just after I took that picture above, she rolled over onto her back. Ahhhhhhhhhh...

After napping, Mike went out again to fly his drone. You can see his footage of the area below. If you can't see the video, then click right here.

In Silverton, we can ride our ATV's right down the main streets through town, and so there's been no need to take the camper off the truck. We unloaded the ATV's from the trailer, and there is space for the trailer behind the RV park. The ATV's are parked right beside our camper. It's very convenient. 

So when Mike was out yesterday, he rode to the Rocky Mountain Cafe to get a funnel cake. We saw this cafe when we were killing time last week, but the place was mobbed. Almost no one is wearing a mask in these parts. We aren't terribly concerned since we are both fully vaccinated, but we still avoid crowds like the actual plague. We've learned since then that the town fills with tourists any time the Durango-Silverton train rolls into town. Yesterday, he found the streets (and the cafe) abandoned, and so he returned with the desired funnel cake.

They'll make them in most any flavor you want. Ours was drizzled with raspberry and chocolate sauce and then sprinkled with powdered sugar. Mmmm, mmm, mmm. It gives the Indian Fry Bread we found in Green River some competition, but I'd be hard pressed to say which one I like better. It was still warm when he came back to the camper, and so we each ate a quarter. (It's about the size of a frisbee.) We ate the rest after dinner. Before we leave here, we'll have another. That isn't a threat...just a fact. 

 

And no, funnel cake is not on our diet. On the other hand, I've lost nearly 10 pounds since starting back in July, and so I think I've earned a little splurge on funnel cake. That's what I'm telling myself anyway. 

Okay, so we'll do some more riding today. We're hoping the weather will be a little warmer than yesterday. I'm going to push for a ride to a ghost town today. Generally, I let Mike choose our trails, and he does a good job. His goal has been to get higher and higher. My input for the next rides will be to get older and older. We'll see what the day holds.

And now...except for the quilt shop...I'm up-to-date with my posts. There's still coffee to drink and so I'll do that one next. Stay tuned.