Time Traveling: Yankee Boy Basin Trail

Good early morning, my friends. We had quite a rain storm blow through starting yesterday evening. It rained most of the night. If the forecast is to be believed, the rain should stop by 10:00 a.m., and then we'll have sunny skies for the rest of our time here in Silverton. Since I didn't get around to writing another post yesterday afternoon, this morning we'll do the first of our time traveling posts. I'll tell you about our first ride near Ouray. 

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we were working our way around a major road closure. We'd planned to drive through the area where it was closed, but then headed back into town, stopping at an ATV rental place. The woman working there couldn't have been more helpful, giving us ideas for alternative trails, and also giving us information about the closure. I don't know your name, woman at the ATV rental place, but thank you. So here we go. Strap on that helmet. We're going for a 26-mile ride today.

Leaving the state park we noticed, for the first time, an earthen dam. There is a reservoir on the other side, and we could see boats out on the water. The reservoir level was very low, and so I'm not sure how much boating could be done there without bottoming out.

The landscape heading into Ouray was serene. Flat, except for the San Juan Mountains off in the distance.

This is a ranching community, and we saw lots of grazing horses and cattle, in tranquil pastures.

The town of Ouray was very cute, lined with galleries, brewpubs, gift shops, and restaurants. We didn't spend a lot of time here, but we did have lunch at the Ouray Brewery, where I picked up a t-shirt for my son, Erik. It's a tradition. I collect refrigerator magnets and shot glasses for myself, t-shirts for him.

Here's how the other side of the street looked. This is a town born from the mining industry. It has an interesting history, and you can read more about it right here.

So we headed to the staging area, saddled up our mechanical horses, and off we went. Very soon, we were riding with high cliffs to our right and steep drop-offs to our left, leading to a stream below.

As we rode higher and higher, we were treated to some magnificent views of the mountains surrounding us. We overheard a guide saying there were 20+ volcanoes in this area, although none are active, to my knowledge. The mountains are young mountains, and the valleys scoured by glaciers during the ice age. Behind us, we could see this:

Mike was standing pretty close to the edge, and I worried about the ground giving way. (It happens!) He wanted to say it probably wasn't dangerous.

But then I pointed to this rockfall and asked him where he thought these rocks came from. I rest my case. One point for me.

Across the canyon, there were wildflowers blooming in abundance. I'll get up closer in a future post.

My internet search has revealed this next one to be larkspur. We saw a lot of this on all our rides.

Riding on, we attempted a trail that was quite rocky. I always make Mike ride ahead so I can watch where his wheels pass. On this particular trail, we came to a deep hole, a large boulder, and a deep hole in succession. Daredevil Mike rode over it, but when I saw one of his front wheels lift off the ground, I held up my fingers in an "X". Nope. He offered to ride my ATV over the whole affair, but I told him no. It was the one time among our many, many trail rides that I refused to go further, and so we turned around and took a different route. Someone has to be the adult presence, right?

We came to a spot where we could get off and take a short hike back to a rushing stream.

Walking on, we came to this twin waterfall.

Of course, a waterfall is always more fun with movement, so here's a little video I took of the waterfall.

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Moving on, we came to some more wild Alpine daisies. The butterflies liked these, and I was thrilled to get a picture of these black and white guys. It's the first time I've ever seen anything like them.

My friend Carol from Colorado, who is very smart about these things, tells me these are actually moths: Police Car Moths. I love that name. By the way, my friend Carol is a fabulous wildlife photographer. If you're on Instagram, you can find her feed identified as "cgwoodchip". (I've linked to her page there. I'm not sure if it works unless you're on Instagram.) She photographs hawks, elk, bighorn sheep, hummingbirds, owls, raccoons, foxes...the list goes on. Really...take a look. I promise you'll be entertained.

We rode on, as high as we could go on this particular day.

Eventually we came to the end of the road, where there was an old mining operation, no longer in production.

There wasn't much to see here, but I was taken by the year on this sign. I love seeing this old stuff. You can read more about this mine right here.

From there, we turned and rode back. That's Mike ahead of me. I make him ride ahead. If he dies, then I know to turn around and go the other direction.

There's obviously been some camping here. It's a nice spot to pitch a tent, but not this old cowgirl.

Look off in the distance, and you can see some of the roads we traveled or could travel.

Most all of the roads in this area were once mining roads. Even though the mining industry has petered out, the roads remain one of the area's most important economic assets. Tourism drives both Ouray and Silverton, and so the roads are well maintained and there are even restrooms along the way. Bonus!

Okay, so we managed to get through the first day pretty quickly. I think I'm still up for a second post this morning. Stay tuned.