Monday, September 22, 2014

Argentine Pass and McClellan Mountain

If you are an avid follower of this blog, you may recognize this destination from three years ago.  We traveled from Breckenridge to Georgetown where we found our way to Guanella Pass before turning off on the rough road that took us to Waldorf.  Waldorf was a  mining community accessed by trains. One half of the 11 Jeeps drove up to Argentine Pass while the other group headed to McClellan Mountain.

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We were in the Argentine Pass group.  This is not truly a pass today as the down side of the road was closed off to traffic.  But the views from the top were magnificent!  Just as we were ready to descend it started snowing!  At 13,300 feet it felt more like sleet but as we worked our way down past 12,500 feet it gradually changed to rain and then blew on past.

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Our second climb was up to McClellan Mountain.  The railroad that came up to the mine extended its line up the mountain for the sole purpose of tourism.  There used to be an old mining tunnel filled with ice formations and the views from above were spectacular! The trip was call the Stairway to the Stars and at over 13,000 feet it probably felt like they could touch the stars. The tunnel is long gone but the road remains. And the views were awesome as was the high winds!

The ride back down seemed to take forever and we were really tired when we got back to the RV.

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