Day One on the Trail

John led the group today with Rick as the tailgunner.  When we drove through Ouray to pick up Greg and Cathy they had invited another couple to join us. They are very nice people and they were delighted to be able to Jeep with a group.  So today we had 9 jeeps.  Three of the Jeepers were very new at this so John made sure they were each following a more experienced driver.

We drove up Mineral Creek to Engineer Pass then through Lake City to Cinnamon Pass and up and over to Animas Forks before driving down the hill into Silverton.  It was an all day ride.  We didn’t even get to Lake City before we stopped for lunch!  We drove into Silverton at 5:45 pm so several stopped at the Handlebar Restaurant for dinner. The big thing that Rick, Bob & Cathy and us missed was our absent leader, Mike, commentary on the mines and history of the area. Tomorrow Rick is bringing Mike’s book for me to read and try to relate some of his knowledge to the newbies.

 

 

It was a beautiful day, lots of sun, light breezes and just a smattering of high clouds to keep it cool.  On our way to Silverton we spotted a moose - the only animal other than marmots that we have seen. He is much bigger than what he looks in the picture.

 

 

We didn’t get back to the RV until about 8PM Considering we were on the road at 7:30AM we are pooped.