IntrepidXJ's Adventure Weblog

Those were the words a prospector shouted two miles upstream from Bonanza. That’s how the town got it’s name….and Bonanza would be my destination for the second day of my adventure. This town’s population jumped quickly to around 5,000 in 1880, and those people left just as fast in 1890. I would be exploring the roads that they once traveled and would stop to check out the old mining relics along the way.

Before I could get to Bonanza, I would have to head out from camp. I followed a loop from the side road I had camped along to make my way back to the highway.

When I reached CO 114, I headed southeast to Saguache and filled up my fuel tank. From there I continued on to Villa Grove and then took a left onto the main road that heads into Bonanza along Kerber Creek.

Pretty soon I had reached my destination.

Unfortunately, Bonanza is all private property, so you can’t really do much exploring of the old buildings in town. I did snap a few photos from along the road.

You can check out this cabin at the townsite of Exchequer, which is a few miles north of Bonanza.

Soon I turned off the main road to check out the Slaughterhouse / Kerber Creek loop trail.

Cocomongo Mine and Mill

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Last Wednesday I headed out on my Colorado Adventure. While I didn’t make a set itinerary for the trip this year, there were a few areas that I wanted to explore further, and I tried to connect them into a big loop. From Grand Junction I headed south to Montrose and continued on US 50 towards Gunnison. After a quick side-trip on Blue Mesa and then topping off my gas tank in Gunnison I continued on to CO 114 and my first destination; The Cochetopa Hills. I had driven through this area quickly a few years ago when I took Los Pinos Pass over into the San Juans, and I was itching to get back and explore some more.

Pretty soon I had spotted a side road named Camp Kettle Gulch Road. I figured that it was a good time to get off the pavement and get the real trip started. I was greeted by some nice scenery.

Hardened lava along the road

I didn’t consult a map before heading down this road, so I wasn’t sure if I would be turning back around or finding another way out, but as luck would have it, this road ended up connecting to the Table Top Road and bringing me back to the highway right near the start of Los Pinos Pass…..and right where I wanted to be!

While making my way towards Los Pinos Pass, I passed a sign that I don’t remember from my last trip down this road.

I love checking out historic routes, so I just had to follow this section of the Saguache – San Juan Toll Road constructed by Otto Mears and Enos T. Hotchkiss in 1874.

Much of it was in the trees.

Then I ran into a traffic jam. They were slow to get out of my way….

Two-tracking out of the trees

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August 21-22, 2010

Since Amanda had to work this weekend and I didn’t want to travel too far from home, I headed out to explore the La Sal Mountains as part of my Laccolith Tour this year. I have been to the La Sals a number of times before, so I have driven most of the main trails, so my goal this trip was to explore some new ones. From my house I headed up Unaweep Canyon to Gateway and then took John Brown Canyon up into the foothills of the La Sals.

Before getting started on my first trail, I stopped along the Castleton-Gateway Road and found some dinosaur footprints that I knew were in the area.

The best print

One filled with some dirt with the other one in the background

Overlook near the dino prints

My next destination was to check out the trail on Fisher Mesa. This one had been on my to-do list for a while…..

Along the trail I stopped and made a short hike to a geocache that was hidden near an old cabin on the rim of Fisher Mesa

Great view from the old cabin

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This morning I headed to the Colorado National Monument to hike down Monument Canyon. Here’s a few photos I took along the way.

Making my way down into the canyon

Looking over the Coke Ovens from the side trip to the overlook

Continuing on down the trail

The Coke Ovens from below

At the bottom of the canyon

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On Saturday, Amanda and I headed a little south to Ouray and then proceeded up Camp Bird Road and into Yankee Boy Basin. Our destination was to hike to Blue Lakes Pass so that I could scout out the route up Mount Sneffels along the way for a future hike/climb.

Gilpin Peak across Yankee Boy Basin from the upper parking area

Start of the hiking trail

Wrights Lake and Gilpin Peak

Continuing on…..I really like this photo

Gilpin Peak

Amanda snapped this photo of me

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Since Amanda had to work today, it was up to me to figure out what I was going to do. While having breakfast this morning, I figured I would head up on the Uncompahgre Plateau to explore a few roads I haven’t been on yet. I started out on Divide Road and made a large loop all the way back home. Here’s a few pictures from my day.

Stopped in a large grove of aspens on Campbell Point

Coming down the other side of the plateau, there were great views of the La Sal Mountains

Drove through a historic uranium mining area…..I will have to spend more time here in the future

Near Mesa Creek

Found a few petroglyphs

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With temperatures over 100 degrees in Grand Junction this weekend, we headed up into the mountains for some cooler temperatures. We made our way south to Silverton before heading over Stony Pass. After stopping to find a geocache along the small Rio Grande, we headed for Kite Lake.

Kite Lake was a nice place to stop for some lunch

An old cabin on the shore of Kite Lake

Headed back towards Stony Pass

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One of the goals I set for myself this year was to hike a 14er. Yesterday morning two friends and I hopped into my Jeep and headed down to the San Juan Mountains to try Handies Peak. Handies Peak is 14,048 feet high and ranked 40th out of the 53 14ers in Colorado. I chose this mountain because it’s relatively close to home, but mainly because it is one of the easier trails to the top of a 14er. From American Basin the trail is only 5.5 miles round trip with about 2500 feet of elevation gain.

Since we were in my Jeep, we headed south to Animas Forks via Silverton and headed over Cinnamon Pass to reach American Basin. We ended up starting the hike a little later than we had planned, but we did end up reaching the summit by around noon. There were a number of dark clouds forming around us when we reached the top, but luckily we only had a few sprinkles of rain fall on us during our descent. I definitely struggled a little from the saddle to the peak, but am happy to report that I did make it all the way to the top

Here’s a few photos from our climb.

Handies Peak towers above my Jeep in American Basin before we get started.

Hiking to the top

Andrew

Me.

Andrew and the trail ahead

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Since I had Monday off from work and Amanda had to work I decided to head down to the San Juans for a little day trip. My destination was part of the Alpine Loop and my goals were to find a few geocaches along the way and get a little hiking in.

After passing through Ouray, I turned off of the Million Dollar Highway at the Mineral Creek trail and started climbing.

As usual, I stopped at the Mickey Breen mine.

The view up into Poughkeepsie Gulch

I also stopped at Mineral Point to take a few photos

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This weekend Amanda and I headed up into the Flat Tops to explore an area we hadn’t been to yet. We started in Dotsero and headed up Coffee Pot Road, following a number of side roads to see where they went. We made a large loop that brought us next to the Flat Tops Wilderness area and to Adam’s Lake, before making our way back to Heart Lake. We setup camp on the shore of Bison Lake for the night. The next morning we checked out the Grizzly Jeep Trail and then made our way down to Glenwood Springs via the Transfer Trail. Here’s a few photos from the weekend.

Headed to the Deep Creek Overlook

View over Deep Creek

Following the little used Coffee Pot Corral Road

Big storm cloud rolling it. It rained for a little bit until this cloud blew over

Ten Mile Park

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