Silverton to Animas Forks – Part I
On Saturday morning Amanda and I headed down to Silverton. After setting up camp we made our way down the road that leads from Silverton to Animas Forks that we have traveled many times before. In the past we have explored a bunch of the side trails off of this road (Cunningham Gulch, Eureka Gulch, Picayune Gulch & Placer Gulch), however there were a few that either I have not checked out before, or that were blocked by snow when I attempted them. Our goal for this day was to check out the rest of those trails.
We started off in Arrastra Gulch. This was a quick one, as it appears that the trail now dead ends at private property pretty quickly.
Look up for the tram at the start of Arrastra Gulch
There still are some nice views from this short trail
Before heading back out to the Animas Forks Road, we took the trail up to Little Giant Basin.
Headed up to Little Giant Basin
Tram tower
Sealed up King Solomon Mine portal
Big Giant Mill
Gold Lake at the end of the trail
On our way back down, we stopped to check out the Black Prince mining camp.
After making it back down, we headed over to our next destination: Maggie Gulch.
Headed up into Maggie Gulch
Looking back
Some ruins at the end of the trail
Stopped by this waterfall on the way back down
Our next destination was the next gulch north; Minnie Gulch. Amanda drove my Jeep on this one, so I could relax.
Caledonia Mine boarding house
Cabins along the trail
Further up Minnie Gulch
Waterfall along the trail
Two-track at the end of the Minnie Gulch trail
To be continued in a little bit…