Colorado Mining Town

The idyllic mountain town of Ophir, Colorado.

  Though most of the high mountain mines in Colorado have shuttered over the years as the silver and gold of the past era have dwindled. A few of the hamlets have made the conversion to mining other lucrative streams of revenue such as Aspen and Telluride with their tourist dollars and high end real estate. There are still those that offer the tiny mountain character that they once were to the hearty individuals that are willing to endure a little isolation. Ophir is one of those remnant townships. Basically over a mountain ridge from the disneyland that Telluride has become. The town is tucked in a valley at a lofty elevation of 9,700 feet with less than seventy residences, a post office and no retail businesses it is a bedroom community to neighboring populations especially located for individuals who are trying to develop high altitude edema. The peaks surrounding the area hold their snow well past the closing of ski areas in the state making it a mecca for late season ski touring. There are no paved roads off the highway so it makes a great destination for those trying to create the roughed up four wheeling visual on their spiffed up SUVs. It takes a hearty soul to live there but the views and access to the mountains is the real payoff.

Prayer flags on a porch hoping for snow.

Kimo learns what the hardy life really is.

Climbing for turns on Magnolia Mountain.

Hot feet do not stay that way long.

Sunsets over the west color the skies in winter.

Day in the Woods

Got a tip from a local in Nederland, Colorado yesterday. Seems there is a hut at the top of a hike that heads up the backside of the Eldora Ski area. Since the snow in the area is a little light and I did not want to fight the crowds before the holidays, it made a perfect adventure for the day. It is part of the Eldora Nordic Center trail system and is less than 5 miles in the trees above the resorts eastern flank. Threw on the skins, left the dog since he is not allowed on the trail and hoofed it up to a gorgeous overlook of the Colorado Front Range north into Rocky Mountain National Park. The cabin sleeps 14 in true bunkhouse fashion, but since I was only out for the day it was perfect for my lunch break. The trail is very well marked, just follow the snowshoe orange blazes till you get to the sign. A little more snow in the trees and the decent could be perfect.

The Road to Shangri-la

The road has always had a calling to me, it has taken me to places that as a child I could only dream about. Those dreams would include trips into the mountains and to oceans in unexplored places far away. It gave me a chance to ski, or climb, ride a bike or surf a distant wave but for some reason I was always looking west. It may have something to do with the geographic location where I grew up in Texas. The land there is relatively flat. Endless fields of grass spread to the horizon but definitely none of those mountains I yearned to cross in those western states have. All my desires were for adventures in those distant places hidden by those mountains.
As I looked into my rear view mirror on the return from one of these Rocky mountain trips recently, I could see the pot of gold setting behind me. I pulled over on U.S. Highway 69 somewhere east of the little town of Gardner, Colorado to take a photo of that sunset. The wind was blowing across the scattered tufts of grass and sage. The fires around Los Alamos far to the south helped create the overly red scene I saw in front of me. The road stretched out to the horizon in an uninterrupted ribbon of opportunities. As I sat listening to the wild stillness, creating just another memory of a wonderful trip to go with the hundreds from years past, the solution to an un-asked question came to me.
Everyone has their own Shangri-la, but for me I will always be traveling to the west to find it.