Mueller SP D3 ... 11 Mile SP & Victor

The second half of our last day of camping at Mueller saw us exploring by car. This footprint covers that story.

We left Mueller with the GPS programmed to get us to Eleven Mile State Park near Lake George. Our goal was to check out the campground there for a possible "rustic camping" trip this fall.

What we didn't know when we set out is that most of the road to get there is dirt ... and not always very smooth. Nope, we won't be taking the Cruiser to camp at Eleven Mile SP even if the scenery is quite lovely. We would have eaten our snacks at one of the picnic tables there, but it was very windy ... with whitecaps forming on the surface of the water. So, we moved on after a quick look-see.

I should mention that the road we took to detour to check out Lake George on our way to the state park was terrible. We've got the GPS set to route us via the shortest distance. More often than not this allows us to enjoy country roads with nice scenery. The narrow, single-lane road we found ourselves on this time was exceptionally rough, with some very deep ruts that required Mui to take them at an angle to minimize the bumps. Good thing we have a high-clearance vehicle or we never would have made it. And good thing we never did come across a vehicle coming from the opposite direction as I don’t know how we would have managed to pass each other on that road!

From Eleven Mile State Park, we programmed the GPS to take us to Victor ... "the City of Gold Mines." To get there from where we were, we drove a combination of dirt and paved roads that eventually took us to the Teller One Road and through Cripple Creek.

The section of the road between Cripple Creek and Victor is very scenic. It also runs by the current gold mine operation, with the terraced dump rocks clearly visible from overlooks where info panels described what we were seeing.

When we arrived in Victor, we were greeted by several colorful murals. The historic area has charm. But like Cripple Creek a few days ago, the place was ghost-town-quiet ... another small town that has fallen victim to the pandemic.

Noting a few relics from the heyday of the town's gold rush history, we headed off to explore a bit. I checked out a couple of trails that might make for an interesting hike ... but not today ... with no shade, it was just too hot to be hiking at nearly 10,000 feet.

While I was wandering around, taking pictures. Mui was doing a web search for someplace with a patio so we could have an early dinner. Turns out that of the three highly-rated places, two had already closed for the day. The third was a bakery that was open for another ½-hour. So we headed there. Unfortunately, the sandwiches did not appeal and the German chocolate cake we ordered to share was definitely past its “best by date.” So sad.

Our return route to Mueller was on CO-67 ... a very scenic section that we had not driven before, so we enjoyed the drive back to our home-on-wheels.

Tomorrow we head back home.Read more