Park County

Today we hiked a 14er! We have been admitted to the club!! We started around 8am this morning. It was a perfect day! The sun is strong, but the breeze keeps you cool. It started with a bumpy 10 mile drive to the gate where you start. There are abandoned mines all over the place. There is one right at the start. But we said we wanted to get up the mountain first and we could check these out later.

I paced myself to keep from being too out of breath. But Gary wanted to hike faster. Oh well! The start was uphill (no surprise there) but it was a better uphill than Byers Peak! At about the halfway point, it got pretty steep and the terrain became loose rock. We had hiking sticks so it wasn't too bad, but there were people that were almost crawling! The route was easy to follow and was manageable! At about 13,900 feet I did start to get dizzy, but I think it was because I was so excited about being at the top that I was going too fast! But after the last push, we were there!!

It was really cool! We even could see Leadville! We had a lot of fun there the last time we were in Colorado. We took pictures had some food and drank a celebratory beer! After about half an hour we started to make our way down. The loose rocks kept us from going too fast, but at least I was breathing easier! We got down and went to check out one of the old mines. We ate lunch there and then hiked the rest of the way down. It was such a feeling of accomplishment! After we got cleaned up, I told Gary I wanted to get a shirt with Mt. Sherman on it. So we went into town.

We found our shirts, got some ice cream, walked down to the river and went to the Visitor's Center. We talked to the guy at the desk and he told us all about the mining in the area. He said it was actually more profitable to dig up gravel!! Instead of gold!! So a lot of the mines had switched over to mining gravel. Crazy! 🤑

We watch Gold Rush (a TV show) and they used to have a mine in Fairplay. This guy knew all about it and told us where it was. We went to check it out. That was pretty cool! Then it was dinner at South Park Brewing (where we watched it rain on My. Sherman) and bed. I am tired!! 🥱😴Les mer