Leftover Colorado, part eight (July 2013)

Written by ceddammit

At long last, we have reached the final installment* of my 2013 “Leftover Colorado” trip, which started with this post TWO MONTHS ago! This final day of the trip started with a drive from the town of Gunnison to the town of Creede, and general exploration thereabouts. My first stop along the way was the Alferd Packer historical marker, just south of Lake City, Colorado. If you don’t recognize the name Alferd Packer, read the historical marker:

What a wonderfully gruesome way to start ThrowBack Thursday, eh? Don’t worry, the gore ends here. Now there’s just mountain scenery along the route from Lake City to Creede. Have a look:

Mine tailings piled above Creede, Colorado
That mountain in the middle is so…toothy!

Shortly before arriving at Creede, I encountered something I had failed to notice on any maps. A surprise waterfall! Namely, North Clear Creek Falls. View it below. Click on pictures to enlarge them.

Do you prefer your waterfalls creamy…
or chunky?
That was just the upper part of the waterfall. Here’s the whole thing.

Now we get to the day’s main course: the Bachelor Historic Tour. This is a 17-mile loop north of Creede, Colorado featuring some of the craziest verticality I’ve ever seen in and around mining structures. I don’t want to oversell it, so just know that I LOVE THIS, and I hope that you click on the pics below, and decide you must go see this place for yourself:

Impressive series of wood retaining fences…good start.
These stone foundations indicate there was likely a mill standing here at one time.
Detail of the old-school retaining fences
Commodore Mine
Commodore Mine
With a name like “Commodore Mine” do you suppose they mined for commodes?
Commodore Mine
I wonder if he carved out that notch by himself.
Commodore Mine
Commodore Mine
Commodore Mine
There were almost certainly rails for ore carts along this man-made ledge.
Mine adit (look it up) with ore cart rails still in place
I had to drive up this beast of a road to complete the loop.
Tram towers, and in surprisingly good condition!
My car is playing Peek-A-Boo!
Another mine adit.
What the Hell?

As I’ve mentioned previously, I don’t normally bother checking out cemeteries, but Philip Varney (in his book, “Ghost Towns of Colorado”) mentioned that Bob Ford was originally buried in the Creede cemetery. In case the name Bob Ford doesn’t ring a bell, he was the man who claimed to have killed Jesse James (the bank/train robber, not the guy from that motorcycle show). While I didn’t encounter old Bob’s grave marker, I found this miniature church / mausoleum I though was kinda cool:

And with that, this series FINALLY comes to an end!* Just in time, too. Y’see, there will be no ThrowBack Thursday for the next two weeks, as I will be reporting from the field. That is, if you can call the Virgin Islands a field.

*Update: After posting the above, I realized that there was actually one more day on this trip. That FINAL final day will be blogged on February 2nd, 2023.

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