Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tag: cunningham gulch

Old Hundred Gold Mine Tour

Saturday, July 21, 2018

I’ve been driving by the Old Hundred Gold Mine Tour near Silverton every summer for over a decade now, and every time I do I always think to myself that I should stop by and check it out sometime. Usually I have other plans and am headed elsewhere, so I never do. Since my family from out of town has been visiting me for the past few days, they wanted to go to the Ouray Hot Springs this morning and then drive over Red Mountain Pass so they could go on the Mine Tour and get dinner in Silverton afterwards. Since Diane and I have been tagging along with them wherever they want to go, we finally got our chance to check out this tour. I must say, it was pretty cool and very informative if you are at all interested in the old mines found in the region. For those who are not familiar, this particular tour lasts about one hour and takes you 1/3 of a mile into the heart of 13,300 foot Galena Mountain where you can follow the vein and see real mining equipment in action. I took a number of photos during the tour that you can check out below.

2 Comments

Highland Mary Lakes & Verde Lakes

Saturday & Sunday, June 9-10, 2018

This weekend Diane and I decided to go on a very early season backpacking trip into the high country near Silverton. During a normal year we wouldn’t even consider going on a backpacking trip into the mountains until later in June or early in July, but with the low snowpack this year we decided to give it a try much earlier to see how the conditions really were. Also, since it’s still early in the season, the monsoons haven’t started yet and we would be able to camp well above tree line without worrying about storms or lightning. Plus, with Highway 550 closed between Durango and Silverton because of the 416 Fire, we figured the mountains near Silverton wouldn’t be very busy right now and we hoped to find plenty of solitude.

5 Comments

Beating the Heat in the San Juan Mountains

Saturday & Sunday, June 23-24, 2012

After spending a few hours in the morning at the Shavano Valley Petroglyph Park near Montrose, we continued driving into the San Juan Mountains to get out of the heat for the weekend. Shortly after crossing over Red Mountain Pass we turned down the road along the South Fork of Mineral Creek and found a campsite for the weekend. After setting up our camp we drove through Silverton and made our way up Cunningham Gulch to the trailhead for the Highland Mary Lakes. As soon as we passed through Silverton the valley started filling up with smoke, and by the time we reached the Cunningham Trailhead the smoke had become pretty thick and there was even a little ash falling from the sky. We would later learn this smoke was from a wildfire that had started near Mancos.

2 Comments

June San Juan’s Day Trip

Saturday, June 20, 2009

With word of the trails in the San Juan Mountains starting to open up already thanks to plenty of dust storms this spring, Amanda and I decided to head down for a day trip. Our destination was a few trails around Silverton. Amanda wanted to drive a trail this trip and since she’s never been up Stony Pass she ended up driving that one. Unfortunately, on our way up to the pass, the weather got bad. It started out as some heavier rain, but as we got higher it turned into snow. The tops of all the mountains were out of view behind the clouds. Once we reached Stony Pass, we decided to turn around and head out of the clouds and into a lower trail.

Leave a Comment