Mountains of Minerals | Friday – Sunday, August 1-3, 2025
This weekend I headed up into the San Juan Mountains near Ouray so I could hike a few new trails and explore some of the old mining ruins that are found along the upper reaches of Red Mountain Creek from Ironton Park up to Peters Pass. The weather forecast for the weekend was looking pretty dry, but there was bound to be some smoke in the air from all the wildfires currently burning in the southwest this summer. As usual, I left from work on Friday afternoon, stopped for a quick dinner in Delta and then continued up the Million Dollar Highway to the Red Mountain Mining District for my first hike which would take me to the Corkscrew Gulch Turntable and American Girl Mine.
After leaving the highway and making my way up towards Guston I parked in Champion Gulch and followed the old Silverton Railroad grade through the trees to the remains of the old turntable.
I stopped to visit the Guston Depot along the way.
Silverton Railroad Grade
After a little more than a mile I reached the Corkscrew Gulch Turntable which was used to turn locomotives around at the switchback located here.
On my way over to the American Girl Mine I passed by this old boiler.
American Girl Mine
A peek inside the American Girl Mine. The floor didn’t seem stable enough for me to risk entering.
Apparently, this is the only standing shaft house that still has it’s steam boiler.
Here’s one last look over the American Girl as I climbed back up to the railroad grade.
Next up I went for a short walk to the Beaver and Belfast Mine which offered this view of Brown Mountain on the other side of Ironton Park.
The Larson Brothers Mine was located right near the trailhead.
Larson Brothers Mine
After finishing up with the short hikes I drove up the Black Bear Pass Road and found a spot to camp along Mineral Creek.
I went for a short walk up the road from camp and had a nice view of Sultan Mountain before sunset.
After a decent night of sleep I was up before sunrise on Saturday morning so I could drive just a little further up the road and start hiking into the upper basin of Red Mountain Creek at dawn.
There were quite a few clouds in the sky this morning and I was hoping for a good sunrise.
I followed an old mining track over the divide from Mineral Creek to Red Mountain Creek.
Bear Mountain
The sun came out as I hiked higher into the basin.
Once I got high enough in the basin I could see Peters Pass which would be one of my destinations this morning.
Before continuing on to Peters Pass I took a short detour to the lower ridge of Trico Peak where I had a good view of Mineral Basin and Black Bear Pass.
Trico Ridge
Looking down over the headwaters of Red Mountain Creek from the ridge.
As I continued higher into the basin I had continuous views of PT 13510 which I had hiked to the summit of back in 2018 from Imogene Pass.
I just love these high country views above treeline!
I passed by this small tarn in the upper basin.
After a steep and loose climb I reached Peters Pass just below Trico Peak.
I followed another old mining track to the other low point on the ridge. I guess I’m not sure which of the two low points is actually Peters Pass since it’s not a named pass on any map that I’ve seen?
Once I reached the other end of the pass I scrambled back down into the basin to go explore a few mining ruins I spotted off in the distance.
It was a lovely walk across the alpine tundra.
This is the old miner’s cabin I had seen from the pass.
Not a bad view from this old cabin! It’s just too bad that it was a bit smoky out this morning.
Miner’s Cabin & Peters Pass
Next, I walked over to the ruins of the Senator Beck Mine.
Then I dropped down to the shore of the unnamed lake below the old mine.
On my way back across the basin to close the loop, I came across a collapsed mine tunnel with tracks coming out of it.
This ore cart was down below the other end of the tracks.
Leaving the basin as I followed the old mining road back to my truck.
Since I had finished the loop to Peters Pass and the Senator Beck Mine much quicker than I had anticipated, I drove down to Ouray for an early lunch and to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of the day. While eating lunch I thought it might be a good idea to hike up McIntyre Gulch to the Greyhound Mine. I had tried to hike up to this mine from Spirit Gulch back in 2018, but was turned around by weather and thought it might be nice to complete the loop today.
Unfortunately, after hiking almost a mile and a half with about 800 feet of elevation gain I was stopped by a locked gate with No Trespassing signs across the road. It sure would have been nice to know that this route didn’t go through down at the bottom of the road, especially since it used to be an open route…
With those plans thwarted I decided to head on over to Spirit Gulch and try from there.
Well, I didn’t end up making it all the way to the Greyhound Mine this time either because my legs were just too tired and I ended up stopping in Spirit Gulch to turn around.
Red Mountain No. 3
After returning to my truck I drove back over to Mineral Creek and found a campsite with a good view where I could relax for the rest of the evening.
Mineral Creek Campsite
Sultan Mountain
Anvil Mountain
After reading for a while I watched the sunset and then went to bed early.
I slept the best I have while camping in a while on Saturday night and then was up again well before sunrise on Sunday morning so I could drive down to the Richmond Trailhead in Ironton Park and start hiking up the Richmond Trail before sunrise. I had hiked to Richmond Pass from the other side last year and was looking forward to hiking to the pass again this morning.
The first half of the trail was in the trees with very limited views, but eventually I could see the Red Mountains shortly after sunrise.
Richmond Trail
Finally starting to get above the trees!
Once I reached the junction with the Full Moon Gulch Trail the route stayed above treeline with open views.
The trail got pretty steep for a little bit…
Once past the steepest part I had a good view of Richmond Peak.
Looking straight ahead to Richmond Pass.
Hayden Mountain South
Following the trail up to the pass.
Richmond Pass Ridge
I sat down to rest just on the other side of the pass above Richmond Basin and had a great view of the Sneffels Range including Mount Sneffels and Potosi Peak.
After a short rest I started the hike back down the Richmond Trail into Ironton Park.
A wonderful post, Randy. Your photos brought back so many good memories from when I hiked thru that country during the mid 1970s. It doesn’t look like much has changed.
I was just just thinking the other day that I hadn’t spoken to you for a while, so it’s great to hear from you!
Beautiful photos and great narrative, as usual. Thank you!
Thanks Nancy!