6th Street (the road is on the left)
No, not our motel room - a old mining shack on 6th
St
The view from our Motel Room
A Trip Across the USA
Jon Vermilye's Photo Page
May 2 - Continued
After we uploaded to web page, we had a wonderful steak dinner (Thanks Dick & Anne) took a drive out sixth street. An interesting thing about the streets of Leadville - they turn into mountain trails. My favorite was a road that was on the AAA map when we went to Leadville in 1996. It went from Leadville to Alma, a nearby town. I believe it was called 7th Street at the Leadville end. Only thing was the only thing that might make it through the road would be a 4 wheel drive with a good driver, and then only after enough snow melts (usually about the middle of July!) I noticed that it is now listed by AAA as unpaved.
After the drive we headed out to find our motel. The problem is no one was home & the sign said they wouldn't be back until 9:00. Since we were already tired (Leadville is at 10,200' altitude which can have an effect if you don't take time to acclimate) we went looking. We ended up at the Any Trail Lodge, another "interesting" place. The view out the window was wonderful, the room so so but at that point we didn't care.
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6th Street (the road is on the left) |
No, not our motel room - a old mining shack on 6th
St |
The view from our Motel Room |
May 3 - Leaving Leadville
Had a good breakfast at the "something" (can't remember the full name) Burro restaurant on Main St in Leadville, then headed over to the Mining Museum. Lots of exhibits of mining techniques, minerals, and the history of mining not only in Leadville, but across the country.
Stopped off for lunch with Dick & Anne Dougherty. They left Oswego, NY for Leadville in 1971 - If you are wondering why someone would choose to live at 10200' with possible frosts any month of the year, below is a photo looking East down their street. There are mountain views in every direction, and they get less snow per year than Oswego. Of course, they can get it any month, but... Plus there is lots of skiing in the area.
Anyhow, off to the next stretch of the trip. We headed up route 24 even though the signs said no through traffic. A friend of Anne's told he you could get through so we tried. They are replacing or repairing a bridge at Red Cliff & the detour was along a road that was probably an old stagecoach trail. Wonderful views, but barely cut into the side of the mountain & no railings!
We hopped between Interstate 70 & US 6 until we got to Glenwood Canyon. There is a PBS film of the making of I 70 through the canyon that shows the extent the designers & engineers went to to have as little impact as possible. It works - it is a beautiful drive. Stopped at Hanging Lake for some photos of the stream running down from the lake. Dick said there might not be much water in the stream, and there wasn't. The only part that had any water was the very bottom. Just as well; I remember the climb when we stopped in 1996, and I'm 8 years older! I included a photo below - some from 1996 are on another part of this web site. Stopped for the night at the Caravan Inn in Glenwood Springs.
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View East at 10th St, Leadville, CO |
Stream from Hanging Lake |
May 4 - Utah & Wyoming
Still no luck finding an Internet connection. I guess that is probably a good thing - the news today talked about a new worm taking over the net. Glad this is being put together on a Mac rather than Microsoft's OS.
Another day of switching back & forth between I 70 & US 6. Since we are not in a hurry, in fact, we are still a day or two ahead of schedule, the slower pace of US 6 is better. The problem it keeps ending, usually a few miles past the last entrance to I 70.
Well, we are now back on the way North. We left US 6 at Rifle, CO & took 13, 5 & 64 to the Utah border. Colorado 64 joins US 40 as you enter Utah. Continued on US 191, UT 44, 43, 414 & 412, and finally, US 189. There are some pictures below of the views along the drive. They don't show the starkness of much of the scenery. Beautiful, but very isolated. Cattle & sheep populate the sections that have water; the rest is barren. It must be the shape of the surrounding hills & mountains provide moisture for the Daggett National Forest area - it is a oasis of green in a red & gray landscape. Both food & lodging are few & far between along this section of the trip.
Stopped for the night at the Fairview Motel, Diamondville, WY.
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Red Rocks outside Glenwood Springs |
Flaming Gorge, UT & WY |
Flaming Gorge 2 |
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The Daggett National Forest |
A Small Lake - Daggett National Forest |
Gray Hills, Rt 414, Wyoming |
Hopefully, we will find a network connection so that this can be uploaded. Until then...
May 5 - The Tetons
We left Diamondville, WY around 8:30 this morning after a long talk with the owner of the Motel. He is from Hawaii, and has traveled many of the areas we are planning to visit. I'm not sure about this guy - his idea of true Hawaiian coffee was a pot of hazelnut rather than Kona, but he did have some good suggestions for places to visit in Washington.
The drive up US 189 was interesting. We often went 50 miles without seeing another living human, or for that matter, living anything including animals, grass, trees, I mean anything! When we did come to a town, it often consisted of one or two houses. A large town had a population of 100 or so. As we got closer to the Tetons, signs of water started showing, and the towns grew closer together.
We arrived at the Tetons, and you are going to have to put up with lots of photos. This is a beautiful place, and although these images were taken in the early afternoon, which is the worst possible light, the day was clear & the park uncrowded.
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View From the Main Park Road |
South Boat Ramp, Jenny Lake |
South Boat Ramp, Jenny Lake |
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South Boat Ramp, Next to |
Jenny Lake Overlook |
Jenny Lake Overlook |
Tonight we are staying in Jackson, at the Rawhide Motel. For those not familiar with it, Jackson is a "Gentrified" city of about 8000 about 10 miles south of the Tetons. It is mostly famous for it's skiing area, and as the wintering grounds for a large elk herd.
I'll probably have more on the Tetons & Yellowstone next time, but we found the Hard Drive Cafe, and for a cup of coffee, we have a WiFi connection!
Later...
This page is maintained by: vermilye@oswego.edu
Last Update:
March 25, 2012