Sun June 19: ARRASTRA GULCH

This morning found Janet and me taking Patrick and Jimmy to the Brown Bear for breakfast since it is Fathers' Day.  Then we loaded up the Jeeps and headed to Arrastra Gulch.  Once again, we were not able to go very far due to snow drifts.  Speaking of snow, there are heavy clouds rolling in and the temps are supposed to be in the 20s tonight.  Fifty percent chance of rain/snow showers tomorrow!

Janet & I walked laps this morning & the low cloud between the mountains looked like snow.  I took this one with my cell phone:

 This is the cut-off to Arrastra Gulch & my favorite view of the Animas River:

 Patrick looking for gold?????

 Here's a view of the buckets that traveled 1.25 miles hauling ore up and down the mountain:

 Nice view of a waterfall across the way:

 Zoomed in:

 This was the end of the line for the Jeeps for today:

 Didn't look like a bad hike, but I sunk into the snow above my knees:

 Black Prince Mine covered in snow:

 We walked across one snowdrift to find this one:

 The snow is blocking the road we would normally take to Gold Lake:

 Looks like this tree has survived numerous snow slides:

 Following Patrick & Janet down to another trail:

 Another shot of one of the ore buckets:

 Snow beginning to melt on waterfall:

 Closer to the waterfall:

 In spite of the snow and cold, wildflowers are starting to pop up:

 First Columbine sighting:

 The flowers pop up in the strangest places, like this pile of rocks: