Most of the crew were going across Ophir, into Telluride and back on Imogene today. We have already been over Ophir several times this year and were not up for the long ride returning on Imogene so we went off solo today. We went up Stony thinking we might be able to see the crashed plane, but that trail was blocked at the entrance. We diverted thru Cunningham Gulch to Highland Mary which is one of my favorite spots. There are several waterfalls, water crossings, flowers and lots and lots of good rocks. Seems like all you have to do is look down at your feet and there is an amazing rock. According to "Back Country Adventures," the Ennis brothers consultd a spiritualist for advice on where to mine in this area. The spiriualist sent them thru a convoluted search and they unknowingly crossed over some rich gold veins. They made a few lucky discoveries, but by 1885, they had invested about a million dollars in the mine plus $50,000 to the spiritualist. They went bankrupt, sold the mine & their elaborate house & returned to New York. The new owners, using more conventional methods, saw immediate payouts. Highland Mary became one of the best producing mines in Cunningham Gulch and operated on and off until 1952. (Remember you can click on any picture to enlarge it; use the back arrow in the toolbar to return to the blog.)
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Crossing a creek (thru the driver side window):
And the passenger side mid-stream:
Zoomed in on a very hesitant climber:
Living ....Parking on the edge:
I wanted this rock soooo bad! It had so many different kinds of neat stuff in it:
Another nice water crossing:
These people rode across in our backseat. I lost count how many times the kids said "thank you."
ZOOMED in on the old miners' boarding house:
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