So here we go with another installment of
Lori Dee in the Wild©, this time for Independence Day.
I got the MRI done first thing in the morning. The technician told me he doesn't do much for the Fourth of July, so he volunteered to work overtime. That works for me. I got my scan done, and he got paid. Win-win.
Afterward, I went home, changed into my hiking boots, filled the water can on my Jeep, and headed west to Cañon City, then drove north along the Shelf Road up to the Cripple Creek Gold Mining District.
The Shelf Road is a one-way, rough dirt road that was formerly a stagecoach road between the two towns for passengers and supplies. It became obsolete when they put in a railroad between Cripple Creek and Florence through Phantom Canyon. Shelf Road was blasted into the sides of the cliff walls, so in places it is a very narrow, single-lane road with a few wider spots to pull over and let oncoming traffic get by. The road runs from the Garden Park area just north of Cañon City, at an elevation of 5,330 feet above sea level (1,902m), up to 9,395 feet (2,863m) near Cripple Creek.
This adventure brought to you by Jeep Wrangler.
In this shot, you can see in the distance how the road was cut into the steep hillside.
I was scouting for access points where I could hike down to Four-Mile Creek below and maybe do some gold panning. There is an old saying: "You can't get there from here!"
I am standing at the edge of the road looking down. I pictured a stagecoach robbery where the stage is racing along this cliff at high speed, and the cowboys are fighting on top. Then one falls off and clings to the open stage door, his feet dangling over the edge.
The good news was that at that elevation, I was high above the smoke from the Aspen Acres fire far to the south. You can see Garden Park in the distance, along with the smoke that fills the valley. The bad news was that the altitude was giving me a headache, and I was getting winded from short walks. That's a sign of Altitude Sickness.
Some dark clouds were rolling in from the north, and I could hear thunder in the distance.
@Jessica_Rose texted me that it looked like it was moving east, so it was unlikely to affect me. It was getting late in the day, and I had not found a site to do some prospecting, so I headed back toward Garden Park and the Dinosaur Fossil quarries.
On my way back south, I found a very promising area. The geology looked good, and there was a dry wash that I could hike down without gravity taking over and sending me to my doom. There were a couple of problems, though.
The only place to park was in front of a double-gated road, used as a Maintenance Access for the Bureau of Land Management. It had a sign that clearly stated, "Road Closed. Do not park in front of this gate." So I parked in front of the other gate next to it.
🙂The other problem was that the dry wash was heavily guarded by the rosebush's evil twin, the lovely Golden Cholla Cactus. If you are not familiar with the Cholla, avoid it at all costs. Unlike the rose, these spines are barbed. So if you get stuck and break it off, it does not come out. It will continue to work its way deeper and deeper. Trust me on this. Even if you stay ten feet away, they seem to be able to launch themselves in front of you just as you trip over a rock and land on top of it. Then it laughs at you.
Like many cacti, they do have some beautiful flowers. It's a trap! Run away!
I managed to grab six or eight rocks for testing and screened about 10 lbs of dirt to bring home. I got back to the Jeep, and there were no government agents present and no ticket on my windshield. Yay!
I proceeded down to Garden Park to a nice little fishing hole on the creek. The limestone cliffs are impressive, but the water level was very low compared to when I was here in the early Spring.
By this time, it was late in the day. Jessica and Susan had invited me to stop by for some food, but I was exhausted. All I wanted at that point was a shower and my recliner.
Today, I got the rocks washed off and drying so I can check them with my UV light. Then the next step will be to start processing this dirt to see if it contains any gold.
Fingers crossed.
