Ride to Pitkin, Colorado

 Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Stopped to close the gates at this operating cattle ranch. Fully equipped and ready for the seasons roundup. 

We pass thru here several times when going to different areas to ride.

Pretty simple instructions, if the gate is open....leave it open.

If the gate is closed....close it back.

Just another beautiful day to drive thru this open range area on our way to Pitkin for lunch.

Longest mileage day so far.

 

Just spectacular.....

Arriving at the Silver Plume General Store in Pitkin, Co.

Neat little mountain town with a fantastic mining and railroad history.

Williams Pass and Williams Gulch

This pass is only open for one month out of the year.

We picked the perfect time to add this one to our list.

Add another Continental Divide crossing to our Journey.

We crossed over the Divide four or five times this week..

This one being Hancock Pass, 

elevation 12,140 feet. 

I think we are down to about five or six buggies now.

Several turned back at Pitkin and rode the easier Cumberland Pass route.

Now we are in Railroad History land...If you are a railroad buff you should Google:

Alpine Tunnel

Williams Pass

Sawmill Curve

and read this amazing story.

 My friend Jim Lockwood probably already know this history.

But I will encourage him and his RR friends to check this out.

I made this one extra large so you could see across the canyon to spot Rocky and Denise.

This is the amazing part of the story..

In the background of this picture is the railroad bed around that rock mountain, hand built in 1880.

The support wall was also hand built by shaping each rock by hand tools and placing them together to form a wall with no concrete used.

And we are riding on the old railroad bed today. What a feat. Also somewhat scary if you think about the fall down the mountain if you make a mistake.

This section of the Railroad was called the Palisades...The support wall is in the picture to the right of the men....goggle it...

And the ride back over Tin Cup Pass was not exactly a piece of cake either..

See video below...

 Another day...Another trip over the Continental Divide..

This one  says it all...

But we all made it back in time to enjoy so fancy Hot Shots.....I don't remember what they are called but were really good....

Gonna take a couple days off from this video editing and run down to Nacogdoches, Texas for a few days.   Checking on our next adventure.....Stay tuned.