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July 1, 2023
Today's Ride 7/1/2023
So today, after we walked the goats, I decided to go for a little motorcycle ride.
What I failed to realize was that today is Saturday, July 1st, and it was a circus on I-70 westbound. So, I stayed off of I-70 and at the top of Floyd Hill, just came down the frontage road there until it T's off at US Highway 6, where I turned east and went down the canyon.
So I'm following US Highway 6 east down the canyon when I see an open abandoned mine across the creek at Mile Marker 258.50. Now, I'm not clear how to get access to the mine, as there is a walking path on the other side of Clear Creek, but I'm not clear how to cross Clear Creek, as it's pretty much flooded from our rains this Spring.
So, I ride on. Turn left at the red light onto Hwy 119 to Black Hawk/Central City. At Black Hawk, I turned left onto Gregory Street. Then left again onto Central City Parkway. At this point, I noticed some storm clouds moving in and I was afraid I'd get rained on. So, I decided I'd head to McDonald's in Idaho Springs, which is what I did. Took the Central City Parkway to I-70 to Idaho Springs for McDonalds.
Then, I wanted to ride up to Upper Chinns and Lower Chinns Reservoirs so I drove in that direction and took Rainbow Road to head towards Upper Chinns, Lower Chinns, and Fall River Reservoir.
But I missed a left turn, and ended up at Fall River Reservoir, which isn't even comparable to Upper Chinns and Lower Chinns, IMHO. At Fall River Reservoir, you can't even drive to where you can see the lake. So, I turned back and started coming back down towards Idaho Springs. I did see some old mining equipment just above Loch Lomond Road. Stopped and got some photos of that.
Then, coming back down Fall River Road, I stopped and got a photo of a small open mine near Luciana Gulch.
Then, I went up to the Phoenix Mine, and found a new mine before you get to the Phoenix Mine. It's on the south side of Trail Creek Road, and there's even a little dirt turnout for it. So, I parked at the little dirt turnout and climbed up the hill to find another unexplored mine.
My ride looked something like this.
Posted by Rob Kiser on July 1, 2023 at 9:05 PM
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