May 30 and June 1, 2008 South Fork, Colorado
Upon leaving Pagosa Springs we quickly began the climb up to Wolf Creek Pass, 10,893 feet. There is still lots of snow in this area and a beautiful drive on a fairly new 4 lane highway. A fairly new tunnel has be dug through the mountain to avoid the old highway where landslides were frequent. The snowfall accumulation at Wolf Creek pass exceeded 500 inches this past season.

We stopped in South Fork for a couple of days so that we can drive the Silver Thread highway to Lake City. The highway got its name because along this route are many silver mine and old small mining towns. As we left South Fork we very soon were in the Palisades where the cliffs and rocks were formed from volcanic activity. The cliffs were formed after cooled and hardened volcanic debris shrank to form the columns.

Our first stop was in Creede, probably the wildest town in all of Colorado during its heyday of three short years. In 1890 its population increased by 300 people daily and grew to 10,000. In 1893 it very quickly died out due to the plummeting silver prices. Today there are artists with their wares, museums, and fine restaurants. From there we took Bachelor Historic Loop through 17 miles of the old mining district. Beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains can be seen along this route.

Back in the valley we traveled through an area that was once the route of the Antelope Park-Lake City Toll road. It was built in 1875 at a cost of $5,000 and was completed for wagon travel in less than sixty days. The route was used by the Barlow & Sanderson’s Stage co. which had way stations located twelve miles apart. The stage took thirty-six hours to travel the 85-mile route from Del Norte to Lake City and cost $16.70 per person and was built for 13 passengers. However in this picture it is evident that at times they had more than 13. Near this area the mountains whose spring melt form the head waters of the Rio Grande River. The Rio Grande River rages, flows, and meanders over 1800 miles to the gulf of Mexico.

Also in this valley the North Clear Creek seems to meander along through the fields. We were surprised to see where it empties into one of Colorado’s most beautiful waterfalls. It provides water storage for irrigaiont to ranches and farms in the fertile valley. We crossed the Continental Divide at Spring Creek pass, 10,898 and soon were at an overlook that provides of some of Colorado’s over 14,000 mountain peaks.

As we travel down the west side of the mountains we see a natural phenomena which formed Lake San Cristobal. The Slumgullion Earthflow is the spectacular result of two mudslides. Seven hundred years ago, the volcanic soils were supersaturated with water from heavy rains. Millions of tons of mud and rock broke loose and flowed like a dirty, raging river for four miles. The mudslide depositied so much material in the bottom of the valley that it formed a natural dam, forming the second largest natural lake in Colorado. Four hundred years later, a smaller but similar slide occurred inside the existing earthflow. Geologists come from all over the world to study this rare National Natural Landmark. There is no site quite like this elsewhere on earth. The earth here is still moving at the rte of about ½ inch per day, or up to 21 feet per year. It is a very strange site to see.

Lake City is just down the road from this earthflow and Lake San Cristobal. It is an old mining town but different from the rough and tumble towns of most mining areas. Lake City boasted culture, class and churches. Since most mines did not operate during the long cold winters, Lake Citians were diligent in developing a cultural center and was considered to be one of the most cultured mining towns. It was well known for concerts, theatrical groups, circuses and magicians. Many churches were here during its heyday throughout the 1880’s. It was rediscovered after WW II and is now a popular vacation area with only about 500 full time residents. Many quaint homes, churches and buildings of Victorian architecture remain today. Gas was the highest we have seen to date here in Lake City and we had to buy some in order to get home. $4.20, about 40 cents higher than we have been paying. The trip back to South Fork was on the same road. There are no other roads leading back without going far out of the way so we traveled back the same way and were surprised at the different views in going the other way and enjoyed thinking about what we had seen.