We take the easy all-paved route up to Cripple Creek. It is a lovely mountain drive and we spot a number of mule deer along the way.
Once in town we head for the Cripple Creek and Victor narrow gage steam train. We are in mining country (gold mining up here) and this railroad runs all small engines as were used to transport ore at mines across North America. Our little engine #3 is a 0-4-0 meaning just 4 small drive wheels and no lead or trailing trolley wheels. Small but mighty it carries us out of town for a dirty, smelly trek through Cripple Creek mining history. Smoke swirls around the engine and back to the open cars carrying cinders with it. We can smell and even taste the distinct odor. I should not have worn khaki pants! It’s all over in just 45 minutes still well worth the hour+ drive up here.
Thunderstorms are brewing around us. We plan to take the scenic route back down to the valley. It is graded dirt and we’re thinking it might be better not to do that in the rain! We keep an eye to the sky but take a little time to explore town. Town center is Bennett Street. It looks like an old mining town with great old west store fronts but don’t look too closely. It’s more false-front than even the old west days. The buildings have been entirely gutted and behind every window is row after row of gaming machines. Squeezed in among the behemoth casinos, a handful of small establishments still operate. We lunch at one of them, The Creek Restaurant and Bar. It has an old-time western feel with a hammered tin ceiling and a huge polished wood bar. My elk burger is fantastic. Tasty and perfectly prepared, med-rare. Yum. The sky is still threatening as we finish up lunch. There is a large well-reviewed museum of local mining history but we need to head out if we are going the back-country route home. A perfect excuse to come back some time. We move on.
We swing through Victor but it’s pretty buttoned up. Looks like most everything is weekend only here. Kent points us south on Phantom Canyon Road, aka Gold Belt Scenic and Historic Byway.
It follows the route of the 1884 Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad built to move Cripple Creek ore to the Florence smelters. It is graded dirt, narrow, winding, a bit pot-holed and wash boarded, and as we later find out includes some cool tunnels. We pass though miles of otherwise undisturbed mountain wilderness descending from 9000 feet to around 5500. At the bottom we share the narrow valley floor with a beautiful creek. Gray and green modeled granite formations with splashes of rusty red rise on either side. Some places steep and smooth other times at odd angels or sort of bulbous in shape looking like long fingers reaching into the sky or giants towering above us. Muted green of pines and juniper cover all but the steepest outcroppings with brighter green aspen intermixed. Brilliantly colored wildflowers accent exposed sunny slopes and dot recesses on the cliffs where ever they find purchase. The creek gurgles through its rock-strewn pathway with areas of the bank blanketed with brilliant green grasses. It is a wonderful drive. We see only light sprinkles of rain. There is dispersed camping along much of the valley. Looks like it might be great for a few quiet days – tent or car camping of course.
A yellow-bellied marmot prances around on the snow. There’s some chance he’s looking for a hand out. Our little pick-up made the ascent no problem. 
We climb out and put on all the clothes we brought with us and make our way to the visitor center. Its new since I was here with Mom and Carol. Nearly all the area is paved or platforms so very easy to get around and signboards are well done. Stop one, the snack bar and Pikes Peak donuts. The cinnamon sugar ones are definitely better. We check out exhibits and the gift shop then just relax with the view for a while.
They are all some variation of salty and metallic tasting but each has its own unique flavor based on pH and the minerals it contacts as it moves underground. My thoughts, none is really great tasting but the Navajo is the east objectionable. Iron Springs is as you might expect, irony; but it is fizzy enough that it sort of grows on you. It was interesting to compare. A stop at Colorado custard is the perfect post-tasting palette cleansing.
the route of our train ride on the Cumbres and Toltec. It is a beautiful drive and gives us opportunity to get some great rolling pictures of the train. We spot a few elk along the way and scope out access places to trail heads and campgrounds in the Carson and Rio Grande National Forests. This could be a great site for future adventure. 
the 2 ½ mile drive at Monte Vista NWR and find lots of blackbirds and the usual collection of ducks. Nothing spectacular. I do find it amazing to move through this lush landscape in such an overall arid environment. Thankyou snow melt!
It’s been on my list
since we got here. What a joke. It is definitely an “anything for a buck” place not the serious sort of alien believers we have found at Roswell and Marfa. Probably worth the $5 each for entertainment value!
It was built around 1925 by Baldwin Locomotive.
The route passes through steep-walled river-carved ravines and broad U-shaped valleys cut by glaciers, the rail bed sometimes carved into cliff faces or twisting past steep rocky cuts; most notable Toltec Gorge. We cross Cumbres Pass through the San Juan Mountains at 10,015ft elevation. From Chama to Osier (about half way) the route spends much of its mileage climbing, including plenty of 4% grade so we have lots of opportunity to hear and watch the engine really work. Best views come in the stacked tight curves laid out to make the climb without exceeding possible grade. There are tunnels and trestles of course. We spot wildlife too; elk, some a binocular distance and even a small band bedded down just 100 ft or so from the track. There are pronghorn, a mule deer, and prairie dog. An earlier trip saw black bear but not us. Scenery is spectacular nearly the whole ride leaving me to comment more than once,” I could live here”, as we roll past 1800 homesteads and modern cabins dotting the wide valleys. Sage brush plains near Antonito are not amazing to look at but they do provide opportunity for pronghorn sighting.
The older locomotive, 463; owned by the city of Antonito, runs the less demanding Antonito side.
for the NY visit – Willa’s 5th birthday. Cake baking and decorating is the first order of business. It’s a rainbow this year. Three batches of cake and an unbelievable amount of brightly colored buttercream icing. Check it out.
for the pre-k class and we are all invited. What a fun program. We love it Willa. We sneak a few no grand-kids moments. I get an evening out with just “my” boys and Kent and I have breakfast out with our guys. All too rare and cherished get-togethers.
The trail crosses a number of bridges and there are great huge old trees so there are lots of troll and ogre encounters. Good time had by all.
Swollen with snow-melt the water roars across the rock ledge and spray completely engulfs the upper observation deck. I get drenched. It is pretty cold up here!
Ruins National Monument. Museum displays compare and contrast the Pueblo and Chaco civilizations through their pottery, architecture, and building techniques plus try to connect the dots between those populations and the many native tribes that have and still do occupy these lands.
The road is not as bad as many reviews declared but not great either. Kent makes it around in 2-wheel drive, so not too bad. Prominent buttes are named, some easily identified like “the mittens” others like “the elephant” require a bit more imagination and a view from just the right angle. It is cool to wind our way among them as shadows change with the rising sun angle. My favorite is probably the totem pole and adjacent dancers, The Yei Bi Chei. We leave with a lot of pictures! I am not certain which drive is the more impressive, Monument Valley or Valley of the Gods. Monument Valley is immense and the raw scale as we move through it makes one feel small in comparison. The drive through the narrower Valley of the Gods brings us closer to the features making it seem like a more personal experience. Both could be improved by removing distracting human intrusions: boondocking RVs all over Valley of the Gods and rooftops of homesteads among the buttes of the Tribal Park. Both have tipped too far in the scale balancing right-to-use and preservation, in my opinion. But yes, I too would have loved to have spent a silent night under a star-filled sky in Valley of the Gods.