Alma, Colorado

We traveled just north of Fairplay to Alma, the highest incorporated town in the United States. Stopped at their general store to look around, then continued up State Route 9 to Hoosier Pass at elevation 11,539.  As I got out of the GOAT and looked north, I could see Breckenridge in the distance.  Magnificent views.  Decided not to hike any of the trails there (elevation was not friendly to us) so we dropped back down and took the Mosquito Pass road as far as we could go.  It was closed due to still snow covered, but got some wow photos.

Coming out of Fairplay, heading north to Alma

Tire socks for winter.  Interesting.

Imagine the stories they could tell

Outhouse behind

History

Starting up Mosquito Pass Road

Snow capped ridge, Mount Lincoln

Again, turned around and dropped back to SR 9 and took the road to Montgomery Reservoir, built in 1951 by diverting the Blue River out of Colorado Springs to this area for drinking water.  No boating, swimming allowed.  Took our lunch break overlooking the reservoir.  We were at 10,878 feet for our lunch.

Interesting homes, I assume summer only.

People living here.  Amazing.

And we climbed

See RV down there?  Our turnaround (Pass closed).

Tailings from Magnolia Mine

Our turnaround - over 12,500 feet here

Saw lots of beaver dams

Phew - we are up there!

Breckenridge in the distance

Hikers - need a free bus ride?

Dropped back down and traveled along the dirt road that lines the Alma State Wildlife Area.  Very expensive homes along the way.  Wow factor again.

Yeowsa!!

Montgomery Reservoir

Dave and Goat at our lunch spot

Look closely - see waterfall in middle of pic

Could see waterfalls across - from snow melt

Blue River diversion from Colorado Springs

Spillway of diverted river

Got back to the cabin and the power was out.  We should have gotten an inkling something was amiss because in Fairplay the traffic signals were out, police directing traffic.  Cable was cut by the construction company redoing the bridge and road in Fairplay.  Fortunately the original restart was at 8:45 pm but it came back on at 5:15.  Thank goodness!

Our cabin is last on right.

Fairplay, Colorado Vacation

 We drove from Oro Valley, AZ to Fairplay, CO Tuesday July 9 and 821 miles later and 12 1/2 hours later, we checked into our cabin tucked into the woods.  We left in 90 degrees at 4:15am and when we got here it was 62 out.  Shock!  The cabin is at 9,903 feet elevation and unfortunately Dave got altitude sickness immediately.  I had bought the Boost oxygen cylinders in preparation for our altitude challenge but I think it was a bit too much for Dave.  Some people are not affected by altitude (me) so I made sure he rested and got plenty of liquids in him.  Today he's much better.  

Downtown Buena Vista Park

Overlooking Arkansas River

Notice capsized kayak?  Been there, done that!

Just having fun playing in the rapids

This group was together

Yesterday we ventured out to do a couple of things:  grocery shop in town (was a nice selection of fruits and veggies - we are now strictly whole food plant based eaters - think vegan), stop at the visitors center to get lituraure and things to see/do, bring home groceries and had lunch.  About 1pm we drove over to Buena Vista where we dropped over 2000 feet to help Dave get better quicker.  We had been in Buena Vista June 2018 and really enjoyed our stay and had hoped to come back and visit.

Bridge over river in downtown BV

Walked the river trail

No, we did not do whitewater rafting like we did back then, just went to the Arkansas River in town and watched the fun.  Not many rafters/kayers to see we think since most activity is morning to early afternoon but we did get to see some floating by.  We remember our time on the river with our nephew and nieces Rob, Dee and Emily and Emily's 2 children Cody and Imana.  Absolutely have no desire to do that again remembering our 2 capsizes while on the same river.  Scary for us.  

Found the tunnels

Going to come back here to watch more paddlers

After walking along the river trail for a bit we decided to go find the Railroad bridge that we saw years ago where we could watch rafters coming down.  At this point of the river it's considered a rating of 5 meaning very obstructed, violent rapids which expose a great risk to paddler.  Found a great lunch spot for another day to watch the paddlers coming down river.

Walked to the river - very peaceful!

On the way back from Buena Vista we stopped at a place that had trout fishing along the road, so walked down to the South Fork of the South Platte River.  Tomorrow we hope to go to Alma, the highest incorporated town of the country, and there are a couple of trails we want to check out.  We are in the midst of many 14 teeners - mountains over 14000 feet tall.  By going to Alma we will be among many of them.  Stay tuned!