did someone say gold? another fun adventure our family did was to go on a mining tour and pan for gold. there definitely is gold (and silver) and them there mountains...
before entering the phoenix mine.
here is our "over the top" tour guide. he is telling us about the "widow maker" machine and how they eventually changed this drill as to not have the lungs fill up with dust and other harmful things, which would later kill the men that ran them, hence the name.
boom! goes the dynamite.
drew is rubbing the "lucky bucket", gosh i sure hope it works.
the "vein" of gold is seen here (where the sparkles are). they had to leave these enormous pillars of rock up so the mines would not cave in. therefore, leaving all the gold and silver still in them. overall, this was a very educational tour.
panning for gold (or silver) which surprisingly you can actually get some tiny pieces. i think drew was hooked.
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well, i thought this sounded fun. little did we know that this would be horrifyingly scary and exhilarating all at the same time. we drove 14 miles up to the top of a mountain, 14, 260 feet, to be exact. all i can say is that i'm glad i wasn't driving and it was extremely hard to look over the edge.
mountain goats grazing in the very narrow road. meeting other vehicles was really nerve wreaking. this doesn't look so bad here, but trust me it was super frightening.
here are some more goats at the top, they look a little scrawny. hmmm, i wonder is that because there really isn't any vegetation at this altitude. there was a parking lot and then an observation type tower, but in order to go to the very top we had to hike up the last portion. (and of course we did)
this is some of the growth between the rocks.
gibson checking out the mountain tops, you can see we are in the clouds.
snow in june
brrrr. it was 75 degrees when we started and was approximately 40 degrees with lots of wind at the top. drew was right to put in all our sweatshirts and jackets.
this mountain goat was at the tippy top of the mountain, it was crazy.
beautiful and fearful all at the same time
proof that we were at the very top of mt. evans. (chaya has the flip flop on due to a blister)
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this is the destination of another hiking adventure, lower cataract lake with this amazing waterfall. we would hike two miles around the lake and at the halfway point be at the base of the falls.
colorado's state flower, rocky mountain columbine
enjoying the wildflowers
getting closer...
drew posing with his trusty walking stick.
some tricky obstacles
we made it to the base of the waterfall, where the water flowed into the lake. the rushing water was so loud. we could always hear the falls, but it was crazy loud when we got to this point.
the bridge to cross over.
our attempt at a family picture. unfortunately, after reaching the falls it started to sprinkle and we still had to hike the other half. needless to say we were all a little wet and setting the timer on the camera was quite a task. oh well, great memories and lots of laughs.
