I spent Sunday 9-11 on the FJ....................

[Firehawk068]

I didn't really have a plan when I started out, other than to get some miles on the new Shinkos.
It was such a nice day, that I just wanted to get away and put some scenery between me and the City.
It was around 90 degrees, so I soaked the Kewl-Vest, hopped on the FJ and headed West.

I started out on some familiar roads, and covered my favorite local Canyon-Blast through Deer Creek Canyon, and High Grade Road.
Once I met up with 285 I continued West with some moderate traffic, through Conifer, Bailey, and over Kenosha Pass.
I turned south on Highway 77, as I wanted to ride it North-to-South this time.
I had the road all to myself, with only a few cars along it's entire length.
The scenery didn't disappoint, and the only drawback was a 5-mile section of roadwork that was unpaved. Lots of rocks and loose dirt.







Once at the South end of 77, I met up with Highway 24.
I topped up the fuel tank in Florissant, and quickly made the decision to head South.
I have never been to the Cripple-Creek area, but have always wanted to check it out.

The scenery around that area is fantastic, but the best part about it, it seems like you are taking a step back in time.............There is so much old mining history there!



Up on Cripple Creek.........








What was once strictly underground mining via shafts and tunnels, is now dominated by the largest gold-producing surface mining operation in Colorado.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek_%26_Victor_Gold_Mine







It's hard to grasp the scale of the entire operation standing next to it. The amount of earth that's been moved is staggering!
It's as if they dug up an entire mountain down to it's core, and built a new man-made mountain right next to it............



I continued on around the South end of the modern mine to the little town of Victor.
Once again it was like going back in time. Everywhere you look there are remnants of the old-days of gold mining. Tons of History here!







Continuing my ride around to the North end of the modern mine, I passed by a newly constructed overlook, that was still fenced-off and not quite open to the public yet.



At which, they have re-purposed one of the Massive Dump-Beds from one of the mining trucks into some sort of viewing platform, that allows you to look down into the pit.



That's it sitting up on the ledge in the middle of the picture.





I couldn't resist! 
I'm all the way down here.................There's no one else around..................
So I parked the FJ at the road, and walked over to check it out!

These are some Massive Trucks!








I was awarded an excellent view down into the pit.













After leaving the overlook, I continued on my way and just couldn't help myself. I had to stop and check out some more cool mining history.















After one last view of Cripple Creek, I hopped on Highway 67 and headed North towards the general direction of Home.







One final bit of history warranted a stop to check out.
An old Railroad Tunnel along the route that is now Highway 67.
Both ends are now closed, but you can peek inside.....................I can almost hear the Steam engine chugging, as the wheels screech on the rails............












I made my way North through Woodland Park, and Deckers. The roads familiar once again, the pavement was good and the curves felt so right.
Traffic was very light and I could take them at any speed I wanted.
It was perfect!

My ride route was 256 miles.  My Garmin matched Google exactly!

https://goo.gl/maps/rb2GSSH19yT2

[Bones]

Great pics and write up as usual Alan, Colorado has a lot of breathtaking scenery that you show often in your posts, but these pics also shows the devastation of some of that scenery caused by mining. I'm not a greeny by any means where I'll chain myself to a tree to stop clearing or development, but it's a damn shame to see once pristine land reduced to an eyesore by mining.

I live in an area riddled by coal mining, once underground now open cut where previous flat rich farming land is now mountains of dirt with a few trees growing on them, the whole landscape has changed never to return to how it was.

Anyway, the pic that has up on Cripple Creek below it reminded me of a song by one of my favourite bands, "The Band."

https://youtu.be/fDcDyIKNqCY

[Firehawk068]

Anyway, the pic that has up on Cripple Creek below it reminded me of a song by one of my favourite bands, "The Band."

https://youtu.be/fDcDyIKNqCY

Haha, love it! That's why I put that there.
Cap'n Ron reminded me of that song when I shared my ride location with him on Sunday.

I agree with you about the devastation caused by modern mining practices. I saw alot of that while riding around Arizona, with the huge open Copper operations there.
The natural rugged beauty of the landscape forever destroyed by the humongous man-made, stepped mountains of ground-up earth.  It seems very little will grow on it either, so we're stuck with these barren, lifeless slopes.
I'm a fan of the old style of underground mining. That's where my interests in nostalgia lie.
Although there is still environmental impacts from the old-school techniques as well.

I guess the gear-head part of me is still impressed with the sheer size of the massive mechanical equipment that they use today.  However today it's muscle-power vs mind-power that they used back in the day.
Just throw a bigger machine at the problem.