Leadville to Eagle

Woke bright and early on the 19th; actually we got woken up bright and early by the bikies leaving from the motel. Seems Leadville rises early. Was very brisk out, a cool –1°C was the overnight low! Made an important phone call to reserve some seats on the Leadville and Colorado Southern Fall Photographers Special. Had only found out about it the evening before after arriving in Leadville so my timing was immaculate. Was told they would start boarding the train at 9:30am and depart at 10, so at 9:29:59am I drove past the depot looking for a park. Even at this stage the lines were amazing! Apparently the train seats 260 people and I doubted that in a town of 2600 there would be 260 people on their train, but boy was I wrong! Got a seat right up the front on the open carriage, right behind the loco. Loco was a trusty old EMD GP9; similar in many ways to our DA/DC class. The seat was freezing cold; even by the time out 10am departure rolled around my bum was still freezing cold!

So 10am arrived and we promptly left. We backed out of town and got pushed up their branch into the hills. We passed the old C&S freight depot, the old hospital and the trailer park, and fairly quick we entered forest. Forest at this altitude means lots and lots of conifers, aspens and rocks. It's completely different to NZ scenery, and at this time of the year is absolutely stunning.

We continued climbing up the valley and were soon towering above the highway. After a while we started passing through the aspen groves and the shutters started clicking away like mad! One gent on our carriage was heard to say "that's purdy purdy purdy!" Was had not to laugh at that!

The old Colorado and Southern freight depot.

Fresh dusting of snow on the mountains that ring Leadville. Certainly was believable given the thickness of the overnight frost!

One lady bought her dog, who absolutely loved it. Spent much of the trip with its nose into the wind or posing for photos.

Yet another thunderstorm building.

Towards the top of the line we started reaching the edge of the tree-line. The rocks up here are amazing.

Quick break near the top at their old water tower. The loco has an attractive red/cream paint scheme.

The very friendly train driver / old water tower.

Trip back down, clouds over Leadville as we arrived back in town.

Back street in Leadville. Very pretty with all their old buildings.

The trip was very enjoyable. The ride was very smooth, especially given the age of the track, and the crew were friendly yet professional. Heck, I actually liked the announcers voice; the one on the Nevada Northern train sounded like she needed to clear her throat! It's hard listening to a whole train journey when all you want to do is cough loudly and clear your throat!

Anyway we arrived back in town just as the weather started clouding up building up for the regular scheduled afternoon thunderstorm. Went back to the car and turned it on to find a new light on the dashboard; the mysterious yellow-horseshoe-on-its-side-with-exclamation-mark-in-middle symbol. After much head scratching I parked outside last night's motel and used their internet; general consensus was flat tyre. Of course none we flat but I checked the pressure anyway and one of them was down by quite a bit. So fixed that but the light was still on; only when we got to the supermarket did it go off, to much relief!

Refuelled ourselves and headed off out of Leadville on highway 24 and over the Tennessee Pass. Not nearly as impressive as Independence Pass, but this one has special significance for me as the Rio Grande built a railway line over the Tennessee Pass, and until 1997 it was in regular use. Then in 1997, the Rio Grande (now the Southern Pacific) merged with Union Pacific and gained a whole bunch of new routes, which made the Tennessee Pass obsolete. But the UP never formally abandoned the line; they just stopped using it. So the line is still there, signals and all, albeit showing no signs of any maintenance in the intervening years.

As we drove along I imagined a bunch of tunnel motors busy slogging their guts out hauling a train up the mountain. It's a shame it isn't still in use; it's a very pretty line, much like the C&S line in Leadville. As we drove we lost the line for a bit, then rounded a curve and came to a wye junction. Being ready for an explore I parked the car and went for a walk… and met this:

WOW! A viaduct over a bridge over the track. Absolutely amazing engineering, very very elegant. And all in the middle of nowhere! Went for a walk down the lines and saw some interesting sights.

Property of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Rail Road.

 
Rio Grande logo still on the bridge girders / Obviously not a lot of maintenance going on here; lots of boulders on the tracks, along with dead cars that have plummeted off (deliberately?) the highway above.

Beautiful gorge, would look even better if the sun actually came out!

Part way along we met one of our little friends; been seeing a few of these guys lately.

We watched him for quite a while, even managed to get quite close to him. He dashed from bush to bush, picking the seeds with his front paws and having a good little nibble. But wow do they move quick! Then he ran over to another rock and met up with his friend, but was too obstructed to get a good photo.

Walked back down the track to the car and drove over the massive bridge above. Some great views from the road along here.

Angela spotted a hawk circling which was amazing to watch as it sped across the skies and out over the canyon.

Drove on a bit further and found an old mill and a bunch of abandoned houses in the middle of a massive aspen grove.

Arrived in Minturn and had a quick look, then decided on our next move. I wanted to see some of the Glenwood Canyon, so we headed back east (which felt very weird!) and stayed the night at Eagle (after ruling out Vail and Avon as fancy rich ski towns). Had a bit of trouble with Eagle; it doesn't really appear to have a center. But we went looking for a motel called the Prairie Moon Motel (sounded affordable) but it wasn't there. Instead there was the Eagle Grand Motel, which looked the job. Went in and had a good chat with Penny from Kansas, who said if we needed anything just to holler! Yes she really said holler.

Motel was a little ritzier than Leadville, with a nice big wooden bed and ample room. Once again the plumbing proved a challenge; had to pull up a level on the bath taps while turning on the shower mixer to get the shower head to work. !? American plumbing is always a learning experience!

Had dinner at an Italian restaurant in "town". We both ordered calzones which were very nice, even if not quite what I was expecting. Went back to the motel and watched CMT; Country Music Television. Yes they really do have a country music channel on TV! Had a very interesting mix of eye openers, like "Country Fried Home Videos" which is one of those funniest home videos shows, only for Country people. The adverts were all for cowboy jeans and pickup trucks.

Which reminds me… while driving we frequently have to retune the radio and usually the choices are a religious channel, thirty country music channels, and if we're lucky, maybe a sports channel. One time we hit on, I kid you not, a "flag waving, God fearing, Country Music channel" as they put it. Another channel had the catch line "Just Country; nuff said"! You really know you're in America when you're cruising down the right hand side of the road with God fearing, flag waving Country music blaring!

That night we didn't have a thunderstorm. Quite remarkable really. So that was Leadville and my first Fall photographers special. Hmm I said first … ;-)