Since we got into the area kind of late on Friday, we took it easy and ran the Pomeroy Lakes Trail with a side trip to the top of the Mary Murphy Mine. After some dinner we ran up the Mt. Princeton Trail to the cabin on the Colorado Trail hiking route. I didn’t take any photos of the Mt. Princeton Trail, and all I have to say is that the narrow ledge running along the avalanche shoot towards the top scared the crap out of me in the dark.
On Saturday re ran Williams Pass, The Alpine Tunnel Road, Hancock Pass and then The Grizzly Lake Trail. We camped at the lake for the night and had the place to ourselves.
On Sunday we retuned back down to Hancock Road then ran Iron Chest followed by the Baldwin Lake Trail.
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Driving towards the St. Elmo Area with Mt. Princeton in the background.
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One of the Mary Murphy Mine buildings that you can see from the Hancock Road before heading up to the Pomeroy Lakes 4x4 road. I think this is the old bunk house.
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The 4x4 road to the top part of the Mary Murphy Mine. It’s not hard, just a narrow shelf road that winds up the mountain.
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One of the old buildings towards the top of the mining complex.
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A couple of the old mine shafts which are now blocked.
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What’s left of some of the tracks they used to cart to ore from mine shaft before unloading them on to an aerial tramway and down the mountain.
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What’s left of the aerial tramway.
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Obligatory Jeep poser shot. Adrian did try to nose up the road in the background but lost the front end and about slid off the side. It probably goes to the very of the mine and maybe even goes over the top to the Iron Chest Mine.
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Heading back down the shelf road to the main trail.
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A landscape view on the way towards the lake. Unfortunately I left the camera in the Jeep when we hiked down to the lake to fish, and was too lazy to go get it.
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On Saturday morning we drove up the beginning of Hancock Pass and then took Williams Pass over to the Alpine Tunnel Road. William’s Pass is only open from August 1st through August 31st each year to help preserve the wet peat bog in the valley about midway on the trail.
Panoramic view on the way up William’s Pass.
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Winding through the brush on the top of William’s Pass.
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The last section of William’s Pass. You can see the Alpine Tunnel Road (actually an old railroad) to the far right of the picture.
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Panoramic view taken from the Alpine Tunnel Road.
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Looking back down the Alpine Tunnel Road. Towards the end of shelf road about in the middle of the picture you can see the palisades. This was an area where they had to build the railroad vs. blasting the side of the mountain.
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The Western Union Telegraph and cable office near the beginning of the Alpine Tunnel. The actual 1,700 foot long tunnel was closed (the entrances blown up) years ago but some of the old railroad structures at the east portal have been restored.
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After visiting the tunnel we headed back over to St. Elmo via Hancock Pass. I only took one decent picture on Hancock Pass because it rained/hailed on us the whole way down.
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After Hancock Pass we ran the Grizzly Lake Trail. I didn’t take any pictures of the trail except this one at the beginning of the narrow rocky shelf road.
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We camped at the lake for the night. Not a bad tent view.
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View of the lake from our campsite.
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Another campsite view. This was probably one of the nicest places I’ve ever camped.
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One more shot of the lake that I took first thing in the morning.
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After running back down the Grizzly Lake Trail we headed for the Iron Chest Trail and hooked up with 3 more JKs and a TJ.
Going up the infamous rock garden at the start of the trail.
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The start of the long shelf road towards the end of the trail.
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Looking back down the shelf road.
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Panorama from Iron Chest Mine.
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The view from the drivers seat on the way back down the shelf road.
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Going back down the rock garden.
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After finishing Iron Chest we headed up towards Baldwin Lake and found an old open mine shaft with some great views via a spur road.
The mine shaft.
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Gold mine tailings with Mt. Antero in the background.
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Looking down at Baldwin Lake.
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Heading back down the trail.
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