Friday, August 6, 2010 BRISTOL HEAD PEAK, RAINBOW

Long day, awesome sights.  We went back to the Crystal Lake area which is the beginning route for Bristol Head Peak.  Once again, we crossed Spring Creek then climbed thru aspens and pines until the road opened up in an alpine area known as Ouray Park.  Then we began a gentle climb thru the timber line.  None of the roads were "ledgy" like the Silverton area, but they were very, very rocky & rough.  Clearance was a problem in some places.  The last half of the the 15 mile (one-way) trip is fairly flat; the last two miles climb 700 feet to the top where the elevation was just under 13,000 feet.  At the top, there is a Forest Service radio repeater station, radio tower, small building, solar panels & a microwave station.  There was a couple of guys up there today (one from National Public Radio) looking at adding service for Creede.

Road going into the trees

Lots of dead wood!

 The "bump" you see thru Jim's window is where we are headed.

We will end up on the top of that mound.

 A nice valley for lunch: 

 Happy faced dog!  Ran some laps,or as Charles tells her

"Run like a nut!" . . . and she does!

 Rocks look like giant chess pieces

 Looking back down

 Some of these mountains don't even look real.

 The dead trees lend an interesting perspective.

 Interesting cut into the mountain

  Almost to the top

 Here's the building . . . oops . . .

I forgot to take pix of the antenna for Jim.

From here, you can see a panoramic view of the entire region for miles, including

the San Luis Valley, Sangre De Cristo Mtn Range (almost 100 miles away),

Spring Creek Pass, Uncompahgre Peak, Rio Grand Pyramid, Weminuche Wilderness,

Pierre, Ivy and South River Peaks, Fisher, Beautiful, Copper, & Snowshoe Mtns. 

 Looking down on Santa Maria Reservoir

 Charles hiked a trail to the cliff on the other side.

(He may be the oldest, but he obviously has the best lungs)

 Another shot of Charles on the other side

  Look Mom -- thinking about bungee jumping down!

And I don't even have on my hiking boots.

 Starting back down.

  A Ptarmigan (kind of a grouse)

 Then we ran across this herd and had much discussion about

whether they were goats, elk, or antelope. 

Once home, we went online and determined they were female and/or

young Big Horn Sheep. 

Wish Papa had been there with the big curved horns! 

  

  Almost down off the trail. 

Here's a shot of Brown Lakes thru the trees.

 This is the Rio Grande River

 

 Rio Grande River at bottom of picture 

 We really thought we were going to find the pot of gold on this one!

 Felt like we should be able to reach out & touch it. 

 Starting to fizzle as we get closer