Colorado 2023 - Day 5

Photo by: Tim Bindner

Day 5: June 17, 2023

Today’s adventures I would drive 149 miles. The route is seen below on the map.

The morning began as every other here. Got up, wrote in my journal, took my medicine, filled mine and Marcie’s water bottle with ice and water, showered, dressed and waited for Marcie to wake up.

I was looking forward to today because I wanted to see this place called Tincup. It is also named Tin Cup or even Virginia City. Regardless of what it may be named or called, we were going to Tincup, Colorado. More on that later.

I drove to Buena Vista, filled up on gas, and then we ate at Jan’s. I had a waffle with maple syrup and Marcie had a child’s pancake and an egg. Washed down with water. While we were finishing up eating, the table of ‘regulars’ had their daily conversation and we could not help but overhear them. They discussed life, politics, and of course had all the correct solutions to fixing the world and it’s problems. However, what caught my eye was a young man (30’s) sitting two tables over. He was alone. Dressed like a hiker, mountain biker, or maybe a kayaker. He had long hair and his baseball cap was backwards. I also noticed he had a big grin full of pearly white teeth. Our server went over to get his drink order. He mouthed C-O-F-F-E-E and her response was, huh? He mouthed it again, and she was still confused, so he pointed to his menu. She replied “oh, black” to which he nodded approval. This man was mute. I could plainly read his lips, but the server could not. She could not understand me either when I said water and ordered my waffle with syrup instead of fruit spread.

As we waited for our check, all but two of the ‘regulars’ had left the table and out of the corner of my eye I say the young man video calling someone. He was signing into the phone (quickly, I might add) and smiling at the responses. The 2 regulars were staring at him as I shook my head in disbelief at the obvious sight they were witnessing. It never occurred to me the ability to video call when mute. Logically I know it can happen. I saw it, but never thought about it. I smiled. It made my heart melt a bit.

Heading north on Highway 285/24, our first destination would be a small town called Leadville. I drove the 2 lane road that snaked past old buildings, small towns (Granite) and even glanced at the Arkansas River as it followed by us on the right. I saw railroad tracks also to the right, so stopped and took a few shots (in black in white of course) before hopping back in the car to reach the town of Leadville soon.

It was early Saturday morning, and the rain fell. We also noticed entering town there were many cars and runners meandering around the streets. There was a race that day that we were unaware of. Because of the rain, the fact the shops were not open yet, and the many runners taking up most of the parking spots. We did a loop in town and abandoned this activity and head back toward Buena Vista.

On Highway 24, a few vehicles in front of me made a sudden stop. I was perhaps too close, so I veered into the emergency lane on the right to keep from hitting them. As I passed the truck and car in front of me, stopped in the lane, I saw a large bull standing in the opposite lane, heading in my direction. The bull (cow) was being followed by a police officer and there was his vehicle and a truck & trailer stopped on the other side of the road. The bull was heading my direction but far enough away to not cause any danger, so we continued on. As we passed the scene of the crime. I saw a bewildered police man trying to herd this cow and a group of cows standing at a fence across the road watching this ordeal unfold. I imagined the other cows were thinking, “how did Bill get out there? How come we can’t go?” I chuckled. In my rearview mirror, I saw Bill (what I named him) had crossed the road. He was over on the grass on my side of the road, and had turned to face the officer, probably thinking, “what you gonna do dude?”

Highway 24/285 led us into Buena Vista, where we turned west onto highway 306. A route we had been before, except this time we were summiting Cottonwood Pass, then headed down the other side. The trip up was the same as before. Light rain, then heavier rain as we went up, then snow, then fog. It was not as bad as before, but still treacherous. The higher up we went, the colors seemed to fade to pale green, brown and black. Even the yellow stripes in the road got darker and les vibrant. When we passed the summit and headed down the other side, things changed. It got colder (below 32 degrees), the snow was heavier and the fog was much thicker. We were told that Buena Vista, Nathrop and Salida were in “the banana belt” and don’t get much snow. The snow falls on one side of the Collegiate Mountains (where we were now). It then travels over the “banana belt” to fall on the other side of the mountain range, hitting places like Denver and Colorado Springs. I believe that to be true after this drive.

At the pass, Highway 306 becomes Highway 209, which turned into 55C. Soon the road went from slushy, wet, pavement to dirt (really mud). We passed a small town called Taylor Park, which Marcie commented “how did the original people find this place”. Was a common statement from one or both of us throughout the trip. Next, I turned east onto 765 toward Tincup. The snow had gotten thick at this point and what views were not blocked by falling snow, the fog/mist blanketed the rest. We could barely make out the hills, trees and structures that surrounded us to the left and right, but the weather provided me with some wonderful moody shots.

When we reached Tincup, the streets that were normally dirt were pure mud. Each vehicle, including ours, was covered in rust-colored clay. Constant use of windshield wipers was needed to clear what view we had. The back windshield and backup camera were useless at this point. In Tincup, we drove up and down the narrow streets looking at the houses (all privately owned), the store with one gas pump, and church. All pictures were shot from within the vehicle, but it didn’t prevent us from still getting wet during the brief moments of lowering the window for the shots. I was in my element. Marcie said it was “pretty but cold”.

We found the road to Tincup Pass, which, if taken, would have had us ‘home’ in about 30 minutes. However, Tincup Pass is only for dedicated 4×4, hikers and ATV’s/UTV’s. In this weather, even with a dedicated 4×4, I think death would have been a real possibility from sliding off the side of the mountain. The sign said 7 miles. We opted to go the long and safer way back.

I could not have asked for a more scenic view of this town in this weather. I thought of those pioneers who came here and the weather and what they had to deal with during certain times. I was nervous driving in a cushioned, warm vehicle with all-wheel drive. They would have been out in these conditions. It added to the ambiance and mood of the place. Someday I may go back in dryer and more subtle weather, but today was PERFECT.

Our drive back to Buena Vista was slow because of the weather, but not scary at all. We stopped for pictures and again to let more aggressive drivers pass.

Our day concluded with a car wash, dinner at CraveBV, and a stroll around Buena Vista, looking at shops and watching people and the many dogs in the area. By the way, I had the 8inch Avalanche pizza and water. Marcie had the Marinara Classico Meatball with water. It was a fantastic day.

Links to place I referenced below.

Until next time,

Tim

Tincup – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tincup,_Colorado

Jan’s – https://jansfamilyrestaurantandlounge.four-food.com/

Leadville – https://www.leadville.com/

Granite – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granite,_Colorado

Crave BV – https://orders.cake.net/11374636