Leadville - Aspen - Basalt CO

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Leadville is surrounded by 2 of the highest mountains in CO and I got to see the sun turn the peaks pink this morning when I was walking the dogs! We spent the morning touring the National Mining Museum. I didn’t realize that so many consumer products contain minerals that must be mined. Leadville had all kinds of mines at one time - silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper. Small boom towns sprung up all over the area. In the afternoon we did a short version of a driving tour of former mines and mining communities in the area. It took us above Leadville and even on a dirt road that reminded us of Alaska. Can’t say there was a lot left to see just piles and piles of mine tailings (dirt leftover from mine operations). By 2:00pm we were on Independence Pass headed toward Aspen. The aspens were very pretty on the east side of the mountain. The pass tops out over 12,000 ft. The first 20 miles of the road had been very good. However, the closer we got to Aspen the more narrow it became. We had retracted the passenger’s side mirror - - good thing too because several times it was very tight. We found that Aspen is not an RV friendly town - - no RV parks. We had to go about 20 miles west to Basalt to find a place to stay. I wanted to go to Aspen to see a much photographed mountain scene called the Maroon Bells. We’ll go back to see them tomorrow.

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Photos

Scene on Independence Pass
Independence Pass is the road between Leadville and Aspen.

Summit of Independence Pass
As the road approaches Aspen it becomes very narrow and curvy. This pass closes in the winter.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Longer stories
I think you have to have 600 words to make it to the front page. Your photos are wonderful.