18th May, 2009 Idaho Springs

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18th May, 2009. Idaho Springs

Up and back up to Georgetown this morning, Georgetown is a Ski resort and an old mining town. We wandered the streets and took in the history of the pace, it is one of the only old surviving gold towns, most were burnt down, many old buildings dating back to the early 1800's.
Then off to tour a Silver mine - great experience. Only the two of us on the tour, the owner takes you back into the mountain about 500ft, through the tunnels. This mine was closed down, but there is still plenty of Silver (which is worth about $14 an ounce), lead, gold etc still there. A geologist has stated that only about 13 - 20% of the gold has been mined out of these hills so there is plenty left.
Great tour and we mined a bit of rock, got to crush it and then pan it, we have some minerals that look great under a microscope.
Then down to Georgetown Lake where we watched numerous fishermen/women catch nothing, apparently there are trout in the lake, We did get to see a herd of Big Horn Sheep grazing on a hillside, honestly the deerstalkers assocaition would have a fit with all these animals running around.
Back to camp, dinner and a nice walk up the valley, more toasted marshmellows while we waited for the deer to turn up - only a couple tonight -great to see them in the wild.

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Photos

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Georgtown - old buildings

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Big Horn sheep

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Silver mine

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Sign for all you long haired louts - Warren

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Georgetown - old buildings