Del Norte to Platoro 8/10 52 miles

After a day of laundry, grocery shopping and getting the camp ready, Daren and I set out bright and early, 6:10 am, to tackle the biggest climb of the trip.  We had a 4000ft  climb over 23 miles to reach an elevation of 11,910, the highest I've ever been without an airplane!

The morning started out cool, 47 degrees, but soon we were shedding the layers.  We had 12 miles on pavement, followed by 11 steep dirt miles.  The scenery was beautiful, and for the first time that we noticed, we saw huge softball size red mushrooms in the grass.  We topped Indiana Pass around 11am, then headed down the other side towards Summitville Mine, a Superfund Site.  The whole side of the mountain was removed for gold mining, all the creeks leading away from the site are now contaminated all the way to Platoro, 25 miles away.

Just past this modern mine, many remnants of old mining shacks were evident.  We passed these and entered a beautiful landscape of meadows and streams.  It reminded me of the landscape in Bonanza, I could just picture Little Joe and Hoss riding along the valley.

We headed toward Stunner Pass at 10,541ft, another 1000ft climb, passing by Lookout Mountain, an amazing steep mountain,  bright red with iron.  We made it to Platoro just before an incredible thunderstorm. 

More pics here