Fall 2011 on the Volusia

I went back up to Central City on the Volusia to have a look around at the fall leaves and take some pictures.

 I went looking for old mine buildings etc. And roads that look like this are a likely spot to look.

 On the whole ride, this one spot was the only place that had this color of leaves.

 Another typical road to explore.

 This one was a lot steeper than it looks in the photo. If you look close you can see where I was spinning all the way up. I hoped there would be a great payoff for going to such an out of the way place. I all got for all that work was finding the rusted out frame of an old sofa sleeper.

Once again, it was way steeper than it looks in the photo. 

 This road only got me to an abandoned mine with no buildings or other ruins. Just a hole in the ground. Not the payout I was looking for.

 More of the same road as the previous picture. This is where I tried to turn around.

 This road was great. Like nobody had gone down it for years. The ground glowed with yellow and gold, even though it didn't come through in the pictures. Cool road.

 This is more of the type of thing that I like to run into at the end of these old roads. It would be cool to know what the history of this house was.

I saw cool scenic mountain views, but no old mining buildings like on last years ride. Check them out on on a previous posting on this blog from last year.

Four mile canyon fire photos

I went on a ride to see the destruction of the Four Mile Canyon Fire that burned 169 homes earlier this month near Denver. Seeing it in person feels so much different than seeing it on the news, or on this blog for that matter. 

I was surprised at the homes that had nothing left, and the home right next to it feet away not burned. It makes me wonder what made one catch on fire, but the one right next to it not? I suppose that if you believe in God, perhaps one owner would be praising him, and the one next door cursing him.  If you believe in fate, you'd perhaps wonder what you did to deserve this. It you believe in random chance and bad luck, then you're just bummed that it go you. It was an interesting ride.

I suppose to us, this is one of many. To someone else it was everything.

Central City, old mines in the mountians of Co ride

Train in Black Hawk, CO

Old places like this makes me wonder what exactly it was used for

I always wish that I knew the story behind them

Inside an old 50's car that was wrecked up on the mountian

Somehow I uploaded some of these out of order. Old car in Central City, below the mines

More dirt roads looking for more mines

Leaves are already changing

Mirror pic of one of the few roads that wasn't rough

Old car engine reflection pic in Central City

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This machine must have done a lot of work in its day

Life expectancy wasn't much for babies in mining towns apparently, read the dates

The one and only smooth road

Old cemetery from the 1800's

Old headstone

But finding old mine building is worth the ride for me. I love looking around at building sites
























• The road was pretty rugged for a touring bike

It had some really steep sections that don't look nearly as bad in photos as it does when you are riding through them.

I headed off the pavement on some narrow dirt roads that looked like they'd be good for nothing but old mines