Day 5 - Tuesday

Pack up the cars and hit McD’s again on the way out of town. See a bunch of Elk hanging out in the parking lot of the strip mall.

Drive through the Rocky Mountain Park. Stop at several vistas. Plan to stop at the Alpine visitor center at the top to look around. There is snow on the ground, it is windy and cold, and none of us are dressed warm enough. Get Jackson out of the car and he starts saying “Hot, hot!” Visitor center doesn’t open for 2 more hours. I try to get some pictures, but Matthew tells me it’s too “freezy” for pictures. Jump back in the car and start the drive down the other side.

Next stop is at Chalk Creek, near the Climax Mine and just past Freemont Pass. Finally Steve’s vacation begins and we get to collect minerals. We hike up a hill on the side of the road to where Carlsbad Twinned Orthoclase crystals are weathering out of a monzanite outcrop. Collecting is easy and weathered crystals are abundant. Only gets difficult if you are carrying a toddler.

Lunch of PB&J on English Muffins.
Grammy & Steve see a waterfall.

Next, panning for gold. Steve and my dad have done extensive research and bought 3 gold pans. Our “Rockhounding in Colorado” book says you have to find a man by the name of Dennis O’Neil of Twin Lakes Associates near the settlement of Balltown and pay a “courtesy fee” to in order to pan in this particular river, but gives no indication of where we might find him. We see nothing indicating any kind of open business in Balltown and lots of trespassing signs. Steve takes a chance and goes to ask a guy. Guy doesn’t know, but says there is a fellow down the road with a bunch of heavy equipment who has been in the area for years; turns out this is Mr. O’Neil.

A quote from Mr. O’Neil’s property description flyer:
“Property is open to members of the Gold Prospectors of Colorado and owner-invited guests only! (Reports are that if you ask permission, pay fees you can work area without membership qualifications). This is excellent property and is a FEE area”.

We pay Mr O’Neil and head down to the river.
My dad, Steve and I start panning, while Grammy monitors the children and waits for one of them to fall in the river. I have no clue what I’m doing and am pretty sure that any gold that I might have had in my pan is now at the bottom of the river. We’re all convinced we see gold in our pans, but if so it is “frog hair” or “gold flour”, which is prospector lingo for specs of gold so small you can barely see them. Nevertheless, Grampaw collects 4-5 samples in a small bottle, and claims the best one is the one he accidentally dropped.
No one fell in the water and no one is too wet, but we’re exhausted, again.

We (minus the grandparents) plan to camp tonight, but as we begin our initial search for our campsite, it’s getting late and we’re not finding it. Turns out Mapquest let us down and what was supposed to be 12 miles from the Grandparents’ motel is more like 50. We start to look for different campsite, supposedly at Arkansas Headwaters State Park of Colorado. We see some signs, but no evidence of an actual state park and certainly no camping areas. Signs seem to lead nowhere. It’s now dark, we’ve not eaten and have no idea where we can camp. Also we’re now 30 miles from GP’s motel. Stop to eat at less than impressive diner in Salida and decide kids need to stay in motel. Drive back to GP’s motel in Buena Vista and put kids’ limp sleeping bodies in bed. Matthew rouses enough to complain that he’s not wearing jammies, so we fix that and leave them there to find our own place to sleep. No rooms in GP’s motel and not sure we can get into campsite or if we can even find it. Consider where we can park Expedition so we can sleep in car. Finally, give in and get the last room at another motel in Buena Vista.

Quote of the day from Matthew:
“The were not nice bees, they were naughty bees”
(He did not encounter bees, but when he fell on some rocks he thought it felt like bees)