Crystal Mill

Near the town of Marble, CO (which I'll talk about in the next post), is a 4-wheel-drive road that takes you along the Crystal River.

The road is very narrow and rocky, with long drop-offs. Whoa! What's that down there?

This doesn't look good... Keep your eyes on the road, Phil!

Up the river we go, about 6 miles from Marble.

To one of the most photographed spots in all of Colorado - the old Crystal Mill.

Built in 1892, it is not really a mill, but powered a mechanical air compressor for use in silver ore processing.

It's a wonder it's still standing.

Nearby is the old ghost town of Crystal. Actually, a few people do live here, but they still don't have electricity.

A Cow Parsnip I found in town.

Instead of going back the way we came, we chose to do a loop that goes up to Lead King Basin. Parts of the road here are even worse than the road before Crystal, but I didn't get pictures of them. We had 5 vehicles going, and we all made it.

There were lots of waterfalls.

Then we kept rising, through groves of aspens.

When we got above the tree line, we were treated to oodles of wildflowers.

Judy and I kept stopping to take pictures.

It's hard to see, but there are flowers on both sides of the road, which improved once we got up the hill.

My favorite was the Columbine, the state flower of Colorado.