Iron Mountain Road - August 1, 2020

On August 1st, we took a drive over the Iron Mountain Road.

A couple of Pronghorns near the road

One of the notable features of this road is three single lane tunnels blasted through solid rock and aligned to frame Mount Rushmore.  (Image taken in 2016)

Another feature of this road is three "pigtail" bridges where the road spirals over itself to help the road ascend/descend the mountainside.
(Image taken in 2016)

A series of Mount Rushmore from various distances

Custer State Park - July 30, 2020

 We stayed at Custer's Gulch RV Park near Custer, South Dakota, for a couple of weeks to enjoy the Black Hills.  On July 30, we took a drive along some of the back roads of Custer State Park.

We soon came upon this bison herd grazing near the road.

Big male right next to the road

Must be something tasty here!

One way to deal with an itch

Back on the main park road, another bison herd was causing a traffic jam.

Lunch time

We often see bison rolling in the dirt.

One part of the park road often has feral donkeys looking for handouts.

Hoary Vervain

Prairie Coneflowers

Great Sand Dunes NP 2020

We spent a couple of nights near Alamosa, Colorado, so that we could revisit the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains present a barrier that entraps sand grains blown across the San Luis Valley by the prevailing winds, building the tallest sand dunes in the USA.

We were curious about what causes these black patches on the some of the dunes.

Plants had taken hold on a few areas on the dunes.

A dirt 4x4 road leads from the dunes into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  We saw a variety of wildflowers while driving a portion of the road.

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant

Penstemon

Cactus blossoms

Some colorful fungi

Thunderheads started building as the day progressed.

We wondered if lightning had taken out this tree's top.

We liked this interplay of sunlight and shadows on the dunes.

Comet NEOWISE

We were excited when Comet NEOWISE started becoming visible in the evening sky, but we had ongoing issues with clouds every evening.  When we moved further east to an RV park near Alamosa, Colorado, we had better evening viewing conditions and were able to view the comet and capture a few images.

Multiple exposures stacked and blended

Creede, Colorado Mining History

In April of 1891, a major vein of silver ore was discovered near the present town of Creede, Colorado.  This became one of the largest silver producing areas in the USA.  We enjoyed taking the drive called Bachelor Loop which takes people through this historic mining district.

Site of the Commodore Mine

The remains of the Commodore Mine mill foundation

Some of the buildings must have been a challenge to erect.

A large ore loading facility

Timber retaining wall

These are the remains of a haulage track built across the mountain where mules hauled ore from the mines to the top of the mill.

Site of the Amethyst Mine

The Last Chance Mine above the Amethyst Mine

We saw several different wildflowers along the drive.

Blacktip Ragwort

Blue Penstemon

Butterfly on Asters

Delphinium

Thistle

This Golden Eagle flew right in front of us, but was much further away before I got the camera ready.

Clear Creek Waterfalls

Along Colorado Highway 149 between Creede and Lake City are two nice waterfalls, North and South Clear Creek Falls.  The North Falls are easy to drive close to and we had previously visited them in 2002.  The South Falls required a bit of hiking.

A fairly weathered sign marked the beginning of the trail down to South Clear Creek Falls.

Looking back up the trail from about halfway down

Our first view of South Clear Creek Falls

From the bottom of the falls

There was a nice variety of wildflowers along the trail.

 Wild Rose

Fireweed

Wild Geranium

Shrubby Cinquefoil
 

Cinquefoil and Alpine Yarrow
 

Driving to the North Falls, the area does not really look like waterfall terrain.

From the viewing area it is clear that Clear Creek drops into a gorge, forming North Clear Creek Falls.

Tansy Aster

Littleflower Penstemon

Looking towards Lake City from the Slumgullion Pass area

Blue Penstemon

Fairy Trumpets