Topic: Vail Co location ideas (Read 5593 times)

glenerrolrd · « **on:** August 12, 2006, 05:22:07 pm »

traveling to Vail next week actually bachelor gulch. any ideas on locations within a hr drive any experience that i can benefit in planning for the trip

eleanorbrown · « **Reply #1 on:** August 12, 2006, 07:27:37 pm »

Go to Breckenridge and then south on highway 9 to Alma(don't blink or you'll miss it and be sure to obey the 25mph speedlimit!!). From the middle of Alma go west on Kite Lake road a few miles then turn right on the Windy Ridge Road (there is a sign) and drive several miles to the Windy Ridge scenic area parking spot (12,000 feet elevation). You'll probably need an suv and we put ours in 4 wheel low for the last little part of the drive just before the parking area. Hike out on the large ridge among the beautiful very old ancient Bristlecone Pine trees (over 1000 years old). Incredible opportunities for images. (don't go out on the ridge if there is lightening as that area is struck often--it's high and very open and on a ridge line on the slopes of Mt Bross (14,000 plus feet).

I was there last week and have added a few of the Bristlecone pine images to my site under Portfolios, Colorado summer 2006 so you can get an idea if you want to travel there. Good luck, Eleanor

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traveling to Vail next week actually bachelor gulch. any ideas on locations within a hr drive any experience that i can benefit in planning for the trip
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glenerrolrd · « **Reply #2 on:** August 13, 2006, 11:34:09 am »

Thanks this is great information..I hope my skills are up to it.. this is a great advantage to this forum .thanks for providing your experience.

eleanorbrown · « **Reply #3 on:** August 13, 2006, 12:02:16 pm »

On the Windy Ridge Road, just be sure to follow the main road all the way and when you come to the remains of a mining operation (Mineral Park Mill) with part of an old concret building you know you are almost there. keep following the main road (it will turn around to the right and you will cross a tiny creek). The road will start to climb through the trees (this is when we put our suv into 4 wheel low). You can probably get by with 4 wheel high low range if necessary however. Or...if you are in a low clearance car you can hike this last little bit up the road to the windy ridge scenic parking area. At the parking area, there is a large sign with information about the trees. Walk out onto the ridge from here with you camera! (I would recommend you pick up a Breckenridge/Tennessee Pass Topo Map and all these roads are clearly marked. ) The Windy ridge road is listed as "Dolly Varden Road". eleanor

fyi---this road leads past Windy Ridge all the way to the top of Mt. Bross at over 14,000 feet if you are game (have a good off road suv) but we have never tried it tho we have driven up higher to some of the old mines located on the mountain slopes.

If you are interested in photographing old mines there is a really fascinating old Mill just past Montgomery Reservoir road not to far from Alma as long as you are in the area (north of alma, off the Hoosier Pass Road--Highway9). It is clearly marked on the Topo Map as Magnolia Mill... Go inside the old buiolding and see some really intersting equipment. You will need a tripod to photograph inside as it is fairly dark.

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Thanks this is great information..I hope my skills are up to it.. this is a great advantage to this forum .thanks for providing your experience.
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eleanorbrown · « **Reply #4 on:** August 13, 2006, 12:34:37 pm »

One other thought too. If you have an suv with 4 wheel low option, an "interesting" way back to Vail from Alma is to take the Mosquito Pass road (turn on this road about a mile south of Alma going west.) You will have incredible opportunities for photographs. This is the highest motorized road in the US, toping out at Mosquite Pass at 13,186 feet!. Fabulous 360 degree views. This road is also clearly marked on the Breck/Tenn.Pass Topo by Trails Illustrated). You will end up in Leadville (we always stop at Wild Bill's for the best burgers and onion rings in the west--locals favorite) then you can take highway 24 north back to Vail/Beaver Creek. When we checked several weeks ago a sign said Mosquite Pass was closed but it should be open by now--sometimes it doesn't open till august becuase of snow. eleanor

jimhuber · « **Reply #5 on:** August 14, 2006, 06:17:08 pm »

"This is the highest motorized road in the US, toping out at Mosquite Pass at 13,186 feet!"

Well, almost the highest: Mount Evans

Beautiful photographs, Eleanor.

eleanorbrown · « **Reply #6 on:** August 14, 2006, 07:09:02 pm »

Ah, yes, you're right Jim. Possibly the Mosquito Road is classified as the highest "pass" in the US. There is Mt. Evans, and also Pikes Peak. In addition, there are jeep roads to the top of to two nearby "fourteeners" here --Mt Bross and Mt Lincoln. The difference is all these roads dead end...the Mosquito pass road actually goes from one place to another and used to be an old stagecoach route. I've heard that at least eighty or more stagecoaches used to travel from Alma to Leadville evey day over mosquito pass many years ago. I've been to the top of the mt evans road and I actually found the last portion of that paved road more intimidating than the Mosquito Pass road. Maybe it's because the cars are going faster on the mt evans road on a lot of the exposed places! eleanor

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"This is the highest motorized road in the US, toping out at Mosquite Pass at 13,186 feet!"

Well, almost the highest: Mount Evans

Beautiful photographs, Eleanor.
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Author Topic: Vail Co location ideas (Read 5593 times)