A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

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Lumpskie
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A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

Post by Lumpskie »

As most of you know, I headed up Argentine Pass this weekend. It turned out to be much more of an adventure than I expected. Here's the trip report.

My buddy Glen was the only other person who decided to head up the pass with me. He brought his 4 Runner and we headed up I-70 around 9:30 am. While filling up in Georgetown, we ran into another guy in a 4 Runner who decided to run the trail with us. I'd like to point out here that both 4Runners were lifted 4 or 5 inches and had 33" and 35" tires, respectively. At any rate, we made it to the trail head and hit the trail without issue.

We drove through the initial switchbacks and the Waggy did great. The extra clearance came in handy and, according to my planned route, this was to be the hardest part of the trail. With the run off being high, there were some great creek views.
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At some point, we headed off the trail to the left. I didn't recognize the turn off but Glen had run this trail so many times I didn't think anything of it. I remember thinking "Boy the trees have sure grown closer to the trail than I remember".
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As we were driving up, we ended up having to make two deep water crossings. Again, I never remember that as being part of Argentine Pass. After the water crossings, we spied this stack of fertilizer on the side of the trail. We couldn't figure out what someone would be doing with it all the way up there.
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This is where the trail really started getting rockier. The 4 Runner guys didn't notice it at all but I, on 30" tires was starting to get a little concerned. (pictures never do a trail justice... keep that in mind)
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Then it started to get REALLY rocky. The poor waggy started dragging it's under carriage on rocks and I had to be really careful where I put my tires. The road consisted of bowling ball sized rocks and there were larger rocks in the trail that were easily 40" even bigger. (Again, pictures never do a trail justice)
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At one point, my wife told me "You're not going to clear that rock. You'd better back down." I thought, she's over reacting... I was wrong. It turned out that I was on a rock similar to this:
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The waggy came down with a huge crunch... Here are some pics of the damage I took after we got back:
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It was then that I realized Glen had taken us up McClellan Mountain Trail... not Argentine Pass. Both trails parallel each other but McClellan is a much rockier trail. From that point, Glen, John (who we met earlier that day) and Paula (my wife) all had to spot me to get the poor waggy up the trail. But, it worked and when we intersected with Argentine Pass, we took that trail for the rest of the trip. The Waggy was back in its element.

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We saw what was an old cabin out in the woods. Only the chimney was left:
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Then we saw some people building a new cabin. They seemed like interesting kind of folks...
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And the wild flowers were still in bloom.
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Soon after that, we reached the old mine and ghost town area of Waldorf. There's not too much left of the town.
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After that, we continued up toward the Santiago Mine. This would prove to be much more fun to see! As we climbed, there were some old mining relics along the trail.
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Then we reached our destination at over 12,000 ft.
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We parked and could see the mine shaft, the mill, and some other buildings.
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As we approached, we could tell this was going to be a fun area to explore!
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That's all for Part 1... stay tuned for part 2, where the adventure really begins!
Last edited by Lumpskie on Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
1989 Grand Wagoneer - Rebuilt 360, 2" Alcans, 10" travel Gabriel Guadian shocks.
1996 Land Cruiser - 1HD-T Diesel, Gturbo (23psi), Wholesale Automatics 442f, F/R ARBs, 35" Duratracs, ARB Rear Bumper, OME 2" lift, home built sliders and aluminum belly skid
2000 Honda Civic - Integra GSR engine, transmission, shift linkage and axles, 200hp, 33 combined mpg
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 - 437hp/447ft-lb
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Strode182
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Part 1

Post by Strode182 »

Too bad about the rockers. Cool pictures though. Looking forward to Part 2...
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jsinajeep
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Part 1

Post by jsinajeep »

Nice pictures and nice trail. Thanks for sharing.
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Lumpskie
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Part 1

Post by Lumpskie »

Thanks, you guys. Here's Part 2! (of 3)

So, after we reached the Santiago Mine, we hopped out of our rigs and began exploring. This site is located at over 12,000 feet elevation and sees a lot of snow and weather each year. Given that, I was very surprised to see that the buildings remained in a well preserved condition. First, we took a look at what appeared to be personnel quarters or a supply shack. It was a small building with some shelving and left over supplied inside. I don't know what they were storing in the 55 gallon drum.

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Here's the view out the front door. It looks directly toward the mill.
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Here's a neat little window out back, looking at the mountain peaks behind.
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If you walk out the side door, you'll stumble upon the tracks going from the mine out to the mill. The used to connect to the door you can see here but, fairly recently, that section of track collapsed.
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Looking the other way, you can see the entrance to the mine.
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Peeking behind the tarp, you can see that the entrance is still filled with snow in August! It looks like at least 30" of snow is still in there... I doubt it will melt before fall.
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Turning around, we followed the tracks to the hill and took a look at the mill system. It looked like the structure on the right consisted of ore chutes and may have had some stamp mill functionality in it... I'm not knowledgeable enough on the process to tell.
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The columbines were still blooming out there. Here are a couple of shots that Paula took.
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The structure to the left was the real gem. It was the main mill that processed the ore. A little make shift bridge was set up to explore this building. It also had a water collection barrel out front. (more on that later)
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Looking back at the stamp mill/chute system from the front of the main mill.
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Just before walking into the main mill, I took a shot of the empty room just to the left of the entrance. (through a hole in the wall) There was an old bed frame, some old soup cans and miscellaneous construction material in there.
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After that, I walked into the main mill. (As you can see, Glen beat me in there)
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The ore would come in from the top, and would have a very rough screen before entering the building.
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Then, the larger chunks would enter this belt driven stamp. (I think that's what this is)
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From here, the ore would go down a chute. So, I had go downstairs to see what happened next.
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Looking to the right, on the stairs, you can see that the ore lands in this collection room. I had to continue down the stairs to see what this room connected to.
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When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I entered a huge room, where the majority of the processing was completed. Honestly, I was awe struck when this room came into view.
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1989 Grand Wagoneer - Rebuilt 360, 2" Alcans, 10" travel Gabriel Guadian shocks.
1996 Land Cruiser - 1HD-T Diesel, Gturbo (23psi), Wholesale Automatics 442f, F/R ARBs, 35" Duratracs, ARB Rear Bumper, OME 2" lift, home built sliders and aluminum belly skid
2000 Honda Civic - Integra GSR engine, transmission, shift linkage and axles, 200hp, 33 combined mpg
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 - 437hp/447ft-lb
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Lumpskie
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Part 3

Post by Lumpskie »

So, here's where I left off... Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I went through the door.
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It opened up to a HUGE room, with all the equipment you'd expect to see in a large scale mining operation. It was very impressive and I was stunned that everything, for the most part, was still intact. (In fact, I just found out that the owner is looking to restart operations of the mine)

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The crushed ore came to this drum media separator first. You can see that it has at least 3 stages for separation.
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Drum Opening:
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From the drum separator, the ore was sent to the shaking table. This is where the water from the holding barrel/tank went.
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From here, the ore was sent to a number of smaller processing stations located all over the lower levels of the mill. I don't know what everything is, but here are some general pictures.
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Froth Floatation cells?
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Conveyor from ore dump to drum separator.
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Pictures really don't do this place justice. It was amazing to see. After looking around for at least 30 minutes, we decided to head back upstairs. It felt like travelling through time back into modern life.
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From here, we headed back down the (correct) trail. Things went nice and smooth.
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Once we aired back up and I reinstalled my front sway bar, we headed down to Georgetown.

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Heading down Guanella Pass, we could see that I-70 traffic was stopped. Glen's navigation app said that there was a traffic jam all the way from Idaho Springs. As we were talking about the situation over the CB, a trucker responded and said that a biker (likely travelling to Sturgis) had been in a traffic accident. Colorado State Patrol had closed the freeway and Life Flight had just landed at the scene. Hearing this, we decided to have some early dinner in Georgetown. We thanked the trucker and headed to the Whistle Stop Café.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_R ... orado.html

I had an amazing Spicey Burger, with Ghost Pepper cheese. After eating the freeway situation had actually gotten worse. We talked about our options and decided to commit our future to Waze and see where it routed us. This is where the Overland portion of our trip began. We followed frontage roads along the freeway until we hit Idaho Springs. Once in Idaho Springs, we took a right up Soda Creek road, where the surface turned to dirt.

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As the road got steeper, a lot of folks in cars started to turn around and the steady stream of traffic thinned out to the occasional clump of cars. At this point, we were climbing back up into the mountains and could no longer see the freeway!

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After a couple of corners, we saw an old BMW motorcycle that seemed to be broken down on the side of the road. The owner was taking out a tow strap.
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We stopped and talked with the owner (I believe his name was John). His navigator was a Pitbull named, Rosie. (I think)
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He was a really cool guy and his dog was very sweet. So, we decided that Glen would tow him back to his house, which was near the top of the mountain. Paula offered to have his dog ride with us, but he said she'd prefer to just stay with him. After hooking up, we hit the road.
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The road was a series of twisty switchback but John didn't seem to have any trouble keeping things nice and smooth behind Glen That is, until the very end... This picture was taken seconds before the motorcycle ran over the tow strap and it became entangled in the front tire. The front wheel locked up and the bike lurched sideways! Luckily, John was quick on the rear brake and prevented the bike from rolling or crashing.
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After we dropped John off the road met up with a paved road, which lead us home. We were tired but happy that we had such a unique little adventure. Until next time... Lumpskie signing off! :fsj:
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1989 Grand Wagoneer - Rebuilt 360, 2" Alcans, 10" travel Gabriel Guadian shocks.
1996 Land Cruiser - 1HD-T Diesel, Gturbo (23psi), Wholesale Automatics 442f, F/R ARBs, 35" Duratracs, ARB Rear Bumper, OME 2" lift, home built sliders and aluminum belly skid
2000 Honda Civic - Integra GSR engine, transmission, shift linkage and axles, 200hp, 33 combined mpg
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 - 437hp/447ft-lb
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Strode182
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Part 1

Post by Strode182 »

Great stuff. That mine is amazing, so glad (most) considerate people left it alone so others could see it.
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Lumpskie
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

Post by Lumpskie »

^Thanks Strode182. I was amazed in the great shape that mill was in!

Here's a water crossing we took on the way up. (Can you guys tell me how to embed a youtube video properly on this site?)
https://youtu.be/tjFALMtf13g
1989 Grand Wagoneer - Rebuilt 360, 2" Alcans, 10" travel Gabriel Guadian shocks.
1996 Land Cruiser - 1HD-T Diesel, Gturbo (23psi), Wholesale Automatics 442f, F/R ARBs, 35" Duratracs, ARB Rear Bumper, OME 2" lift, home built sliders and aluminum belly skid
2000 Honda Civic - Integra GSR engine, transmission, shift linkage and axles, 200hp, 33 combined mpg
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 - 437hp/447ft-lb

csuengr
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

Post by csuengr »

Hate to say this, but you know have to check your front hubs and make sure water didn't get into them. That's SOP for hubs like ours.
1977 Cherokee S, Ford 5.0, 5 speed, BW 1356, 33 x 10.50 BFG's. No longer my DD.
2007 Mercury Milan, 2.3L, 5-speed, now my DD. 29 mpg average.
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Lumpskie
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

Post by Lumpskie »

Yeah, I need to do that. Is there a place where I can find a diagram or the steps online?
1989 Grand Wagoneer - Rebuilt 360, 2" Alcans, 10" travel Gabriel Guadian shocks.
1996 Land Cruiser - 1HD-T Diesel, Gturbo (23psi), Wholesale Automatics 442f, F/R ARBs, 35" Duratracs, ARB Rear Bumper, OME 2" lift, home built sliders and aluminum belly skid
2000 Honda Civic - Integra GSR engine, transmission, shift linkage and axles, 200hp, 33 combined mpg
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 - 437hp/447ft-lb
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fulsizjeep
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

Post by fulsizjeep »

That looks like a good day out. Welcome to crunched rockers. I have been there a few times. Great pix! Thanks for sharing.

Here is that hub assembly. They were the same from 74-91.
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Flint Boardman
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Lumpskie
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

Post by Lumpskie »

Thanks Flint! So, can I just remove the cap and visually inspect inside to see if water got in there? Or do I need to take everything apart, clean the parts, grease them and reassemble?
1989 Grand Wagoneer - Rebuilt 360, 2" Alcans, 10" travel Gabriel Guadian shocks.
1996 Land Cruiser - 1HD-T Diesel, Gturbo (23psi), Wholesale Automatics 442f, F/R ARBs, 35" Duratracs, ARB Rear Bumper, OME 2" lift, home built sliders and aluminum belly skid
2000 Honda Civic - Integra GSR engine, transmission, shift linkage and axles, 200hp, 33 combined mpg
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 - 437hp/447ft-lb
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j20owner
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

Post by j20owner »

Would be best to disassembled completely just to be on the safe side. Can never pack bearings too often. Too little on the other hand......
Tatsadasayago wrote:And here i thought Capitalism was hitting the Shift Key...

csuengr
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

Post by csuengr »

Yeah. Otherwise this can happen.

http://fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7465
1977 Cherokee S, Ford 5.0, 5 speed, BW 1356, 33 x 10.50 BFG's. No longer my DD.
2007 Mercury Milan, 2.3L, 5-speed, now my DD. 29 mpg average.
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Lumpskie
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Re: A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

Post by Lumpskie »

Under Shimniok's supervision, I disassembled the hubs today and it looks like no water got in there. However, it looks like it's time for new bearings. For now, we regreased the current bearings, but I'll be buying new ones soon.

Thanks for the advise, you guys. And I'm glad that you all enjoyed the trip report.
1989 Grand Wagoneer - Rebuilt 360, 2" Alcans, 10" travel Gabriel Guadian shocks.
1996 Land Cruiser - 1HD-T Diesel, Gturbo (23psi), Wholesale Automatics 442f, F/R ARBs, 35" Duratracs, ARB Rear Bumper, OME 2" lift, home built sliders and aluminum belly skid
2000 Honda Civic - Integra GSR engine, transmission, shift linkage and axles, 200hp, 33 combined mpg
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 - 437hp/447ft-lb
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shimniok
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Re: RE: Re: A Colorado Adventure - Parts 1, 2 and 3

Post by shimniok »

Lumpskie wrote:Under Shimniok's supervision, I disassembled the hubs today and it looks like no water got in there. However, it looks like it's time for new bearings. For now, we regreased the current bearings, but I'll be buying new ones soon.

Thanks for the advise, you guys. And I'm glad that you all enjoyed the trip report.
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