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| The ticket to 'ride' the day's trail... |
On Monday July 29th, I signed up to lead the Cinnamon Pass/Carson Townsite (Wager Gulch) Trip. With an early start (8am), I had a lot less people behind me then on Sunday. Jeeper's along for the day included: Myself and my jeepin-sidekick Molly (CJ7), Bob Neal (CJ7), Roy Peace (YJ), & Ed Webster (YJ) all from Illinois, Harold Cauthen (Toy FJ-40) from Arizona, and Bobbette Mathews (TJ) with sons Micheal and Thomas from Texas.
The six of us headed up north of Silverton on county road 110 towards Animas Forks from staging line B at 8am. We stopped at Animas Forks for about ½ hour to look around the buildings and do the walking tour. Well-preserved buildings (especially the Duncan House) are a favorite attraction in the San Juan area. A lot of rental jeeps make a point to stop in Animas Forks. I took a side trip up California Gulch to show the group the Bagley Mill. The Bagley Mill was an engineering feat in itself. Built in 1889, each beam was produced back east and marked, and shipped on site where it was put together like a puzzle.
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| Animas Forks ghost town... |
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Chipmunks everywhere feed off the tourist... |
Molly looks for the chipmunks with the Duncan House in the background... |
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| Nice photo from 2000 of Animas Forks... |
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| An engineering feat, the Bagley Mill NW of Animas Forks... |
We headed on up and over the 12,640' Cinnamon Pass. The trail is fairly easy, and was still pretty dusty without any afternoon rains. The trail becomes easier the further down you go on the eastern side. Past the ghost town of Sherman, the trail becomes county road 30 and widens out. There were some narrow shelf sections as the trail passes thru a narrow canyon above Sherman.
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| Looking west over the Animas Forks townsite... |
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Some of the group on top of the 12640' Cinnamon Pass |
A look down the east side of the pass... |
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A chipmunk eats right off the trail... |
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Coming down off Cinnamon Pass... |
Right past American Basin... |
We re-grouped at the base of Wager Gulch and headed up towards the Carson Townsite. Around noon, we reached the preserved townsite and had lunch. Harold's Toy gave him some vapor lock problems and met up with us about 10 minutes later. Another group with from MHJC All-4-Fun showed up for lunch too.
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| Lunchtime at the Carson Townsite... |
After lunch, we headed up to the Continental Divide above Carson with some great views off to the south into the Weminuche Wilderness. We turned around and picked up Harold at Carson, then headed back down Wager Gulch. The trail is fairly steep in places, with some nice rocky sections.
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| Up above Carson... |
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This deer seems to posing for it's photo... |
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Back over Cinnamon Pass, back to Silverton... |
We all made it down to the main road and headed back up towards Cinnamon Pass. I lost the guys from Illinois briefly as they stopped to replace a fuel pump. I later heard them near Animas Forks 'ok' and heading to camp. Harold's Toy vapor-locked again near Cinnamon Pass so we waited til it cooled enough to start. Retracing our steps, we all made it back to Silverton. Since no events were planned under the big top Monday night, I headed straight for the showers. Another FUN day at All-4-Fun!
Bill Hallinan HoboJeepers
Other All-4-Fun 2002 Trip Reports
Sat: Kendall Mtn. Sun: POWER GULCH TOUR Mon: Cinnamon Pass/Carson Townsite
Tue: Brown's Gulch/Corkscrew Gulch/Ross Basin/Colorado Basin
Wed: Manufacture DayThur: Black Bear Pass/Imogene Pass Fri: Stony Pass/Kite Lake
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