July 23, 2021
After listening to the pitter patter of rain on our roof all night, it was great to wake up to the morning sunshine.
We started our day at the Bristol Bakery, again, for some morning treats. Today, Ken tried the Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Pasty and I had the Cinnamon Roll. Yummy!
Today we drove the Historic Bachelor Loop. It was a 17-mile drive that began and ended in Creede. The first leg of the journey began on Main Street, which turns into a twisty, intriguing road in Willow Creek Canyon.
As we started into the canyon, we passed the city fire department (totally housed inside one of the rock cliffs), and the Creede Underground Mining Museum.
Soon thereafter, the pavement ended and the road began a somewhat steep incline. As we drove along on this road, we could see evidence of the 1890’s Silver Boom. We passed The Commodore Mine, which began producing silver in 1883, and was one of the greatest silver mines on Earth. It remained in production until 1976.
Further up the road, high upon the mountainside, we could see the Amethyst Mine. We talked to a young man at the creek searching for Amethyst. He showed us how and what to look for and gave us an Amethyst rock that he found. What a nice young man!
There were more mines and old town sites along this road as we drove higher into the mountains.
We found a small stream that had been dammed up by beavers. Look closely and you can see one of the dams (made of sticks and mud) on the edge of the pond.
Near the end of the loop, we made our way around to the other side of the canyon, we could now see the view of the town of Creede nestled in the valley from the opposite angle.
The loop took us down the mountain and back to Creede. During the height of Creede’s mining boom, it was said to be one of the wildest mountain towns in the west. It was home to a two-mile-long street that consisted mainly of saloons, gambling houses, and brothels. In this century, Creede is considerably tamer now. Today, the town is made up of restaurants and shops. As with most tourist towns, there really isn’t much to do but walk in and out of the shops. Creede could use a really good T-shirt store!
Back at the RV Resort, we took a walk around the RV park. Mountain Views is a Luxury RV Resort, which offers ownership opportunities, and a RV Park for overnight stays (short term and long term). We walked around the luxury side to scope out the RV lots along the river. They were all decked out really nice with some sort of covered space…house, log cabin, or simply a canvas covered stucture. There were sites available but the price tag was enormous! I didn’t take any photos of the RV sites but I did some photos of some of the landscape.
We finished our walk just as the rain began to fall…again!
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