Quick Getaway, Part 2

The following day, on the way back home, I followed the route of the Moffat Subdivision rail line along the Colorado River.

Train Station, Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Train Station, Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Old freight office

Old freight office

The old Denver and Rio Grande rail line to Aspen, Colorado.

The old Denver and Rio Grande rail line to Aspen, Colorado.

Califorina Zephyr (No. 6) crossing over the Roaring Fork River.

Califorina Zephyr (No. 6) crossing over the Roaring Fork River.

A train, Glenwood Canyon and the Colorado River.

The Zephyr, Glenwood Canyon and the Colorado River.

Heading upstream into dryer country.

Heading upstream along the Colorado River into a dryer landscape.

Near Burns Colorado.

Near Burns Colorado.

Colors: beige valley, red mountains, snow capped divide.

Colors: blue river, beige valley, red mountains, snow capped divide.

Solstice

I had been intending to go for a sunrise hike on the Solstice, but the weather was very windy.  So I grabbed my camera gear and went for a drive instead.

Union Pacific coal load heading into Rollinsville, CO.

Union Pacific coal train heading into Rollinsville, CO.

There was nothing photogenic about the day. Overcast skies with snow flurries.  I welcome the snow.  As the photo above indicates, there hasn’t been much snow this year.

When I was younger, I would have taken the sunrise hike regardless of the weather.  It was ritual.  Now I don’t see much point in going through the motions of surviving wind chills near zero degrees F, other than to say (to myself) I did it.  Been there, done that.

I guess the winter inhabitants of Tolland Colorado felt the same way and moved away.  Now the only winter inhabitant is the county sheriff.

 

Old train station, now the sheriff's home.

County sheriff’s home.

 

On the left end of the sign, it says 17 and 81.  The heading above the numbers is obliterated.  I wonder if it is the population, with the first number being the winter population, and the second number being summer.  I’m willing to bet the actual numbers are now lower, even in summer.

 

Tolland, Colorado.

Tolland, Colorado.

 

When I drove through last summer, most of these cottages/cabins were boarded up.  It might be a ghost town in the making.  The winters are harsh with perpetual high winds.

Speaking of another ghost town, East Portal is just up the road from Tolland.

 

East Portal

East Portal (at Moffat Tunnel)

 

These dwellings at East Portal are abandoned.    These look like they were inhabited up until about 20 – 30 years ago.  If you take a close look at the pitch of their roofs, you can spot them in this historical photo from 1926, on the left in the background.

 

1998.031.004

None of the other buildings in this photo still exist.  I don’t know if East Portal was ever officially a township, but it had quite a few buildings to house many of the workers for 5 years while the tunnel was being built.  I’ve contemplated taking a present-day photo with the same view as this one, but the hillside has many more trees on it and the view may be blocked.

As the day wore on, the snowfall increased and I hung out at home making a sourdough cobbler.  It was a fine way to spend the solstice.

Peach/Blueberry Sourdough Cobbler

Peach/Blueberry Sourdough Cobbler

Southwest Chief (CA trip part 1)

I had mixed feelings about taking this trip to California at this time of the year — the end of summer I’ve barely had any time to enjoy.  But various little things drew me out to southern California now instead of mid-winter like I had originally planned.

I traveled light, without my camera.  So all photos on this trip were taken with my phone.  Click on any photo for a larger version.

 

train-0795

The trip started in La Junta in southern Colorado, leaving my mountain elevation of 8300 at 4:00 AM.  I was surprised at the amount of traffic in the Denver area at that time.  I don’t know why everybody was in such a frantic hurry to get to the jobs they hate before the crack of dawn on a Monday morning.  The energy of the other drivers was so frantic that by the time I got to Colorado Springs, I witnessed a huge car accident in progress.  I narrowly escaped hitting anybody or anything.  If I hadn’t been fully focused on driving, I would have ended up in the pile of other cars.  It wasn’t even 6:00 AM yet.

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