Last week, I went to Nederland, CO, and I found a mining museum and learned about the Caribou Mine and how Caribou was now a ghost town. I knew that was something that needed to be added to my list of adventures. Today was such a beautiful day that I knew I needed to get out of the house, and what better thing to take me out but an Adventure!

The doggo and I made a quick stop for some lunch and we were on our way! Now, I have always held that phrase about it not being about the destination, but the journey close to my heart. I talked about it in my first post (click here) and today I really put that to the test.

Now, I had looked up the town of Caribou in the past week, learned lots of cool things about the area and how, in its peak, the town boasted over 3,000 in 1875. I learned how the mines were used to help in WW1 and WW2. The town went the way mining towns go and it is pretty much abandoned now. I read about the town, the mines, how the were used and the struggles faced by the townsfolk and the mine owners.

I was armed with info and felt secure in the knowledge that I knew EXACTLY where this town was.

Over the next three hours, I would proceed to go 50 miles out of my way and drive up and down mountain roads for about 3 hours. But, there were Side Quests!

I had loaded the approximate address into the nav system but I believe the robot has heard me besmirching its name because it was telling me, “Turn right in 300 feet” there was no turn, it was straight down into trees. I believe the robot might have a plan similar to Final Destination.
So, I put the address approximation into the map on my phone.

Sometimes it works better than my car.

Ok, most of the time it works better than my car.

However, today, I think it was lost. Literally. But while driving on these dirt roads, shaking my liver out of my body, I did see this bit of cuteness!

I made a lot of U Turns today, which are tricky on curvy roads with some times nonexistent shoulders. Those roads were not the way to Caribou.

The dirt roads I had been driving on were no match for what came next….

Good news is, my brand new tires are awesome. And, I have great shocks.
This was not the road to Caribou.

I learned how they trim trees when the top middle of the tree is even with the road. Can’t do normal chopping, it could crash on a car or block the road for days. This was really cool, it was done with a crane and a cherry picker, I got a picture just before they decided to let my line of cars move forward (we were down to 1 lane for tree trimming)

I didn’t get a picture of all the the vehicles for this tree trimming production, I was too busy watching, like a kid, and quickly snapped this on as they were waving us forward.

I adjusted my route, based on the advice of the robot pair with the turns that give new meaning to “off roading”. I found a lot of closed gates.

These closed gates, may have been the roads to Caribou, but today they were not.

I listened to the end of my audiobook, I listened to music and sang along really loudly, with passion and flourish, I listened to Autio tell me about the mines in Caribou that I had not found. The robots were taunting me.

In spite of the taunting, I followed their instructions. This was the view on the Peak to Peak Highway. A beautiful and picturesque drive and I want to do all of it, but not today. This was not the road to Caribou.

I turned around, again. I re-entered info the nav system and I swear I heard a laugh similar to an animated villain.
I kept going.
I trusted the robot.
I was foolish.
Do you have that part on your chosen map/gps/nav system where it gives your approximated arrival time? Mine is in the right hand corner on the dashboard and it said 4 minutes to arrival, then I would turn where it said to turn, and it jumped to 27 minutes! I went around a switchback and it went to 7 minutes.
On this road, it said 24 minutes.
It lied…again. This was the road to Rollins Pass.

Rollins Pass has been around for over 10,000 years. It has been used by many for hunting, trading and moving to the next spot. The pioneers used this as a wagon pass, it was also a mail route stop, a railroad pass and then finally the roads were made for automobiles too. The elevation is 11, 660 feet here. Turns out, this is one of the most dangerous roads in America. The portion that is the danger part, was on the other side of the road and there was construction…

As you can see, construction is happening. I think the wind might knock this building down for them! This was not the road to Caribou.

I decided that I would need to pick up the search another day. The side quests were popping up everywhere and there was not a rest area or gas station in sight. It was a good day for an adventure. And it was an adventure! I didn’t find my destination today, but the journey certainly was the star.

Heading back, I saw another building that was about done for. I don’t know what it was used for in its previous life. I am sure it was something bustling and busy. Maybe a stop for supply wagons. Perhaps it was an inn and restaurant. Could have been just a smoke house for a farm or ranch. Today, its a picture blurred by me slowing down and trying to grab a picture anyway.

Today, I thought my adventure would be going to Caribou and looking around. However, I believe, that despite the bullying from the robots, I did have an adventure! I found tucked away gems, historical towns, and buildings at the end of their life. And who knows, all the ruts in the unpaved roads caused me to lose weight too!

The goal is 60 new things before I turn 60 and I have 53 more to go and I can’t wait!