Jeeping in Southern Colorado

Friday and Saturday we rented a jeep and went on the alpine loop 4x4 trail in Southern Colorado. The Alpine Loop connects Silverton, Lake City and Ouray in a scenic four wheel drive road/trail. Some of the roads were questionable at best, but the views were beautiful and the wildlife were fun to watch.
The first pass we went over was cinnamon pass in between Silverton and Lake City, CO. It was cool up there on top. We also went over Engineer Pass where we got snowed on alittle.
All in this area of Colorado there are ghost and mining towns that we were able to look at and explore. It is just amazing the places they mined and how they were able to get to them because they were way up on the mountains. The ghost towns that popped up because of the mining were pretty large for the day and are spuratic throughout the mountains.
Here is a picture of the boys in the jeep we rented. The boys really loved riding in the jeep and took turns riding on the outside seats so they could look for animals and mines.
This was an old ghost/mining town that we expored up in the mountains. It was mostly rubble, but it was by this nice stream and there were lots of old mine machinery left there. The metal crumbled as the buildings collapsed but the base of the structures were still there.

We really enjoyed our jeep tour in this beautiful part of the country. There is so much history here with the ghost and mining towns. We camped overnight and enjoyed the cool temperatures. It was a nice little vacation the weekend before school starts and only 2 hours from home!