Jeep Trip "Ordeal"

We spent 8 1/2 hours in the Jeep today and saw tons of back country.  Lots of rocky Jeep roads and like Toni says, "It could have been worse.  We could have been on a horse all day."

Our camp site is really nice:

      My Internet connection is moving horribly slow so I will be adding pictures of our trip later. 

      OK it is the next day and after a good nights sleep, I can hopefully be more patient.  We went to an area up in mountains where in 1907 a railroad line was built with a tunnel through the mountainside.  A part of the installation has been restored but the tunnel opening has been sealed.  It was actually very interesting.

This was on the way to the Alpine Tunnel.  Down below is the remains of an old mining facility.

                                                Closer view of the same spot.                                 

         I'm sure this had something to do with mining.  It wouldn't take much for this to fall.

The miners at least had the modern convenience of a toilet.

While looking for the Alpine Tunnel and after my not paying attention to the map in my off-road book, we happened upon the little lake way up high.  Yay!  We got to back track down to the right route! 

This was an actual four wheel drive "road" and here is one of the smoother spots.  It got worse from along here to the point that I hung the rear differential on a boulder and had to reposition.  Toni was a good sport the whole time!

We finally made it to the top of the pass.  We talked to a couple of guys on a four wheeler and they let us know that we weren't but about 8 miles from the Alpine Tunnel.  Oh joy, almost there!  Ha.

We are driving down the old railroad bed along here and not far from our destination.

Some interesting info about how they built this railroad line.

We finally made it!  This was the telegraph building where the agent lived.

Toni was biten by a bee on her right arm before this picture was taken so she wasn't feeling very well.

The actual tunnel was sealed.  It is just a short walk from the other facilities.

The above picture has a good looking old man standing by the old engine house!

Another view from above.

On the way back to Buena Vista, the road follows the old rail bed.  Here is a restored water tank.

We went over three passes on the trip.  We were still about 50 miles from Buena Vista at this point.  And the way home wasn't on paved roads.  Can you say tired?!