6-28 trout lake
Y'all
know I'm on vacation this month and instead of writing about a lot of
real estate stuff (which I'm tryin' real hard to forget), I'm going to
do a series of travel logs and show you some nice areas of the Colorado
Rockies. I'm originally from a small mining town about 9,000 feet high
in the Southwest Corner of Colorado called Telluride. If you saw Tom
Cruise's recent interview on Oprah, he filmed it at his place here. Tom
owns a place, Oprah used to and the town is littered with movie stars,
music legends and business shakers. Up here they put their boots on
same as the rest of us and don't get extra fries down at the Smuggler
so who cares?
So
today I went over to my cabin on Trout Lake. It's about 11 miles from
town and over 10,000 feet elevation and you'd have to try
hard to find a prettier slice of our country. It's a small crater lake
that was expanded by a small dam about 80 years ago. It's surrounded by
13,000 foot peaks that stay snow-capped all summer long. There are a
couple of deep channels in the lake and while it consistently produces
pan size Rainbow Trout of 1 - 2 lbs., there have been some lunker Brown
Trout pulled out of here as well.
The lake is fed by high country snow and stays pretty chilly. For years
it served as the water source for a hydro-electric plant down valley at
Ames. If you're up on your history, you know that L.L. Nunn first
generated alternating current power at Ames. Up until that time all
power was DC but you couldn't transmit DC power over long distances.
L.L. owned the Gold King Mine up above the lake and invented a way to
generate power that he could transmit up to his mine cheaply. If you
stay at The Palace Hotel next month for Inman, you can read in their
history where they were one of the first hotels in San Francisco to
have electric lights in their rooms - DC power. At that same time,
every home in Telluride was well illuminated by L.L. Nunn's amazing AC
power.
The Denver & Rio Grand narrow gauge railroad used to run around
the lake. It stopped in Telluride, then up the hill to Trout Lake and
on to Durango where it turned around and came back. After steaming up
the grade from Placerville, they needed to replenish the boilers here
at the old water tank so they could complete the climb up past Lizard
Head, down to Rico and on to Durango. My Grandmother and her Austrian
Paisan's used to ride the train with a picnic lunch and a few bottles
of vino, get dropped off along the way to go pick mushrooms, then hop
back on board when the train came back in the evening. The conductor
usually kept a couple bottles in reserve so the ladies could enjoy
their trip all the way back home.
This is the old trestle at the end of the lake where the train made
it's bend and headed on up the hill. Some of the descendants of those
early trains still carry tourists between Silverton and Durango on
summer days. If you ever get up to this part of the country, you should
hop the train for a gorgeous ride through the Rockies like our
tougher ancestors used to do.
My
Dad built our cabin over 50 years ago. Today there are just 100 cabins
dotted around the lake and you can hardly see one from another. Over
the years we've added electric power and about half of us have running
water supplied by our own stream-fed water company. There's no phone,
no TV, radio reception only when the cloud cover is right and even cell
phones don't work here. It is blessedly quiet and nights are so dark
you can see literally millions of stars. Deer and elk wander through
our yard and we've seen bears and mountain lions and lynx and a family
of chipmunks has lived in our woodpile for several generations.
It may not be the fanciest place on earth but it's been a retreat for
our family for 4 generations. I taught my kids to fish here same as my
Dad taught me. I have plans drawn up to expand the cabin in the next
few years and I plan to retire here, siting on the front porch
overlooking the lake, a barrel of Jack Daniel's in the corner with a
long straw and my laptop - writing a book about anything but real
estate. That's my son with me there.
This is Mount Wilson over by Trout Lake. Colorado has more 14,000+ foot
peaks than anywhere else in the country and this is one of them.
Spectacular.
This
is Ophir Pass, off the old train loop. If you have a Jeep, follow that
little line that etches diagonally across the mountain there and don't
fall off. In about 11 miles you'll come out in Silverton. Or you can
take the wussy way around on the paved highway but that'll take you 75
miles to get to the same place and you won't have the adrenalin rush.
We used to drive over this when I was a kid to see our relatives in
Silverton. Those old Italians always had many a jug of home made Dago
Red and them and my Pop would get a good buzz going and then come
nighttime he'd drive us back over. You just can't have fun like that
anymore.
Well, tomorrow I'm headed up to Imogene Pass. Next weekend they'll hold
the Lunar Cup ski races up there because the snow is still plenty deep
but tomorrow will be nice and quiet. If I get a chance I'll post up
some nice pic's of the old Tomboy and Liberty Bell Mines and get you a
shot of Fort Peabody. If you missed my first in the series, you can
catch up here on Fables
& Legends of the Great Southwest.
Hope you're all doing well and having a great summer of real estate.
Rumor has it the market is picking up in several areas and I surely
hope that's true. Talk to you later.
18 Comments on Trout Lake Colorado - Summer Vacation Series #2
JUN
29
2008
WOW! I feel like I'm there with the family. Thanks for a great post! Being from Florida, this looks like a great vacation spot for me! Thanks for sharing.
Nice blog. We were fortunate enough to have the use of a vacation trailer on the west bluff of Trout Lake in the late sixties through the early eighties. This trailer was owned by Babe Kendricks out of Farmington NM. Babe had moved to El Paso, where we were living then, and he offered us the use of the trailer. El Paso was too far from Trout Lake for him to travel. All he asked that we do maintenance as needed on the trailer. We used the trailer for several years while living in El Paso, then in 1975 we moved to the Denver area. We painted, roofed, replaced glass, etc on the trailer which was a cheap price to stay in one of the most beautiful settings of the country. We tried to pick up the lease on the trailer from the power company, but the trailer had been grandfathered in from the fifties and the power company would not allow a transfer. I remember a $75.00 lease payment and electric bill on demand. I'm sure you remember the trailer. It sat on the west bluff next to the old Rio Grande Southern Coach #0252. Just up the hill was a cabin that was the old RGS section house at Matterhorn, by the Butterfly mill. This cabin was owned by Babe Kendricks brother and the we used the outhouse facilities in back of this cabin. We repaired the Trout Lake municipal water system. It ran from a vault west of the highway through a culvert under the highway to several cabins and supplying an outside spigot by the trailer. When the cabin owners formed an association an bought the rights from the power company you could keep your cabin/trailer on the property for $18,000.00. (I could be fuzzy on the details) We declined to buy in as it was too far from the Denver area. This was the dumbest decision I ever made. Now the trailer is gone, replaced by a nice cabin. The RGS coach is in Monte Vista, and we still cry about losing the best vacation spot in Colorado. We would sit on the deck in the evening and watch the sunset on the peaks, sometimes getting an alpenglow. Last time through we had cell phone service on Lizard Head. We still have the memories. I've been an ardent Rio Grande Southern fan for 50 years and have volunteered at the Colorado Railroad Museum for the past 30 years, Rebuilding and operating several pieces of ex RGS equipment. Galloping Geese 2, 6, and 7. and next year RGS locomotive 20. You probably are aware of all these details, but wanted to share them anyway.
Those pictures are amazing. I live in Colorado and have passed through Telluride briefly. Your blog makes me want to go back and spend some more time. Thanks for the great post.
By the way, I read that you're hoping the market will pick up. Well, while you're waiting, there's a great site called www.viscape.com that's letting realtors list their properties for free. Plus, you can list as many properties as you want - no limit! How cool is that. So, here's a link to get you started http://viscape.com/properties/wizard/start.
Thanks again for the great blog and the amazing photos.
I was wondering if you have a suggestion or two about a couple of guys that want to try backpacing for up to a week in the area around Teluride. We're veteran Sierra Nevada trekers but want a really nice introduction to backpacking "Colorado-style".
We're thinking about one week in late August/early September next year to avoid crowds and bad weather.
Fishing would be a nice bonus, but beauty, tranquility and lightly trafficked trails are high priority.
Hello Gene, thank you for the beautiful photos. I have been lucky to travel through Telluride for the day. What a beautiful area. I tend to head out to Winter Park each year for skiing. I have snowshoe and snowmobiled in Rocky Mt. National Park what breath taking views. Enjoy your time in the Mts. and have a wonderful holiday season.
Julie - There's a lot of beautiful country in Colorado and Rocky Mountain National is one of them. Snowshoeing and X coutry skiing are great ways to see the back country - they don't scare the wildlife away like snowmobiles do. Of course my huffing and puffing is even louder than the snowmobile so I lose some of that element of surprise.
Lee - There are so many outstanding places to hike up there. There are a lot of day trips such as up Sneffels or Mt. Wilson (you can google them). On the Telluride website you can find hiking maps of the area that will help you out. When I was younger there was a particular hike I loved that could run anywhere from 4 days to a week or more. Starting from Telluride I'd go up to Imogene Pass then work south along ridgetops ending up at Bear Creek, or over by Ophir or clear over to Silver Lake if I had time. You rarely dip below about 12,000 elevation and there are little crater lakes spaced so you can spend the night with fresh water, maybe a fish if you're lucky and even an old cabin for shelter by a couple of them. Here's a link to another post I did on the Hardrock 100. If you go to their website and map, they cover a lot of the same ground and it's a gorgeous hike but not overly challenging. No technical climbs altho there are places to do that if you like.
You are welcome anytime. It is truly one of the most peaceful places in the world. I know there is a lot of beautiful country across our nation but I am somewhat prejudiced toward these Colorado Rockies.
I thoroughly enjoyed your blog and the beautiful pictures. I currently live in Virginia and just got hired on as a new preschool teacher in Telluride. I honestly had never heard of Telluride until I saw that famous Oprah interview and now I'm moving there! I've been going online to find out as much as I can. I will be visiting soon to find a place to live and am so very excited to make Telluride my new home. Thanks for sharing.
Gene - Hi! We live down in Dolores and I was wondering if you might have any leads about rentals for a few nights up there at Trout Lake. I agree that it's one of the prettiest spots on earth and wanted to show my brother first-hand when he comes to visit from NY. I know it's a long-shot especially since we're not wealthy but it never hurts to ask.
Lee - I read your post and have a recommendation: Blue Lakes below Sneffels Mt. Beautiful, wonderful backpacking destination and three lakes to throw a line into. I'm not much into fishing but i've seen folks fishing up there. Great camping, stunning scenery and not many folks. Hope you have a wonderful trip.
Ann - You'll really enjoy Telluride. It seems to get into people's blood. Good luck finding affordable housing but aside from that the place is on of the most beautiful spots on earth with lots of friendly people. If you're up there for the 4th watch for my Aunt in the parade. She's 96 and was born in Telluride.
Alisa - By their by-laws their is no rentals at Trout Lake. If you know someone with a cabin who might be willing to loan it to you for a few nights that's about as good as it gets. However, there are a couple campgrounds just about 3 miles down the road toward Telluride or you might find comfortable and relatively inexpensive lodging at the Rico Hotel. Good luck.
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So
today I went over to my cabin on Trout Lake. It's about 11 miles from
town and over 10,000 feet elevation and you'd have to try
hard to find a prettier slice of our country. It's a small crater lake
that was expanded by a small dam about 80 years ago. It's surrounded by
13,000 foot peaks that stay snow-capped all summer long. There are a
couple of deep channels in the lake and while it consistently produces
pan size Rainbow Trout of 1 - 2 lbs., there have been some lunker Brown
Trout pulled out of here as well. 
My
Dad built our cabin over 50 years ago. Today there are just 100 cabins
dotted around the lake and you can hardly see one from another. Over
the years we've added electric power and about half of us have running
water supplied by our own stream-fed water company. There's no phone,
no TV, radio reception only when the cloud cover is right and even cell
phones don't work here. It is blessedly quiet and nights are so dark
you can see literally millions of stars. Deer and elk wander through
our yard and we've seen bears and mountain lions and lynx and a family
of chipmunks has lived in our woodpile for several generations.
This
is Ophir Pass, off the old train loop. If you have a Jeep, follow that
little line that etches diagonally across the mountain there and don't
fall off. In about 11 miles you'll come out in Silverton. Or you can
take the wussy way around on the paved highway but that'll take you 75
miles to get to the same place and you won't have the adrenalin rush.
We used to drive over this when I was a kid to see our relatives in
Silverton. Those old Italians always had many a jug of home made Dago
Red and them and my Pop would get a good buzz going and then come
nighttime he'd drive us back over. You just can't have fun like that
anymore.
;)
;)
WOW! I feel like I'm there with the family. Thanks for a great post! Being from Florida, this looks like a great vacation spot for me! Thanks for sharing.