Griffin Memorial

On Saturday we took another trip up to the Griffin Memorial. It was our first snowy hike of the season.

Silver Plume Griffin Memorial Hike Mega-Post

Yesterday I went up to Silver Plume, Colorado for one of my favorite near-Denver hikes. The hike itself is littered with debris from old mines and weaves its way above the town of Silver Plume through several aspen groves, a gulch full of avalanche damage, and over some rocky slopes. As I've mentioned before, there is not a whole lot of info on this hike online and the maps (via Hiking Colorado's Summit County -screen-caps here and here) can be a little difficult to follow. I took photos of the monuments along the way so you can follow along when you visit...

This photo combines the whole trail into one image -which would be easier to print:

I'll walk you through the trial one photo at a time - starting here along the Main St. in Silver Plume. At the end of the street you'll see a white building that says "Bakery" - the Sopp & Trusket. I'd highly recommend getting some baked goods there before or after your hike. Any time I'm near Silver Plume I pick up a loaf of bread there. At one of the few stop signs in town you'll see this green garage across the street from a antique store. Take the road up the hill towards the trailhead.

This way:
At the top of the hill you'll see this sign for the 7:30 Mine Road -named after the mine that Clifford Griffin worked at in the 1800s. Follow the road to the right (east) -uphill.
Here's a photo of the trail at that point:
Not far up the hill there is a split -one trail cuts back to the left towards town and the other continues uphill. Keep going straight ahead (uphill).
Here's the view of Silver Plume and I-70 at this point in the hike:
Farther along you'll see a couple of telephone poles and some mining remnants -you'll follow the trail up and to the right (away from the poles):
A cairn along the way:
Another cairn:
You will then come upon a large gulch of avalance debris - you will walk through the fallen trees uphill towards the trail entering a more wooded area. This is a photo taken in the middle of the gulch -looking downhill.
The trail at this point was a little snowy but in the summer there is a nice stream wandering along the trail. It can get a little muddy here:
You'll cross over these mining cables a couple times as you zig-zag up the mountain:
This is a good spot to stop for a food or water break (watch out for nails on the ground):
More mining debris along the trail:
Another shot of the mining cables crossing the trial farther up:
The trial gets rockier here and pretty narrow in parts:
You'll pass this cave/mine shaft/hole. I've dared myself and friends to go into it, but we're all too chicken.
There are a few grated mine shafts at this point:
Another cairn:
When you see this grate you will take the trail to the left - to the out-cropping where the memorial resides:
It can be a little hard to see for a minute, but as you go down the trail (not far) you can't miss the large granite monument:
The Clifford Griffin memorial above Silver Plume, Colorado:

Clifford Griffin
Son of Alfred Griffin ESQ. of
Brand Hall, Shropshire, England
Born July 2, 1847
Died June 19, 1887
And in Consideration of his Own Request
Buried Near This Spot

The back-story is that Griffin ran the Seven Thirty Mine with his brother on Silver Plume Mountain in the 1880s. Legend has it that his fiancee died the day before their wedding and to escape his grief he joined the Colorado gold/silver rush in Silver Plume, CO. Some say that he lived in a cabin up there and played the violin every night to an appreciative audience in the town of Silver Plume below. The story ends tragically when he takes his own life in a grave of his own making after playing his last notes on violin.

There's a huge monument to him on a moderate hike above Silver Plume (about an 60-90 minutes each way) - an easy day trip from Denver.

New Work; Clifford Griffin

Nathan Abels, "Clifford Griffin", Acrylic and Ink on Rag Board, 14x18", 2009

Nathan Abels, "Clifford Griffin" (detail view), Acrylic and Ink on Rag Board, 14x18", 2009

I just finished this painting - in fact, I still have some residual white paint on my finger tips. You're looking at what is probably my first painting with a figure in it since grad school. It's not that I'm against figurative work, but I haven't been inspired to paint figures in some time.

Recently I was asked by local artist Katie Taft to participate in the tentatively titled "Biographic" show at Abecedarian gallery (running from September 18th to October 24th). As the title indicates, the show is related to stories about people. It will be accompanied by a written component (in the works). Some artists are going to approach it as an interview, others as more of a tribute (like mine). I'm actually way ahead of the due date - a rare thing for me.

I've been really interested in Clifford Griffin's story lately so I thought I'd roll with that momentum and do this painting of him. I made a couple of trips up to his memorial a couple of weeks ago - which is located above Silver Plume - the hike was written about on this blog here. I've also done a lot of research about Clifford Griffin at the Denver Public Library Western History department. There aren't many images of Clifford but I did find a couple of really artistic compositions of him sitting on some outcroppings above Silver Plume and for this painting I combined those with my own photos of the site he is buried at:

Photo of the Griffin Memorial by Nathan Abels

I'll have more info closer to the time of the exhibition.

The Griffin Memorial Hike - Silver Plume, CO

Clifford Griffin
Son of Alfred Griffin ESQ. of
Brand Hall, Shropshire, England
Born July 2, 1847
Died June 19, 1887
And in Consideration of his Own Request
Buried Near This Spot

On Saturday, we hiked up the Clifford Griffin memorial above Silver Plume, Colorado. Griffin ran the Seven Thirty Mine on Silver Plume Mountain in the 1880s. His fiancee died the day before their wedding and to escape his grief he joined the Colorado gold rush in Silver Plume, CO. He lived in a cabin up there and played the violin every night to an appreciative audience in the town of Silver Plume below. The story ends tragically when he takes his own life in a grave of his own making after playing his last notes on violin.

There's a huge monument to him on a moderate hike above Silver Plume, and it is definitely one of my favorite hikes in the area. The hike itself is littered with debris from the mine and weaves its way above the town of Silver Plume through several aspen groves, a gulch full of avalanche damage, and over some rocky slopes. You can find more info on the hike via Hiking Colorado's Summit County (screen-caps here and here if you want to print out the info for the hike). It's a short drive from Denver - located close to Georgetown - I'd highly recommend it. Interestingly, we hiked to Griffin's memorial just one day after he died - in fact, we were there the same day that the miner's discovered his body 122 years ago.