"Doors Open Denver"

As part of "Doors Open Denver", we visited the Elitch Gardens Historic Theater in the Highlands neighborhood of Denver. According to their site, "The Elitch Theatre has been a vital part of Colorado’s cultural landscape since its inception in 1891. Having the honor of being Colorado’s first cultural center, the Elitch Theatre was home to the oldest summer stock theatre in America and hosted the screening of Colorado’s first moving picture in 1905. Many pioneers and famous faces of the theatre industry such as Grace Kelly, Douglas Fairbanks and Edward G. Robinson, to name a few, passed through this iconic American playhouse at one point in their career. " It is now undergoing fundraising efforts for restoration.

(historic photo via Elitch Gardens Historic Theatre website)

Color photos by me.

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.

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.

The Look of the Sound of Denver

I found these 45's at a thrift store a while back:

Andre Yi and Nevadaville

Andre Yi, "Nevadaville (Bridge)", Acrylic, Ink and colored Pencil on canvas, 2006, 20 x 32 inches

Andre Yi, "Nevadaville (Gallows Frame)", Acrylic, Ink and colored Pencil on canvas, 2006, 24 x 24 inches

Nathan Abels, "Nevadaville Mining Ruins"

I was just browsing the work of Andre Yi, and the first piece I came across was called "Nevadaville (Gallows Frame)" (above). It's crazy how close we must have been to where he took his reference photo two years ago. About two weeks ago I wrote a post about Nevadaville and the ghost towns along the Peak to Peak byway. Looks like he beat me to the punch by a couple of years. He gave the mining equipment of Nevadaville a real melancholy that I enjoy.

Nevadaville

Nevadaville, CO photos by Nathan Abels

Chances are you've never heard of Nevadaville, CO. I hadn't either before this last Friday when we took a short day trip along the Peak to Peak byway. The Peak to Peak byway is a road established in 1918 that was intended to connect Pike's Peak and Long's peak, but only covers the area roughly from Golden, CO to Estes Park (55 miles). It could be covered pretty quickly, but if you did that you would be missing out. Our first detour was a stop in Central City - a town far more interesting than the built-up casinos of neighboring Blackhawk, CO. From Central City, we followed a dirt road one mile uphill to Nevadaville, CO. According to Ghosttowns.com, Nevadaville was once a thriving town of 4,000 residents in the late part of the nineteenth century but as of ten years ago only six people called Nevadaville home. From the looks of it, six residents is probably a high estimate in 2008. The photos I took there (above) are not much to look at, and do the setting a bit of an injustice. The photos do show remnants fo mining operations - evidence of which can be found all over Nevadaville. The town has a very short (aprox 5 buildings) main street of sorts in which a fire house/city hall rests and a few large-windowed storefronts lie abandoned.

photos by Dolores Steele

Numerous empty structures litter the surrounding hills and large deposits of the gold-gray colored dirt from mining fill the valley. It was a strange place, and since moving to Colorado this was the fullest ghost-town we've encountered in terms of standing structures. I find these time-capsules in the mountains to be quite fascinating and I'd recommend taking the Peak to Peak byway to anyone along the Front Range. It's an easy day trip with lots to see. More of my pics from the trip can be found here.

Carved Aspen Tree Art and History

The next time you may be hiking out west through an aspen grove - take a closer look at the carvings and writing on their surfaces. There is a rapidly disappearing history of migrating sheepherders carved into them.

According to the National Parks Service website,

"[Carved] Aspen trees ... bear the marks of those who came before. Known as arborglyphs, dendroglyphs, or aspen art, the carvings provide an important record of the area's history.

The practice was started by Basque sheepherders in the late 1800s. Basque sheepherders were replaced by Peruvian sheepherders in the late 1900s adding yet another style and mix of arborglyphs. Recreational campers and cattlemen also left their marks, some of which date from the early 1900s.

The Basques, who call themselves Euskaldunak, are from the Pyrenees Mountains located on the border of Spain and France. Basques have their own language known as Eusk but since the majority live in Spain, they also speak, read and write in Spanish. This explains why some of the carvings contain a mix of both Eusk and Spanish."

The Hispanic roots of Colorado and New Mexico carved Aspen trees is explained by Arborlyphs.com writer, "Particularly intriguing about the carvings of Colorado and New Mexico is that they were not carved by Basque shepherds, but by Hispanics, whose forefathers had been in the area for generations. Among these herders were descendants of early pioneer families, settlers that came north from Mexico when this part of country was known as Nuevo Mexico and controlled by Spain. There was some Basque immigration to the Grand Junction, Colorado area but little if any to the south San Juans. These carvings are culturally different from the Basque carvings making them even more significant to Colorado and New Mexico’s history."

via Fultxo's flickr set of Basque Tree Carvings
via Fultxo's flickr set of Basque Tree Carvings

via ccguidedogs@sbcglobal.net's flickr set

via Snakeriverphotography

via Cowboyshowcase, "Basque Ranching Culture"

For more information, refer to the book:
"Speaking Through the Aspens: Basque Tree Carvings in California and Nevada", by J. Mallea-Olaetxe