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It Was a Pretty November 3 in South Park at 10,000ft.

2K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  tude 
#1 ·
Debated whether to post. Eh, why not. Pointed the wheels over Kenosha Pass to South Park for some lunchtime chow. Temps in the 50's in the high meadows of the Park. Lonely. Crystal Clear. Calm... a calm between the golden glory of autumn and the white brilliance of winter.

In 1937 the only motorized access to this basin ringed by peaks was two wheels running on two rails...


Today, two wheels can also bring one to the same spot. In a way, not much has changed here...


Gonna pay homage to two 13,000+ft. peaks. This is Mt Guyot. One climbs it by ascending the ridgeline on the right. In September, a private plane failed to gain enough altititude to pass over it. Perhaps this is a silent tribute as well...


The long ridgeline of Bald Mtn with its numerous false summits can be seen as one's eyes sweep to the distance towards the right. False summits are a source for many groans when one is climbing, thinking the top is reached when only to find a higher point further away...


So food has been found and the belly is warm. The bike comes to life and the wheels pointed home. And one just lets the rumble of the H-D moving down the lonely highway rise up to the shades of blue above...
 
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#6 ·
One can see the old train bed in in places while traveling the highway. Interesting story... one blizzard swept night the train was having a difficult time making progress and the engineer couldn't see, so the train was shut down hoping for better weather in the morning. When morning came it was noted the train had left the tracks a ways back and had been churning across the open meadows!

That pic of the depot above was taken by a train employee on one of the last runs, replaced by cars that could navigate a just finished rutted dirt road into the Park.

OK, just found a few other pics in one of my folders. First image is from famed photographer William Henry Jackson. The narrow gauge is circling and descending Kenosha Pass...




A different motorized ascent on a cold March day with the Park down below...
 
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