Creede, Colorado

Nestled in the San Juan Mountains at 8,852 feet above sea level, Creede is a picturesque old mining town located in a canyon surrounded by towering peaks. This is Mineral County and true to its name, minerals abound. The drop in the price of silver closed the mines, the last one about 1985. The recent rise in silver prices may have some of the mines reopening in the near future.

Creede is the county seat of Mineral County. It also is the only city in Mineral County. That is one way to win the election! Mineral County is 95% public land so there are many places to enjoy without fear of trespassing.

We are staying at a beautiful RV park, Mountains Views RV Park. It is situated along the banks of the Rio Grande River which has its headwaters here in Mineral County. The landscaping is great, the lots are large, fenced and the views are magnificent. We are enjoying our stay here immensely. We went to Creede for lunch yesterday and encountered a most unusual motorcycle. It certainly got a lot of attention.

We came to Creede for an Escapees HOP (Head Out Program), mountain four wheeling. Today was our first outing. Three groups went out, 14 jeeps in one group, 13 jeeps in our group and several ATVs in another group. We lowered our tire pressure to 22 psi to give us increased traction, a softer ride over the rocks and to lessen the chance of a puncture from the sharp rocks. It worked well. We followed forest service roads into the high country and then we encountered potholes which then deteriorated into narrow, twisting scab rock, deeply rutted in places. We had no problems although we were in low range 4WD, low gear much of the time to stay under control on the descents. We had two runs planned for the day. As we began our climb on the second run, a thunderstorm descended on the peak we were to climb and we were drenched with a tremendous shower which quickly turned to hail about .25 inch in diameter. The ground quickly became covered with a white coat that looked a lot like winter! Our windshield was covered with ice, snow and rain. The ditches along the road became choked with runoff that began carving ruts across the road. Needless to say, the group leader decided to call it a day since most folks did not have mud tires. Friends of ours on another run were caught on one of the neighboring peaks when the deluge began. They quickly headed out but encountered extreme puddles and mud and found themselves going sideways several times during their descent. The slides were described to us as "controlled slides" by the men and "out of control" by the women. We were glad to have missed that excitement. We plan to make that same run later in the week and hope that the mud has dried up before we go.

We will stay here in Creede until August 10, a full week after our 4WD friends have gone on. We have heard of numerous places where we can go rock hounding for some interesting fossils and gems. That will be fun. Also, I have not had my fill of river fishing yet and hope to ply the rivers and streams for some of the trophy trout that abound in these waters. We had fish for dinner that I had caught previously. It was great.

We are unsure of our route from Creede. We want to go to the Four Corners area to see ancient Indian dwellings but we want to do so later in the summer or early fall to escape the heat and the crowds. There is so much to see here in Colorado and we have barely scratched the surface. We have survived the steep, narrow, twisting mountain pass routes that we have taken BUT there are some routes that we refuse to take with the motor home, they are plenty scary enough in our little Jeep. We are enjoying spending more time in one place and getting an opportunity to relax without the pressure of having to be some place at some time. The remainder of the trip should have less schedule demands. Fish On!