Friday, August 21, 2009

A Sunday Adventure

I had intended to post this right away but here we are and its Friday already.













We saw an article in the paper talking about a place a couple hours from here so we thought why not check it out today. It was an article featuring one of those out of the way places you see when you are headed somewhere else. You always think someday I am go ing to stop and check those out but you never do.













First on the list was the Gilmore ghost town.














A lot of the former residences are really collapsing. I was fascinated by the views and the colors in the deteriorating wood. click on pictures for more details.













I always seem to like the houses that still have some paint on them. It is like you can glimpse a little bit of their former glory.






















I love looking through doorways for different views













Then we headed up to Meadow Lake. Its pretty high at 9,160 feet. The Mountain behind me is over 1600 feet higher at 10,760 feet. There were still some pockets of snow on the mountain.













Then we had a little lunch, it looks yummy to me. It started snowing while we were there. Not heavy or anything but snow none the less.













We then went down the Mountain to see these.













They are Charcoal Kilns. At one time there were 16 of them but that was back in 1885. There was a silver mine in the area and it used a smelter which needed the charcoal. It took 35 cords of wood to make 15 bushels of charcoal. The kilns are 20 feet high and 20 feet in circumference. The smelter was on the other side of the valley. As we drove the road we thought of how the charcoal would have been transported, by wagon. Truly an amazing enterprise.















This is a look inside the kiln you can see the charcoal on the bricks.













Here I am looking through one from the top.













And this is a close up of one of the ones falling apart. The rest of the kilns were dismantled and the brick was used elsewhere.

What was a spur of the moment trip turned out to be quite fun. My advice is the next time you pass a site a little bit off the road take the time to check it out you just might have a wonderful adventure.

7 comments:

  1. Some lovely views, Kate. Those kilns are so cool - I love their igloo like shape ! Did you use the s word...:( toooooo sooooon !
    Happy FRiday !

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  2. Aloha Kate,
    Those are fabulous..and snow..kilns..
    Like fire and ice..
    peace, Kai

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  3. I love the old buildings with the peeling paint, and those cool kilns. Looks like a fun adventure. Wow - snow, already? In August? !

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  4. Nothing better than a little adventure, thank you for taking us along. I love the kilns...you could almost live in one. The houses are wonderful, I love the red one. It made me think of a little school house.
    Snow...I am so not ready. I love the apron, it is really cute on you.
    Big Hugs, Mary

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  5. Oh How fun to explore there. Great place for an adventure! Love the old houses and kilns.
    cool!

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  6. I love this kind of adventure....off the beaten trail. I haven't done anything like this for quite awhile and I think it's time.

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  7. Oh, I am so into ghost towns. Wonderful pics and it looks like you had a really great time! Thanks for sharing :)

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