Headwaters and High Country Train Ride

We awoke to a bright and sunny day, with only a smattering of clouds drifting lazily overhead.  With a little time on my hands this morning, I drifted down the trail around back toward Chalk Creek, leaving my comrade snoozing away in the cool mountain morning.

Our host said that I only needed to cross the bridge and I would eventually run into the creek.  He said I might be tempted to follow what looked like a paved path but that was not the way to go.  Turn right when you see that, were my instructions.  I never saw anything of the sort.

I did find the creek, and the picnic table he had promised would mark the spot.  He found me there too, hearing me crack rocks, slinging them out into the stream, hoping to build myself a little bridge to the little island there.  It was in vain, and I kind of knew it, but kind of didn't care either.  He and I talked for a bit about the simple things in life.

When we finally hit the road to meet up with the other third of our entourage, we found those clouds beautifully blanketing the mountain tops, with sunshine all around.  As long as the forecast held true, we were in for a perfect day for a train ride further up into the headwaters valley of the Arkansas River.

We arrived in Leadville a little earlier than truly necessary, enabling us to forage for food in a town we quickly discovered is little more than a tourist trap.  The Golden Burro served up a questionable fare, in a slower than average way. They didn't kill too much of our time.  We still had a moment or two to wander down the block and get some coffee.

Before & After fit the bill perfectly, even offering up a little Ginger Beer for a bit of altitude relief to my comrade.  Another had said a bottled Coca-Cola would do it and it wasn't doing what was promised.  The introduction of the Ginger seemed to do the trick.

Returning to the depot, we got ourselves situated and parked for the next leg of the journey.  The other third of our expedition arrived at just that time, packed for a winter in the mountains, like us.  We had no idea but we were all over-compensating for weather that was not going to happen. The forecast was 10-14°C  with mostly clear skies.  It was already 14°C and showed no signs of rain.

The ride up was fantastic, although we quickly discovered there is a good side to be on and a good enough side.  The latter is little more than staring through the trees up the side of Prospect Mountain and Mount Arkansas most of the way.  The better side has a couple of wide open views on the Arkansas River valley.  There is a lot staring through the trees on that side too.  Now we know.  We did well choosing a covered car though.  Halfway back down the hill, it started pouring down rain out of nowhere.  Riders in the open scrambled for any cover they could find.

The rain did not last long though. The clouds broke up and the other riders found their way back to their seats, which now held puddles of water. They stood for the remainder of the journey. Arriving back at the depot, we put together plans for the second half of the afternoon, stopped at the post office to drop off a few postcards, and were quickly on the road again.

The sky looked like it wanted to rain most of the way back from Leadville but never got around to it.  The clouds up on the mountains had been busy though, filling the peaks with fresh white snow.  One of the things we most wanted to see happen hit the mark.  It was good to see them littered with the stuff.  

A pause at a spot we had found closed the night before, the Mountain Oasis Bar & Grill offered up a decent meal back in Buena Vista.  Sending our cousin south to warmth of his bed, we headed west into the snowy peaks our warm little cabin was parked beneath.  We considered a round of Battleship but decided a little reading was a better way to spend the time; that is, after a little planning. While the rain had remained at a distance today, it was projected to return in much the same format as the day before.  We prayed that it would not.