Leadville, Colo. Recommend a short 'adventure' hike?

[Bob W]

I'm taking the family up to Leadville for a couple of days - last hurrah of the summer. We have a mine tour one morning and a train ride the other. So I'm needing a couple of short adventure-type hikes, historic sites, or other activities suitable for a seven-year-old to fill in the afternoons (weather permitting).

The kid has a decent amount of hiking experience for a child of his age, has is own gear, and is physically fit. Still, a fourteener is out of the question. And four miles is probably the max hiking distance for an afternoon.

What would be perfect, a short hike in to a historic site. A 'mountain' with reasonably close vehicle access would be great. Canyon hikes are good too, and won't leave us exposed if the weather turns sour.

Any ideas?

 

[Bob W]

Back from Leadville, luckily we scrammed out of there before the weekend. Seems to be a mecca for people fleeing Denver on weekends.

And it turns out our time was pretty well filled up without needing a half-day hike anywhere. Here's a quick run-down of what we accomplished:
- Found the ghost town of Calcite, Colorado near Salida. Was interesting to locate but ended up being on private property. There are some things to see from the road, but it's a bit awkward since someone has built a new house right in the middle of the ruins.
- State fish hatchery in Salida. Very nice. They gave us buckets of feed for the fish. :thumbup:
- Spiral Drive. Not nearly as dramatic in the F350 as it was on the motorcycle earlier this summer. Great views from the top.
- National Fish Hatchery by Leadville. Hatchery is a fantastic historic building, and the grounds contain an excellent nature hike trail.
- Hopemore Mine Tour. Ride the "cage" down 600' into a working silver-gold mine. This is not a typical large-group tourist mine. Only six people on the tour, and they only do tours two days a week.
- Scenic train ride. Certainly scenic, and you get your money's worth from the 2-1/2 hr ride.
- Exploring the mining areas (4WD recommended), and checking out the wildflowers on the Mosquito Pass road. I could have spent weeks there just hiking and photographing the ruins.
- Cabins. Our rustic (genuinely rustic, 100 years old) cabin was out in the country and surrounded by millions of acres of national forest.
- Camp Hale. 14,000 American troops were stationed here at one time, now just ruins. There's really not much left to see, but the valley is spectacular.
- Hampton Inn and the swimming pool. Not my thing, but perfect for a seven-year-old.

Since Leadville was more of a tour than wilderness adventure, last night I made the boy camp overnight in the Valle Vidal. Closer to home, and not filled with city refugees like Leadville. We hiked in a couple of miles, crashed for the night under the stars, and hiked out this morning. Coyotes howling, owls, light mid-night rain, meteor shower, lightning show off in the distance, sunset over Little Costilla Peak... Wheh!

Back to work tomorrow.

 

[venmm73]

Glad you had a good timeout here. I wish i would have seen this sooner to help you. I just camped up in salida. There are some real nice areas. If you ever come back around look me up i will give ya some ideas. If i dont know the area i know someone who will.

 

[Bob W]

Thanks. We sure had a great time up there. So many historic sites, hiking and backpacking trails, back roads... I could keep busy in that area for years.