Half Moon Gulch

[RGINN]

Any of you guys have any info on this area? Other than the little we see in history books? I found a lot of different things there, and really need to come up with some better info. Go on through Leadville. Out past that Saturday's Discount store take that turn towards the fish hatchery. Go west and then turn left on the Half-Moon Road. Go a little south and turn right on the road up Half Moon Gulch. Any info at all is appreciated.

 

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[TiredIron]

Howdy,
I never saw a report of how you did in Half Moon Gulch. Were you able to get out there?

TiredIron

 

[RGINN]

I got out there Tired Iron. I found more questions, really. This one area just had an abundance of .44 calibre balls and the layout of the finds indicated two groups firing at each other, with some behind cover. Why? Probably for the hell of it, since it is Leadville. It's snowed in now, but I'll go back in May.

 

[milehigh]

RGINN...did you get back to this area since your last post? Ive just read the same everyone else has I suppose.....quite a vast area.

 

[lonesome larry]

I live about a mile from half moon gulch. I have been looking fore butch and sundances loot.you may have found where the law and them had a shoot out.loot might be near there. good place to start looking anyway.

 

[RGINN]

Well cool Lonesome Larry and welcome to Tnet. I never heard anything about a Butch Cassidy connection over there but have heard mention of the James Boys. Supposedly there's markings on rocks in that area, but I ain't found them yet. We can't get back in there for probably another month but if you see me over there holler at me and I'll show you what I've found.

 

[Elrothen]

I've lived in Leadville Co for about 14 years. Having some firsthand knowledge about the Halfmoon Gulch area and the layout, I wonder about possible JJ and BCassidy myths/rumors/tall tales. Ive actually been way up there camping, and discovered i was being spied/watched/observed, whilst camping overnight with a small campfire, by an anonymous person in black military fatigues! Needless to say that freaked us out and we split! I've become fascinated by Colorado's lost treasure stories in the recent years, and discovering that Halfmoon Gulch may hold some possible finds. There's tons of area to cover up in there, on the Elbert, and Massive side. I pan recreationally, and can tell ya, even the litter in the easily reached areas has antique value! Lol, vintage logo gas cans and old glass bottles, for starters. If you have the inclination to head on up there, most years you won't get full snowmelt till June. Currently, May 29, 2013, you can't access the upper areas. Soon though. Make absolutely sure you are completely prepared! (possible overnight) If you have a high clearance 4x4 or atv/utv, you may be able to cross the half moon creek at the first crossing. Its a moderately challenging jeep road crossing way up the gulch, if you get there early. VERY IMPORTANT: creek will be crossable early in the day, but rises later in the day as snow melt and subsurface ice melt. By the afternoon at full runoff, the creek becomes uncrossable with almost any vehicle. Many an unplanned overnight trip has occurred this way. Overnight the runoff slows down and half moon creek is crossable again in the morning. I live within a few miles of HMG, and would recommend OHV's for this area. The local law enforcement is pretty tolerant of OHV use on county roads, just stay off the highway.

 

[RGINN]

Well thank you Elrothen, and welcome to Tnet. Good to see another member from Leadville on here. The guy that was spyin on you was probably the campground host in the HM campground. He's a sneaky rascal always out keepin an eye on things. Actually, he seems to be a pretty good ol boy. We were over there today and saw he was set up in the upper campground. You can spot his place cause it kinda looks like the Grapes of Wrath set down on his site. hahaha! Got a few pics today which I will try to figure out how to add.

 

[RGINN]

Straight across this flat is where I like to camp. Just up in the trees is where I found a lot of bullets. I thought maybe a shootin range across the flat, but some of the bullets were a little high, plus I found the brass tip of a ramrod up there.

 

[RGINN]

Above the site is an old trail that leads....nowhere. Below the trail you can find bullets that have impacted along the bank. After walkin it out, I figured this was a trail used to snake logs down from the hillside.

 

[RGINN]

A lot of places where rocks have been intentionally placed, and here's an extreme example. If there ever was a treasure sign this would be it. I believe the rocks were placed by the forest service people to keep folks from makin a road up through here. However, you can just drive around it.

 

[RGINN]

Remains from the mining era.

 

[Elrothen]

Hi RGINN! Great pics, thnx. Looks a lil more melted out than I thought. I'll be runnin out there on the dirt bike to check the accessibility up higher, Like past the North Elbert Trailhead. I can't wait to explore my areas of interest......as soon as it stops snowing! (Technically snowed again today) I'll post more here soon, pics and finds, that I get while up Half Moon Gulch. Is the old brick (smelter?) pit near Emerald Lake? I feel like maybe I remember seeing something like that, just up gulch from Emerald?

 

[RGINN]

Yeah Elrothen it was way more melted out than I thought it would be. I didn't go much farther past the campground, but lots of traffic goin farther on. That brick structure is directly north of the upper Half Moon campground close to the creek. Just a great day over there yesterday with a little snow from time to time, even with the sun shinin. And it's snowin over here today, but no accumulation to speak of. I think I'll head over there next week and camp. I've heard stories of rock carvings over there but I don't really know where to look. That's not really the type of rock conducive to easy carving, so you'd have to be dedicated to get it done. I've seen a lot of crosses carved in rocks in the Wichitas in Oklahoma and these are usually gold mine claim markers, so maybe that's what folks have seen up here.

 

[Elrothen]

Loading up a pack with some gear, food & water, and heading up there on the motorcycle in about an hour. The petroglyphs or carved symbols are what I'm most interested in. I hope you don't mind if I examine the area you posted pics of:-) and I sincerely appreciate you sharing your knowledge of the area. I'll post pics of what I see on this thread later today. Thanx again RGINN!!

 

[Elrothen]

Ok, got up there as far as the two creek crossings and the North Half Moon trailhead (hike only) lots of stops, and short to medium hikes up into the hills above. Also checked the larger rocks around most of the old & new fire rings and primitive camp areas. No symbols carved that I could see, but I reckon I don't have quite the "eye" for em as of yet:-) here are some things I saw today...

 

[goldnuggets]

RGINN...did you get back to this area since your last post? Ive just read the same everyone else has I suppose.....quite a vast area.

I haven’t been able to find anything at all on it, I live a few hours away from Leadville, really wanting to check this area out. Has there been any more info?