Rush to the Rocky's

[tamrock]

I was down along the Arkansas river at a quarry just out of Canon City yesterday. I got going early and the traffic in the morning heading out of the Metro was already beginning to build up. Heading home was unbelievable and on hwy 285 going through the once sleepy little town of Fairplay, Colorado had a line of vehicles 2 miles long built up waiting to get through the one stoplight in town. As I got 30 miles out of the Denver area around 4:PM there was a solid line of vehicles for miles. I'm sure this traffic scene to the high country will be going on all through the night. I can only think of what the next 20 years it will be like up in the high country? I'm just gonna enjoy this labor day weekend right here at home. It looked like there was going to be some cool stormy wet weather this holiday weekend up there and many of the aspen trees are now turning colors. Won't be long and all leaves will blow away and the whole place will be covered in white.

 

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[diggingthe1]

It’s nuts out there, I’m glad to off the beaten path! Colorado has grown tremendously, I love those Arkansas pictures, my favorite River!! I’m hoping for lots and lots of snow this winter!! Ute Pass is absolutely nuts coming out of the Colorado Springs on the weekends!

 

[Rookster]

Nice pics.

 

[tamrock]

It’s nuts out there, I’m glad to off the beaten path! Colorado has grown tremendously, I love those Arkansas pictures, my favorite River!! I’m hoping for lots and lots of snow this winter!! Ute Pass is absolutely nuts coming out of the Colorado Springs on the weekends!

A lot has changed, hasn't it. I'll have 30 years living on the front range this month and I had 8 years living in the Leadville, Buena Vista area in the late 70s early 80s. Things did get busy on the holidays even back then, but nothing like it is now. Hardly seems enjoyable to me using those ATV's and RV's on a weekend like this. Most the time involved would be sitting in traffic and waiting in line to fuel up. The worst is those drivers who think they can get around it all by risking their lives and others passing everyone. I'm seeing all kinds of people passing on solid and double yellow lines anymore. Week after next I'll be possibly heading to Yearington, Nevada with a long stretch of the trip taking Utah and Nevada's Hwy 50. It's still the loneliest highway in America. In fact it's awesome out along that stretch of road where not enough people go and get these crazy ideas to improve things.

 

[villagenut]

I was just out there for the first time a few weeks ago..went down the rapids at the gorge and went to see Seven Falls, Red Rocks and valley of the gods......wow, what beautiful country you have out there.

 

[villagenut]

Sorry....that was a garden, not a valley

 

[Hawks88]

Thanks for sharing. Love the first two pics.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Thank you for sharing!

 

[RGINN]

They're promoting all these things to attract more people to the high country here in the summer but they're not doing a lot to improve the infrastructure to accommodate them. Buena Vista has that big music festival this weekend, and I don't know how they'll handle the traffic they're expecting. Our sister store down there sent out a request to all the other stores for more help from anybody who wanted to come down there, but we've pretty much got all we can handle here at Breck. We could probably use a few more people if they could spare them, haha!

 

[tamrock]

BV was pretty dismal when I left after the mine that employed just about everyone in town gave us all the axe. To get things going they built that runway that could handle a 727. I attended the grand opening of that and to date the dreams they had for that place haven't really materialized as they saw it. Who'd a known legal marijuana and good music was all they ever really needed in the upper Arkansas Valley to put some life back. I'm glad to see those communities come back with all they offer today. 4 wheeling, mountain biking, river running, hiking and it just keeps on getting busier. Hopefully this infrastructure will get sorted out, as it's really needed. It seems just about everything east of the Rockies in Colorado really isn't keeping up with all the needed improvements to handle all the growth.

 

[cyzak]

I thought they opened mother moly back up and we're mining again.

 

[tamrock]

I thought they opened mother moly back up and we're mining again.

They did, but with all the modern mining mechanization they have these days that'll do the work of 10 times more over the equipment of the past , plus the underground isn't in operation, they don't need 1800 hearty souls to mine the grey gold anymore. Eventually they will go back underground, but what I'm told that will be years from now. Freeport knows they still own one of the largest deposits of molybdenum sitting down below, but that will require all kinds of state-of-the-art equipment as all the old equipment has been removed and scrapped. My last job there was developing draw points that would take the mine into the future using the modern underground rubber tire haulage trucks and muckers over the old rail and slusher method of the 1930s they still used in to the early 1980s. That mine will never be again like it was 40 years ago.

 

[cyzak]

I now they were going to open pit up there I was there 6 years ago when they were revamping the mine site. Back then they were just trying to assemble the new Mill plant they were bringing in the ball Mills for assembly haven't heard too much about it lately though.

 

[tamrock]

I now they were going to open pit up there I was there 6 years ago when they were revamping the mine site. Back then they were just trying to assemble the new Mill plant they were bringing in the ball Mills for assembly haven't heard too much about it lately though.

Now it's one big ball mill I believe that will feed the existing smaller ones. Yes they did put a lot money into modernizing that mill and the open pit is all that they're mining for now. The Henderson mine is now being further developed under ground with an outside mining contractor. That contractor up there is our number one customer as of now. They're working all over the west here in Colorado, Arizona and Nevada. Cementation

 

[cyzak]

I'm glad to see the mining going on in Colorado been a long time coming they are slow to start up with all the regulation they have put in place now. Colorado is now one of the heaviest regulated states were right behind California with these regs and more will be coming. We need miming and today it has such advanced technology it is very safe and eco friendly with the environment they are very respectful to the environment and for it people have a bad conception it is still done the old way and it is very far from that now.

 

[tamrock]

That all began back in 1993 with this eccentric mf'er Bob Freidland, aka Toxic Bob. Thanks to him and his irresponsible mining practices, mining in Colorado has been under the gun ever since.
Robert Friedland | MINING.com

 

[RGINN]

Talked to some folks in BV early this a.m., tr, and they said that music festival didn't have all that big of an impact on the town. About the only people they thought made money off of it were the on-site vendors, since if you left the concert site they charged you $20 to get back in, no matter if you had tickets. So there wasn't a whole lot of runnin into town just to pick up a few things.