And On and On and On....Our Time in Cripple Creek, CO

We wanted to ride the Harley's up Pike's Peak so we thought we'd find a place to stay in or close to Colorado Springs.  We called every campground around there...Woodland Park, Divide, Colorado Springs, etc., etc., etc.  They were all full until at least mid August.  We figured school would be starting soon so everyone & their brother were taking their last camping trips before school starts.

We don't book in advance since we don't know where we'll be or how long we want to stay someplace.

August 8, 2016

Left Durango.

Wild burros roam the street

We ended up in Cripple Creek, CO.  It's an old gold mining town.  Before the Gold Rush, this town had a population of 15.  At the height of the Gold Rush the population soared to over 50,000.  The current population is under 12,000.  We were extremely pleased with this quaint little town! 

The town of Cripple Creek

 



Where we stayed.  Cripple Creek Hospitality
House & RV Park
This was a hospital in the early 1900's

The main "drag"...Barnett St

Map of all mines underground

We went to the Molly Kathleen Gold Mine. 



In the mine.

Natural Epson Salt on walls of mine

In the mine

Blacksmith's "shop" in the mine



Guess who...

Elevator we went down in

Model of mine shaft we were in

They put you in the original elevators the miners took us down 1000 ft.  There were only 6 of us in these but they said 9 miners were in these each time they went down. 

We were less than 1/2 way down.  There were many mines below us, 1200 ft below us!  The mine has 22 levels.  We were at level 10.

 

We stopped by the Heritage Center across the street from the mine.  It was really interesting.