Empire, CO
All-4-Fun - Mile High Jeep Club
Part 1
We signed up earlier in the year to attend the 50th anniversary of the Mile Hi Jeep Club's All -4-Fun event in Empire, CO. Little did we know that it would be a week packed with 4-wheeling trails, food, bands, vendor days and lots of fun and prizes plus meeting up with a college friend.
We loaded up the motorhome and prepped the Jeep for a week of fun. We travelled I-70 from Grand Junction, 200 miles East through the heart of the Rocky Mountains to the area in between Georgetown and Idaho Springs, which in 1859 the find of gold and silver started the Colorado Rockies gold rush. Empire is a former mining settlement that flourished during this Silver Boom in the late 19th century. History has it that a post office called Empire City was established in 1861, and the name was changed to Empire in 1886. The town was named after New York, the "Empire State" Empire was incorporated in 1882. It is a small town with older buildings offering some history of the area. The All-4-Fun event had approximately 500 registered rigs plus vendors and club members. So you might say we out numbered the population of the town.
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| Our home for 7 days in dry camping area surrounded by mountains. Not bad ! |
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| View from motorhome |
I will make this blog (Part 1) as short as possible but also give you a taste of the beautiful scenery we experienced and the backcountry roads we enjoyed.
Not all those who wander are lost. J.R.R. Tolkien
Yes it is true - we did a lot of wandering throughout the week and enjoyed every minute no matter if it was rain or shine.
The first couple of days we signed up for Cascade Creek Trail and then Pickle Gulch-Miners Gulch. Both trails led us through some nice forested areas to amazing vistas to overlook the towns and valleys below.
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| Miners cabin |
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| A huge moose |
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| Old stone cabin in Miner's Gulch |
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| Jeep convoy. |
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| Line up at the top of Yankee Boy Hill |
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| On Yankee Boy Hill looking across at St. Mary's Glacier |
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| Sego Lily |
For our next adventure we traveled the Santa Fe Peak and Chihuahua Gulch trails. Santa Fe Peak trail offered amazing scenery with a climb above timberline to an elevation of 13,180 ft. We traveled on virtually one lane shelf road to the top. Yes it was narrow!
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| One of many mines in the area. Not much left of structures. |
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| Lots of switchbacks to drive to the top |
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| Snow in August. |
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| Lunch stop with a view. |
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| Narrow shelf road with a beautiful view. |
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| Tundra plants all around |
Next will be the Chihuahua Gulch Trail .....To Be Continued ........
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