Today's Activities: Today, Bill Strong, owner of Silverton Specialties, joined Mark, Miles and Jerry. Bill's company produces the finest narrow gauge railroad belt buckles on the market. Check them out at www. rrbuckles.com. Bill is recognized as the leading authority on Silverton Railway passes, and is the author of "The Remarkable Railroad Passes of Otto Mears." Meeting Bill at the South Mineral Creek Campground, we drove through Silverton and took two of our favorite side trips off the road to Animas Forks. Once again, we encountered very little traffic. A group of five 4wd vehicles and a few folks on ATV's were all we saw today. At the end of the day, Miles and Jerry had the pleasure of driving down the Uncompahgre Gorge on US 550 through one of the most severe thunderstorms we've ever seen in the San Juans. The water coming off the mountain onto the roadway was awesome. Little did we know what we were ahead of. Mark had stayed behind in Silverton to spend some additional time with Bill and his wife, so he followed down about an hour behind us. He actually arrived in Ouray 2 hours later, because the rainfall had caused slides to block 550 in 4 separate spots. Miles and Jerry agreed getting down the road before the mountain came down on them a real good way to end the day.

Trip Length: 2 ½ hours from Silverton.

Difficulty Rating: 2 increasing to 3 on the washed out sections. There are a few narrow sections with severe drop-offs into the creek below.

Trail Condition: A number of washouts have cut the trail down to one vehicle width in a few places. The trail is in very good shape other wise although a little muddy at the top.

Sites along the trail: A number of small mining operations can be seen as you move above tree line. The wildflowers in Maggie Gulch are more spectacular than those in Yankee Boy. At the end of the road, the remains of the Intersection Mill are one of the few sites where the stamp battery is still in place. The ridge forming the head of the gulch is the Continental Divide.

View down Maggie Gulch (75k)

View to the head of Maggie Gulch (75k)

Remains of a 10 stamp mill in Maggie Gulch (75k)

Steam heat at 12,500 feet? Who says these miners had it rough (75k)