Juhani's bloggyblog: Georgetown Loop Railroad & Mt. Evans redux

Saturday was the warmest day of the summer so far so it was a good day to escape the heat by heading up to the mountains. Taking a ride on one of the old steam trains was definitely on my to-do list so after a short deliberation, the Georgetown Loop Railroad about an hour's drive away was an easy choice.

There were a lot of hummingbirds in Silver Plume, the starting point of the loop

After getting on the train, it didn't take long until we reached the Lebanon Silver Mine and took about an hour long tour both outside and in the mine. A very good guide explained a lot about how the actual mining was done and what it was like to be a miner in the 19th century. It didn't sound like that much fun to be honest. I haven't visited an such mine before so I found it really interesting.

An old photo of the Lebanon Tunnel entrance

Fast forward to 2012

After the mine tour it was time to continue towards Georgetown. The ride is actually really short and I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by it. I think it would've been jaw-droppingly amazing had I done this in the first week or two after arriving to Colorado but since I've seen so much of the Rockies already, it wasn't anything that special. It wasn't horrible by any stretch of imagination but it just didn't have the "wow factor".

Pic taken from on top of the high bridge

After having lunch in Georgetown, our plan was to head back and maybe check out Buffalo Bill's grave but we decided to check out Mt. Evans instead. I had been there three weeks prior with my parents but it was freezing back then and the day wasn't the best possible in other aspects either so I didn't mind getting back up there again.

I turned on the GPS at the Mt. Evans gate next to Echo Lake

Since it was a staggeringly hot day down in the foothills, it wasn't cold at all on the top either and it turned out to be a completely different experience from the last time. It took until the sunset (around 8.30 pm) until we got back home but it still was 96 F (35.5 C) down there!