Cripple Creek, Colorado (June 12, 2011)

Another day with blue sky. A good start for the day and we take our breakfast at the campground in the sun !

We have planned a short ride to Cripple Creek which is located at about 9400 feet. We start by visiting the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine

, where we get to go 1000 feet underground. We climb into a cage

 (4 people and we are tight in there. You should really not be claustrophobic, as there is just room for the cage in the hole!) and start going down. It's dark and narrow ! Our guide goes through the different techniques of mining gold from 250 years ago, where they had to do everything by hand

 to the more recent techniques of drilling

using explosives . We walk through the galleries, see how they had to climb steep ladders and push heavy wagons around.

This mine has not been exploited since 1984, but in the town there is still one mine in activity.

We also visited the Pikes Peak Heritage Center as well as the District Museum. The main building of the museum, built in 1895, served as the Midland Terminal Railroad depot until 1949. Now, it's twelve rooms filled with fascinating displays of gold ore, mining equipment, Victorian period costums and furniture reminiscent of the exciting boom days of the famed gold mining district.

Cripple Creek is a village that seems to be inhabited by ghosts according to different testimonies along the years. However, one activity that seems to be predominant nowadays is the entertainment/game with the incredible number of casinos in town.

Tomorrow we are On the Road Again to... the Rocky Mountain National Park...