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Colorado II
entry by Slim Jim
9/11/2004 12:50 AM
| Last time I vowed that I'd return to Colorado to finish exploring the underground mill and the ghost town above it, and last weekend it happened. Servo has a trip log here:
http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread.asp?fid=1&threadid=12879
I'll mention a few things that I thought were interesting but he didn't describe in detail.
The first event was the morning after we got up in North Platte, Necrapska, which is about 2/3 of the way out to the mountains from Iowa. We pulled into the Burger King parking lot to grab some breakfast. A large pickup truck was creeping across the parking lot incredibly slowly, so I passed him. As we pulled up at the drive-thru order box, I looked behind to see him getting out of his truck and running toward us. Not wanting to argue or cause conflict, I peeled out of there and headed out to the highway. Here's an example of how bored people are out in Nebraska: Instead of stopping at the box to order his food (he had successfully chased us off so we wouldn't slow him down), he peeled out after us! He chased us down the road but got a red light right before you turn back onto the highway. We didn't see him later on the highway, so at least he wasn't bored enough to chase us many miles out of town. He could've chased us all the way to Colorado, and I wouldn't have cared. Fucker.
The first two mines we stopped at in CO were guarded by houses, so we headed across town and found the entrance to the Axe tunnel easily accessible. This tunnel ran straight under a small mountain, and presumably was drainage for a number of mines on the hill. Unfortunately, it had about a foot of water in it, and since it was cold outside and neither Servo nor I had brought boots or waders down from the car, we didn't go far. Emma went a little farther, but as expected, it kept going...and going...and going. Exploration to be continued, probably next year.
After the Axe tunnel, we met Asylunt and Junkyard and drove around an area that was absolutely riddled with mine ruins and ghost houses that were falling apart. Junkyard was driving a ballsy Ford Explorer up steep hills and bumps, and he decided to show us a mine he had found that was on the other side of a swamp. To cross said swamp required driving through about 3 feet of water. Junkyard had done this twice already, so he boldly drove right in at a high speed (for water). His engine coughed, and died, leaving the vehicle stranded in the middle of the swamp. As luck had it, a group of four-wheelers showed up within 5 minutes, and pulled him safely out of the water. We drove my car back to town to look for tools to check out the engine. Nothing was open, but PAWolf showed up while we were there. He had tools, so we went back out there and sat around a campfire Asylunt had made in front of a long-abandoned house while Junkyard and PAWolf examined the engine. After a long time and a hail storm, the verdict was that the truck would never run again. So we abandoned it, packed his stuff in PAWolf's truck, and headed back to town.
The next day was much better. After breakfast, we headed back to Gilman. This time we parked at the bottom of the hill and walked along the valley to the underground mill. Along the way, about 8 four-wheelers passed us. When we got there, they were all parked in front of the above-ground portion of the mill, which is comprised of 3 or 4 interconnected buildings. I was worried that one of them was the owner of the mill, but we found out that they were friendly, and half of the group was inside sneaking around the mill, so we headed inside. They left before we were even done exploring the above-ground part of the mill. Turns out there were only two entrances to the mill from inside the buildings, so we headed in the one that I hadn't been in last time. Since the majority of the outside buildings were away from the large underground area I had found last time, I figured that this entrance would lead to a lot of new territory. PAWolf and I climbed over the pipes while the people who had brought boots walked through the water. To my disappointment, the tunnel only curved back towards the part I already knew, and the only other tunnel that I hadn't explored the last time was a dead end. The whole place had been explored. But there was some interesting equipment in the new tunnel, so it wasn't all a loss.
We continued down a tunnel across the front of the mill, past "Pool Eve" and "Pool Fred," underground chemical reservoirs. This tunnel led back out to the Newhouse tunnel, which angled up the hill at the far end of the mill. We went back and went up the main central incline, which led into and through the 8+ story complex of floors, stairs, and catwalks. While we were on the second level, somebody stepped on part of the floor which caused a large object - and I'm not quite sure what - to come crashing down right next to Servo and PAWolf, who were still on the second level. They didn't feel comfortable hanging out there, so they headed out. But as Junkyard and I were exploring a catwalk at the very top of the complex, we looked down to find them coming back up the hill tunnel. I gave them directions to the exit at the upper end of the complex, next to the beginning of Darwin's Ladder, leading up to the ghost town. Junkyard and I lost Asylunt and Emma (it's really easy to lose people if you're exploring a large place) so we wandered down the tunnel, checked out the toilet train, and headed outside, where we found them again. Asylunt went back in to find his radio, and people started crawling up the hill so I left some pointers to tell him where we were and headed up.
There's a lot to say about the ghost town, but I'll keep it brief this time. We explored numerous commercial buildings on the main street, spending a lot of time at the downhill end of town where there was a chemical lab full of X rays and rows of garages. In one of these, we found the sign that Chainsaw had taken a picture of, tipping us off to the existence of the large underground mill.  I wandered away from Main Street, and poked around the several dozen abandoned houses that were slightly removed from the commercial district. Most of these were buried on a wooded hillside away from the highway, so they were entirely safe to explore without getting seen. I was very excited at the number of rows of houses there were. Instead of following the streets, I went through the houses and uphill to each successive row of houses. After I returned to Main Street, we explored a junkyard at the edge of town with a pile of old wrecked, smashed cars, many of which were upside down or sideways.
That was all the exploring for this trip. I must say that Colorado people go to bed (and eat dinner) waaay too early, and not enough people in Necrapska eat babies. What else is there to do around there, anyway? I've concluded that the only thing Necrapska is good for is hiding something. If you want to hide something and be sure nobody will ever find it, go bury it way out in the sand hills. Nobody will ever go there, because there's nothing to do or see there. I'm known for saying that Iowa is incredibly boring, but there's no doubt that Necrapska beats Iowa for boringness.
BTW it's interesting to note that we had two people from different towns in Iowa, one guy from Wisconsin, one guy from Minnesota, one guy from Missouri, and a guy from Alabama. It was an interesting group.
[last edit 9/11/2004 12:53 AM by Slim Jim - edited 1 times]
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Comments: (use Reply to add a comment) |
COPEX.
(Honk if you eat babies.)
/end unproductive post.
EM
Sorry, I probably forgot my <sarcasm> tags. | |
Posted by Emma Peel
(Honk if you eat babies.)
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I think showing that to minivans full of kids was one of the most pricelessly funny moments ever.
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Posted by Emma Peel
COPEX.
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Thankfully, no COPs showed up to COPEX. The locations featured (Gilman, really, and of course the death site of Junkyard's truck, and environs) were really very relaxed from a chances of getting caught standpoint.
I want to be different. But I want to be different just like everybody else, because if I really were different, everybody would think I was crazy and weird.
Iowa is Minnesota's bitch. There's an art to pooping. | |
Awesome, I expect to see a DB entry for Junkyard's truck A friend and I lost a truck in a similar way today, but we're going back for it.
Turn off the internet and go play outside.
http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137 | |
Posted by Freak
but we're going back for it.
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Junkyard was going back for his as well, but I dunno if he ever got it... Junkyard? There?
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I just found out that Leadville is the highest town in the US. It's at 10,200', almost 2 miles high. And we were feeling it.
I want to be different. But I want to be different just like everybody else, because if I really were different, everybody would think I was crazy and weird.
Iowa is Minnesota's bitch. There's an art to pooping. |
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