La Plata Canyon In Late August

Leslie and I started out for a hike one day in late August this year with no real destination, time line or agenda of any sorts. We only knew that we should be back before dark. So with our small day packs loaded up with food and water we took off up this 4x4 jeep road heading west from the main La Plata Canyon road.
Chatting and climbing in elevation along the road, we came into view of this basin with a small yet steep waterfall at it's mouth. We decided to head across the slope in search of water for the dogs and a nice picnic spot for ourselves.


Along the way we climbed up to this old abandoned mine. La Plata Canyon was a bustling mining area in the early 1900's. It was home to La Plata City and many mines located on the steep mountain sides. After it's hay day, most everything was abandoned and left to rot in the changing seasons. Currently, there are a few residents that reside at the south end of the main canyon in an area they call May Day. However, the mining hasn't quite become only a story in the history books. As I write this, the residents of May Day are trying to save the canyon from a new mining company coming in and tearing up the mountain sides.

Meanwhile, I was enjoying the exploration of the old stamp mill. Playing with the lighting and angles, I tried to capture some of the remaining woodwork.

Here, you can see the aged and rusting stamps used to crush the rock still intact.

We continued our trek toward the basin. Once arriving, we realized we could see snow on the higher slopes left from last winter. Of course, we had to climb up to it and build a snowman!! Okay, so he was tiny and brown from all the dust particles in the snow but he was a mighty little man. Aspen stood guard over him long enough for me to snap a picture, then she slid and knocked him down. After finding snow at over 12,000 feet it was time to eat.

We made our way across the scree filled basin floor to the small creek that created the waterfall we had seen earlier. Sitting on the rocks in the high afternoon sun, Leslie entertained me with stories of her other adventures in "The Canyon". She and her husband are one of the few May Day residents and consider the entire canyon their backyard. After a good lunch and a long rest for us and the dogs we headed back down to the car...but that wasn't the end of our day.

There were wild raspberries to be picked! With our little plastic containers in hand, we scoured the roadside bushes for ripe fruit. Small yet tasty, we picked as many as we could find that were ripe and left the others for another day. All in all it was a great way to spend a day off together. We only saw two other trucks the entire time which made for quite a peaceful hike.

Explore Your World!!