Chief Ouray Mine Hike

My schedule has been pretty busy during this time of year, but I was able to squeeze in a good long hike on one of my days off.  I decided I needed a day to play after all the work I have been doing.

The hike was new for me, at least partially.  The trail to Chief Ouray Mine branches off the Portland Trail Loop located to the south of Ouray.  The Portland loop is fast becoming one of my favorite local hikes if only because there are so few people that I encounter on that trail.  It is also fairly close to town so I can hike it before work if I have a few hours to spare.



The trail winds back and forth up the mountain side and then branches off to the north.  The trail is generally shady pine and aspen forest alternating with scree fields and open meadows.  Along the way there are plenty of gaps where the view opens up and you can see down two different valleys.

The trail also happens to take you past the Upper Cascade Falls which I was surprised to see still flowing well for this time of year.  The falls originate high on the mountainside and tumble down hundreds of feet on their journey down the rocky terrain.

This is the view looking down a steep drop in the falls.  The trail crosses here so there was much to investigate.  The view up the falls from the same spot reveals dozens of small cascades tumbling down the mountainside.

Chief Ouray Mine was a bit of a letdown.  The entryway was barred off to keep foolish people from hurting themselves.  There were lots of loose rocks that looked like they were starting to fill in the entrance hole.  The old miner's camp however was still fairly intact.  If you look closely at the left top of the cliff you can see the building with galvanized metal walls.  That was the miner's bunkhouse and it still held their cast iron stove and old mattress coils in their sleeping quarters.  There was another building on the cliff side where they must have processed the ore to extract the precious metals.  

 From various vantage points along the trail you could also see cavernous hollows dug into the mountainside.  There were likely pilot holes dug by the miners looking for a vein of ore that could prove lucrative.

On the way back there is an overlook by the amphitheater.  There are dozen of small waterfalls flowing down the mountain side across the valley.  I felt like the longer I stared at the valley, the more waterfalls I found.  They all  come together at one point and become Portland Creek.

The trail back wound it's way down the mountainside through more pine forests and meadows.  Along the way I came across some impressive dead trees that were still proudly standing despite  having probably been struck by lightning.

I love that I am able to take a day for a nice hike like this every now and again.  Working in this area is not quite the same as getting out and exploring it.  Even on trails that I have hiked before I always notice something new along the way.  No two hikes are ever the same.