Marpeg: CENTRAL COLORADO, LEADVILLE AND CLIMAX

It's time to leave Leadville. We planned to stay just a few days, but ended up staying over two weeks. This high altitude town is our favorite so far. The mornings are always clear and chilly. The afternoons become warm and then there is always a shower of rain. There is a lot to do here. The people are friendly and more than willing to take your money.

We visit the Leadville National Fish Hatchery. This is the second oldest (1889) hatchery in the nation. They raise the Greenback Cutthroat trout. This fish was thought to be extinct until a small population was found in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Now they have been re-established all across the state. We watch as they are loaded into a hatchery truck for delivery.

We follow the Arkansas River north to it's beginning at Fremont Pass (11,318 feet). We stop here and marvel at the Climax Molybdenum Mine. Shipments from the mine began in 1915 and at it's highest output it was the largest molybdenum mine in the world. After a 17-year shutdown, the Climax mine reopened and made its first shipment of molybdenum on May 10, 2012. Molybdenum is a mineral that is used to strengthen steel. The company states that this is the largest, highest-grade and lowest-cost molybdenum ore body in the world. The town of Climax had to be destroyed to expand the mine.

We stay the night at the White River campground in the Arapaho National Forest. We have a light rain almost all night.