Colorado 2017 in the Mighty Merc – Tuesday

We were so beat from our hiking adventure the day before (not to mention the sore backs and blisters on the feet) that it seemed prudent to do a bit more mechanical exploring rather than loading the kids up on our backs again. So we slept in and headed off towards Webster Pass:

It still strikes us as funny to come across these signs out in the middle of nowhere:

But they were actively working out there. I’m sure it was more for erosion control of the road, but the guy on the track hoe was essentially just making large speed humps in the trail. We continued working our way up the pass:

Obligatory shot at the top of the pass:

From there we continued down Hand Cart Gultch which was the narrowest shelf road we had been on yet in the Merc. But continuing on the assumption that this thing really isn’t much wider than a JK with larger tires, we figured that we would be fine:

This was probably the most narrow spot of the trail, and I still had a good 12” of room to wiggle by this rock face. No worries!

Of course, when we got to the bottom of the trail, there was a sign noting that full width vehicles should not attempt this climb. Oops!

The low land marsh area was pretty as well and passed by a few old mines:

The kids were happy to get out and stretch their legs next to the waterfall:

As we descended in elevation again, the Aspens really started to pop:

Once we popped out of the woods, we headed off to Boreas Pass to wander back towards Breckenridge for lunch. On the way there, we happened across this tiny snow plow:

Pressing on, we continued down the gravel road (with everyone else in the world it seemed) to see the sights:

After grabbing something to eat in town, we decided to hit the Peak 10 trail before heading towards Silverthorne. This trail was kind of interesting as is starts out cutting through the parking lot of a ski lodge and following the lift up a good portion of the trail: