In Our Colorado Home Part B

Part B of my posts on our Colorado trip is full of pictures of just the landscape.  We took some fantastic pictures that were just too pretty to not share.  But....as you can see with the length of Part A...these pictures needed their own post.  So, there won't be a whole lot of narrative...only brief explanations when it is needed.  I will mostly let the pictures speak for themselves.

Chair Mountain....sits at the upper part of the valley with the Crystal River running below.  It always reminds me of one of my favorite hymns: Shall we gather at the river, that flows by the throne of God.  :)

The view of the upper valley from atop McClure Pass.

The Redstone Castle...also known at Cleveholm Manor.  Redstone, the town, and most of the valley owes its existence to a man named John Osgood.  He was the Rockefeller of the West and in 1903, was the 6th richest man in the U.S.  He was a coal giant and he brought the railroad and industry into the Crystal River Valley and took out top-grade coal.  President Theodore Roosevelt visited Osgood and his 2nd wife, "Lady Bountiful" at Cleveholm Manor.  Most recently, the house was used in the movie "The Prestige".

The back of the Coke ovens, looking up towards Chair Mountain.

Whitehouse Mountain overlooking Beaver Lake

The view down valley from the stretch of the Crystal River right behind Beaver Lake

The view of the Ragged Mountains from atop the road to the defunct ski lodge in Marble, CO.

The view of the Yule Marble Quarry...which we couldn't go visit this time.  This marble has been said to the purest white marble found outside of Italy.  The quarry, which was very active in the early 1900s but then closed, has been re-opened and they are continually pulling huge slabs of marble down the mountain to the mill area.  This marble was used for construction of the Lincoln Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (both the current one and the new one set to replace the current one), the Denver Mint, and the Denver Capitol.  Because of numerous train derailments throughout the years, the banks of the Crystal River....and the river itself....is littered with this marble.

The view of the Elk Mountains from the Quarry Road

Inside the Maroon Bells Wilderness

An Aspen Grove on the way to Crater Lake

On the way to Crater Lake and looking back down to Maroon Lake

Crater Lake at the base of the Bells....elevation of 10,000+ ft.

Maroon Lake

The Beautiful Bells!!!!