Down By the Old Mill Stream

Now the refrain from that song is running through my head.

Anyway, how cool is this?



It looks fake, but it's not.

Eamonn came across this old mill when he was out mountain bike riding on Saturday. It was built in 1892. When I asked if we could get to it, Eamonn said, "Not in our car." Meaning some sort of 4-wheel drive massive thingy is probably required. He said the road isn't a road at all--more like a goat path.

It's too bad I'm not a mountain biker--I pretty much only ride around the neighborhood--because this is a good exaple of What's Out There That I Can't See From Here. Yes, I do some hiking. In fact, there's an amusing story from the first year we lived here. Access to the mountains around us is restricted during the season when the elk are migrating, which is usually mid-October through mid-April. So on the first day the trails were open in April '07, I headed up into the hills above our house. I got to the top of a climb and, because I am a flatlander originally, I expected to have this huge panaoramic view. And what did I see? The other side of the mountain of course--just more and more mountains going on before me. I climbed up to the top of the next one, just to see if maybe there was a panoramic view from there. Nope. More mountains.

But it just goes to show me how much is out there that you can really only see unless you get waaaay on out there. Like on a mountain bike. Eamonn has seen all sorts of stuff. Elk, deer, bears, etc. No mountain lions, which is a relief. They freak me out.

Anyway, I thought this mill picture was way cool. When I Googled it, because Eamonn told me the mill was located in Crystal, Colorado, and I didn't know where that was, and I found out it's one of Colorado's ghost towns (we visited one near Aspen last spring).

It's also called Dead Horse Mill. More pictures.

According to my friends at Wikipedia, it's one of the most photographed historic sites in Colorado.

Almost makes me want to start mountain biking.