Sixty, been there and done that. The birthday at least. Now I'm looking on to the next 30 years. Trying to make it as exciting and interesting as possible. Come along for the ride.
People more Amazing than Me or You... (Yes, that should be You and I....) Ok. You are amazing. So am I in many ways. BUT... Today I witnessed really amazing. It is the first day of FIBArk in Salida. I've written about it before...First in Boating on the Arkansas. A four day festival that started back in 1949 with a 57 mile boat race from Salida to Canon City, through the Royal Gorge. Since the first competitors almost died on that race, they shortened the route to almost 26 miles. There are boat races, kayaking races, and foot races. Today was the Tenderfoot Hill Climb, the kick off event to FIBArk. It starts at the stoplight at F Street and First Street in Salida and goes straight up S Mountain/Tenderfoot Hill. Contestants run up to the Gazebo at the top and then slip slide back down- it's an elevation gain of about 1000 feet. O! And these runners are starting at about a 6500 foot elevation.
See those tiny dots in the ravines on each side? And the few dots going up the center?
Those are people.
Running.
This year's winner clocked in at almost 12 minutes for the round trip run. Contestants range from about 4 or 5 up to their seventies. Parents run with kids. Little kids run on their own. Families run together. Some people run in costumes. I'm not sure I could even walk up that hill, much less run.
The winner.
Smiling and high-fiving everyone.
Camden Gills ran the hill -up and back down - in
11 minutes, 46 seconds.
One contestant ran in a leg brace. And finished. Another one ran with forearm crutches. He ran a good race, coming in with the middle of the pack.
Third place (Maybe second?) ran in a cheetah print thong leotard. I was concerned the family jewels were going to be on display by the end of the race...but no. Maybe those bare legs and buns enabled him to move faster.
What can I say?
He was one of the top three....
A nurse I work with ran in a tutu. And was still smiling as she came back across the finish line. I watched. I am just in awe. I did a 5k Walk once. It was one of my challenges. And it was hardly a challenge. Maybe next year I could try the Tenderfoot Climb. Ha! And.... if these runners weren't enough to amaze you, let me tell you about one of my patient's today. At 85 he has run marathons in all but 4 states. He will do Tennessee in September, right before his 86th birthday. He has a bad knee and foot drop but is determined to complete all of the states. Wow.
I'm not a big fan of New Year resolutions because, honestly, they never get kept.
And I'm even less a fan of setting myself up for failure.
But after seeing this copy of Woody Guthrie's 1943 "New Year's Rulins" I felt I could at least come up with some guidelines if not actual resolutions. He seems to have a handle on how start a new year.
So here goes:
1. Less sitting, more walking. Work has too much sitting, but work also has a walking track around it. Problem meet solution.
I'm fortunate to live in a place with so many walking trails in town.
2. Less social media, more socializing. Visit with more people than screens. This goes along with No. 46 on the list: Have a dinner party. I like the concept of a "crappy dinner party" where the emphasis is on visiting and enjoying everyone's company rather than impersonating Martha Stewart. (Face it, Martha has a slew of helpers to pull off her magical events. The rest of us don't.)
Enamel plates make for easy clean up.
And they are fun!
3. More fruits and veggies, less bread and butter. This one will be a challenge. It may have to be more fruits and veggies and the same amount of bread and butter. That would at least be an improvement, right? (Woody's No. 6 basically.)
4. Less mindless TV watching, more reading. The TV is background noise that sucks me in.
Although when it is below freezing and dark outside, it's nice to have a little background noise.
(Just finished When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. Contemplative and sad.)
5. More color. Look at this closet. You would think I'm in mourning. Actually I just like black and gray but ...but... some days a little more color would be nice.
One wine sweater and a denim shirt and a LOT of black, white and gray.
The plan is to do better for Spring.
6. Write more. I used to be very faithful about blogging twice a week. I miss that routine. Working will probably make the twice a week schedule difficult, but once a week should be manageable. Let's see.
Inspiration abounds!
O! And one more....
"Dream good." I like that one.
(I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath for an update to Tuesday's post so here goes.)
O yay! We're Number One!
The Hayden Pass Fire is the number one priority forest fire in the United States. That's a dubious distinction, not one anyone wants.
Here's a map of the area that is affected:
My cabin is a little to the left and a little above the D in "Div A".
The fire can be seen from space.
Astronaut Jeff Williams took this pic:
FROM SPACE!!! I think I see my cabin there. Eek.
Monday afternoon the fire looked like this from my main road so I freaked and drove to Denver.
Fortunately when I returned Tuesday evening, things had settled down a bit. At least the smoke had.
And the fire had not spread beyond a couple hundred acres. All good news.
This morning the sky looked like this:
Forest fires are like recalcitrant teenagers that have been sent to their room for the night. You think they are in there asleep but truthfully they are on their cell phone, texting up a storm, plotting with their friends on how to get back at you the next day. The fire "lays down" at night (doesn't that sound sweet?) and then roars back to life about lunch time the next day. (again, like a teenager-neither one gets up early.)
So I went into town and I thought I would show you your tax dollars at work.
As I come into Salida there is "fire camp" .
This is where the big trucks are stationed, equipment, people... and apparently the extra PortAPotties...all at the US Forest Service building.
Some of the firefighters are sleeping in those tents, others are here:
Camping at the practice field of the high school.
These guys bust their butts and then they have to go back to tents?? Poor babies.
But from what I am told they eat VERY well. That's good.
On the way back home, we have a news truck on Highway 50 from one of the TV stations along with a sign warning about poor (smoky) visibility in the canyon.
In my little bitty town there is the media staging area.
It is at the Howard Volunteer Fire Department. They are feeding the people that have been evacuated three meals a day. If you feel like doing something really nice, send them a donation. They could use it.
Here's their GoFundMe link: https://www.gofundme.com/haydenpassfire
Overhead the helicopters whump whump whump, carrying their giant orange buckets full of water. The helicopters scoop water out of ponds and then dump them on the fire.
I think it is really cool to see them. Carlos thinks they are terrifying.
There are seven helicopters and at least one air tanker.
Bulldozers are used to create fire lines, hopefully stopping the fire by making a break in the available fuel. We are under the supervision of a Type 2 Incident Management team. There are hot shot crews involved....the elite of the forest fire fighters. There are baby hot shot crews also- the hot shot wanna-bes. Four different divisions are attacking this fire from three different sides. The backside is in forest land and not easily accessible.
But you know what? We are very very grateful for the work of the firefighters.
See? There's a sign on the highway thanking them...
Keep up the good work.
Thanks.
Hayden Pass Fire by the numbers as of Thursday afternoon:
•The fire covers 14,788 acres. That's about 23 square miles that are burning. My cabin is about 5 miles from the fire. The fire was first visible on Sunday, quickly grew to 5000 acres and now has almost tripled in 4 days. Do the math, this fire is traveling. Fortunately, not towards me. Yet.
•There are 442 people fighting the fire. Not a lot of people for 14,788 acres.
• NO structures or lives have been lost so far. Let's hope it stays that way.
•Estimated date for having this fire completely under control and out? About October 1, 2016 or around the first snow fall. Most of what is burning is wilderness area which cannot be reached. The firefighters are focusing on protecting property, livestock and lives. For now, the wilderness can burn. Not much else can be done.
•O! The best part? The fire is ZERO PERCENT CONTAINED as of right now. Zero. Which means while I feel very safe, I also realize that 6 or 7 miles is NOTHING if the wind changes direction.
Practicing my S'Mores recipes just in case!
(Fire numbers and map from Inciweb... a really cool website if you like to follow forest fires.)
A Perfectly Acceptable Substitute for No. 4: Performance at Red Rocks
While I am not taking No. 4: Performance at Red Rocks completely off the table, I am willing to acknowledge at this point that some of the things on my list just may not happen in the next -EEK!- 4 months. So Saturday night I did something totally in the spirit of the list and of going to an outdoor concert and of No. 25: See a concert- live music.
Possibly No. 4 will end up being put on the 90 by 90 list. Yes, that's probably going to be a thing.
But.
Last weekend the tiny little town of Salida (population about 6000 really cool people) hosted the Gentlemen of the Road Stopover. I've been hearing about this since last January. At the time I thought "Cool. I want to go. But. I will be back in Texas."
Fast forward and my days of not knowing where I will be next continue. Turns out I will be in Colorado. And the preparations for the Stopover are coming together and tickets go on sale. Urk! Tickets are $200 each for the whole weekend, including camping. No one day tickets are being sold. Hard to justify that.
But...but... Mumford and Sons are headlining. I love them. I want to see them. But... but... $200.00. Just for one ticket.
The last few weeks before the show and instead of the 30,000 tickets that the promoters thought would sell, only 20,000 have been purchased. So one day tickets go on sale. Saturday night will be $125.00. Still quite a bit but maybe. But who will go with me? I don't want to go by myself. (Whine.) I've pretty much burned Bunny out on Mumford just by constantly playing their Babel CD.
Last Friday no tickets have been purchased, no plans have been made. Bunny and I head into town for dinner and to just see how crowded and entertaining it is. The stores are all decked out with signs and British flags are everywhere and there is a party atmosphere. Bunny says "We should go tomorrow night. I have a couple of friends going."
Home again, we go onto Salida Swap, our local buy/sell/trade/find a lost dog FB spot. "ISO two one day tickets for Saturday night".
By Saturday morning I have two discounted tickets, just have to go pick them up. I feel like I'm doing a drug deal. First stop is a house in town. I hand over $70 cash and get a sole red wrist band. Assured that is all I need, I go on to my second stop: a Shell station in the next town over. There I get an info packet and a black wrist band in exchange for 3 twenties.Wait! What's the difference? Why is one red and one black. No one seems to be able to tell me. Did I just buy a ticket for Friday? The wrist bands need to be registered online and I get "Success!" after entering each one so ...fingers crossed...they both must be good.
Hmmm. One of these is not like the other.
Turns out one was a weekend wristband, the other was a day wristband.
Bunny and I head into town about 5:30. Mumford and Sons plays at 8:15. Parking is easy although we have about a mile to walk to get to the stage area. Tents are everywhere. It's all so...organized. Clean. There's a tiny security check with no wait. And ... no one ever looks at our wristbands. The instructions said they would be scanned but no.
Within ten minutes Bunny has abandoned me. O wait! She let me buy her (and me) a T-shirt first. Then she scampered off to meet up with friends.
No worries. I realized I had a choice.
I could do something I really, really wanted to do and enjoy the entire experience or I could sit at home and whine about missing something I really wanted to do but didn't because I didn't have anyone to go with.
Guess what? I'm pretty good company for myself.
I grabbed a taco and as it got closer to 8:00 I edged my way up to the stage, picking a spot near the sound booth/VIP area because there was a low fence to lean on which also gave me a pretty good view. Somewhere along the way I realized how short I am. And how many 6 feet tall guys there are out there. With their 5'8" girlfriends.
Jenny Lewis was playing. Never heard of her but totally enjoyed her music. A group of exuberant twenty somethings was gathering next to me. A cute thirty something (maybe 40?) couple leaned on the fence next to me. One of the 20s asked me "You here by yourself? That's cool. How in the world did you do concerts when you were a kid without cell phones?" Half of the couple asked if I was alone and did I want to meet them in Moab to go mountain biking next month. Um. No. I don't even know your name but thanks for the offer.
And then.... the main course.
Mumford and Sons. They were great. Awesome. Did I notice one bit that I was alone? No.
Would it have been nice to have someone there to ooh and aaahh over the band with?
Sure.
But better to be alone than to have someone with me that didn't care about the music or the experience.
The best part of the night? The four band members singing together around one microphone with just one guitar. Marcus Mumford asked everyone to be quiet and you know what? Everyone was. Twenty thousand people quit talking/singing/yelling and just listened. I videoed a bit of it but of course, not a very good video. I was too busy listening myself.
And when it was over I walked alone to my car with 20,000 of my new bestest friends that I had never met before. And here's the amazing part. Not a care in the world. Not one second thought about walking alone to my car a mile away surrounded by strangers at 11pm on a dark night. Once in my car it took me exactly 4 minutes to get out of the parking lot and on my way. Like I said, everything was very well organized.
So while it wasn't Red Rocks,
which is its own experience, this huge outdoor concert was definitely an acceptable substitute for now. Red Rocks may still get done before December but it may not.
No worries.
The FIBArk boat races started June 19, 1949 when six boats entered the Arkansas River in Salida on their treacherous 57 mile run to Canon City through the vertical cliffs of the Royal Gorge Canyon. Fueled by the spring snow pack runoff from the mountains of the Continental Divide and 5 or 6 feet above normal level, the river water ripped down the canyon creating tremendous currents and boiling rapids where the valley walls narrow and the river floor drops. Only two boaters finished the race that year and the following year the course was shortened to 45 miles. Only one person finished the second year. In the interest of keeping the contestants alive, the race was shortened again to 25.7 miles for the third year. It is still the longest whitewater race in the U.S.. And probably the most fun. The entire town turns out for four days + of races, parades, beer, and music. And maybe just a little pot. Thursday evening is the Tenderfoot Hill Climb. Remember my drive to the top of S Mountain last week? Runners start at the base of the mountain and run STRAIGHT UP, then back down again. And they do it in less than 12 minutes. It's amazing. I get out of breath just watching.
Runners heading STRAIGHT up to the top of Tenderfoot/S Mountain.
Photo by Matt Kroschel/The Mountain Mail
Friday starts with a Pancake Breakfast, followed by races in the river, a carnival and live music in the park. At night there is dancing on the grass in front of the bands.
Saturday morning there are 5 and 10k running races followed by the parade down F Street. I LOVE a small town parade. Candy is thrown to the kids. There are firetrucks and police cars, the mayor and the Shriners. So much fun and it makes me feel like I am in 1950's America.
Veterans proudly march.
People line the street for the parade down F Street.
All day long there are more water races and then at 5:30 there is the Hooligan Race. Anything that floats (and lots that don't) can "race" down the river in front of a screaming and cheering crowd. O yea- no actual boats are allowed. Most contestants end up in the water, most floats end up disintegrating.
River Rat
There's a very large bridge support in the middle of the river these guys are trying to avoid.
A prison break?
Nope, just a Hooligan float.
Then more music in the park. And dancing. The air is heavy with smoke...a contact high is possible. Beer and wine are served. Babies dance. Gray haired couples dance. Teenagers dance. All are welcome. As the night goes on, the girls get prettier, the guys get more handsome, the party gets louder. Last year we wisely took a hotel in town just so we wouldn't have to drive home with the rowdies. Don't have one this year but I figure the girls have friends in town to stay with and I won't be out late.
Music at Riverside Park.
Not even dark and already the photos are blurry.
The actual downriver races are on Sunday. There's a river dog contest. And more music. By 6pm, things are wrapped up, the whole party is over. This year I confess to seeing it more from a local's point of view than in previous years. I went into town today and stocked up at the grocery and ran all my errands. I'm not interested in trying to fight the crowds over the next four days if I don't have to. And already I am weary of the drivers not familiar with the canyon road that I drive every day. It's a narrow road, river on one side, mountain on the other. Each direction has one lane. Nervous drivers tend to straddle the middle yellow line. That would work if it were a straight road, but it isn't. Not at all. I dodged two cars today-both coming at me in my lane- on my way into town. Nevertheless, I am still excited for the fun to come. An Update: Taylor Stack, 15 and the current owner of our baby chicks, won the Tenderfoot Hill Climb with a time of 10 minutes, 39 seconds. The second place runner came in at 11 minutes 7 seconds which means Taylor was hauling butt up and down that hill. Even more impressive, he didn't even look like he had broken a sweat doing it. Just came running across the finish line like it was a stroll in the park. Amazing. Especially when you consider he was running at an altitude of about 7000 feet. Wow. (And he was only 7 seconds off the all time record speed of 10 min 32 seconds set back in 2006.) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
FIBArk is one of my favorite things about Salida. Four days of partying in the middle of town. Rides, races and music. I LOVE the music. What's not to love about people of all ages dancing in the grass next to a beautiful river under the watchful eye of a giant "S" while free, live music is playing? Seriously!
So FIBArk starts on Thursday.
I will be experiencing it from a different aspect this year because I will be working during the days.
It should be busy, don't think I will really care. I can still go into town for the music at night and hopefully will make it into town in time to watch the run up S Mountain. Sunday I can still watch the racers come under the bridge in my little town.
But this year the river is high. REALLY high. For the first time since they started having it, the Hooligan Race will be cancelled. That's a really smart move. Two rafters were lost last week in our area of the Arkansas River. An 11 year old boy and a 52 year old man. Absolutely no reason to put a bunch of partiers in make-shift rafts on a river that dangerous.
Here's a little video of the river to give you an idea of how fast and high and WILD it is:
If by chance this video does not show up, click here.
And excuse the sideways view. Didn't look like that on my iPhone!
Basically there are trees and logs and Lord knows what else floating in the river. So if the rushing water doesn't carry you away, the debris will pull you under.
Hoping this weekend will be a fun and safe time. Best wishes to all the water participants.
No. 53: Go to a Lecture of Someone Interesting
Ahhh. I had such high hopes for this one.
Last Thursday night Dr. Duane Vandenbusche from Western State Cołorado University spoke at the SteamPlant Event Center in Salida about the history of this area. He was to speak from 7 to 8:30pm.
Thursday night's speaker:
Duane Vandenbusche
Thursday night was dark and rainy but I persevered. What's a little rain, I thought? At least it isn't snow. Or ice.
No, but it was rain. With steam coming up off the asphalt. Plus pitch black out and just wet enough to make it impossible to see the dividing line on the road.
Never the less, I made it into town and FINALLY found a parking place at the turn around, a couple of blocks away from the Steamplant.
Five minutes late and the speaker had already started.
The auditorium was packed. I was damp.
Hmmmm. I must have missed a good introduction. Because all I was hearing at this point was names with no background.
Names of little towns nearby. Names of people who built the railroads. Name of people that built the roads.
Here's a quick rundown...
Poncha Springs,which bills itself as the Crossroads of the Rockies, actually was the crossroads, with toll roads and trains coming through.
Yep, I've missed a turn here more than once.
The advent (importation?) of narrow gauge rails was big.
Narrow gauge caboose
hanging in Salida.
Steel. Trains. Mining.
It was all so fast and superficial.
A few prostitutes thrown in for laughs.
Then there was a quick slideshow from an old fashioned projector.
Once the pics were hand focused, they were gone.
At 7:45 he was done.
Dr. Vandenbusche was a good speaker.
His voice was loud and clear. His pacing was good, with pauses thrown in for things to sink in.
But I missed content.
It was such a broad overview.
Then I was back out into the rain for an equally hair raising drive home. I was good as long as no one came towards me. If that happened, I was blind.
Once home, Bunny is sliding into her shoes and saying, "I'm off to play with friends."
I caution her that the canyon road is bad.
She, like me, laughs and says "At least it's not ice or snow."
(We know what's coming soon...)
"TEXT me when you get to town, please. Otherwise, you are grounded."
Thirty minutes later, the text comes.
Relief.
I thank her, requesting a text again before she heads home.
"IDK if I will come home. That was a very scary drive. "
No. 53 was done. I heard someone interesting. Sort of.
But perhaps the most interesting person of the night was Bunny.
After twirling the Hummer, she has a new respect for the mountain roads and mountain weather.
The FIBArk boat races started June 19, 1949 when six boats entered the Arkansas River in Salida on their treacherous 57 mile run to Canon City through the vertical cliffs of the Royal Gorge Canyon. Fueled by the spring snow pack runoff from the mountains of the Continental Divide and 5 or 6 feet above normal level, the river water ripped down the canyon creating tremendous currents and boiling rapids where the valley walls narrow and the river floor drops. Only two boaters finished the race that year and the following year the course was shortened to 45 miles. Only one person finished the second year. In the interest of keeping the contestants alive, the race was shortened again to 25.7 miles for the third year. It is still the longest whitewater race in the U.S.. And probably the most fun. The entire town turns out for four days + of races, parades, beer, and music. And maybe just a little pot. Thursday evening is the Tenderfoot Hill Climb. Remember my drive to the top of S Mountain last week? Runners start at the base of the mountain and run STRAIGHT UP, then back down again. And they do it in less than 12 minutes. It's amazing. I get out of breath just watching.
Runners heading STRAIGHT up to the top of Tenderfoot/S Mountain.
Photo by Matt Kroschel/The Mountain Mail
Friday starts with a Pancake Breakfast, followed by races in the river, a carnival and live music in the park. At night there is dancing on the grass in front of the bands.
Saturday morning there are 5 and 10k running races followed by the parade down F Street. I LOVE a small town parade. Candy is thrown to the kids. There are firetrucks and police cars, the mayor and the Shriners. So much fun and it makes me feel like I am in 1950's America.
Veterans proudly march.
People line the street for the parade down F Street.
All day long there are more water races and then at 5:30 there is the Hooligan Race. Anything that floats (and lots that don't) can "race" down the river in front of a screaming and cheering crowd. O yea- no actual boats are allowed. Most contestants end up in the water, most floats end up disintegrating.
River Rat
There's a very large bridge support in the middle of the river these guys are trying to avoid.
A prison break?
Nope, just a Hooligan float.
Then more music in the park. And dancing. The air is heavy with smoke...a contact high is possible. Beer and wine are served. Babies dance. Gray haired couples dance. Teenagers dance. All are welcome. As the night goes on, the girls get prettier, the guys get more handsome, the party gets louder. Last year we wisely took a hotel in town just so we wouldn't have to drive home with the rowdies. Don't have one this year but I figure the girls have friends in town to stay with and I won't be out late.
Music at Riverside Park.
Not even dark and already the photos are blurry.
The actual downriver races are on Sunday. There's a river dog contest. And more music. By 6pm, things are wrapped up, the whole party is over. This year I confess to seeing it more from a local's point of view than in previous years. I went into town today and stocked up at the grocery and ran all my errands. I'm not interested in trying to fight the crowds over the next four days if I don't have to. And already I am weary of the drivers not familiar with the canyon road that I drive every day. It's a narrow road, river on one side, mountain on the other. Each direction has one lane. Nervous drivers tend to straddle the middle yellow line. That would work if it were a straight road, but it isn't. Not at all. I dodged two cars today-both coming at me in my lane- on my way into town. Nevertheless, I am still excited for the fun to come. An Update: Taylor Stack, 15 and the current owner of our baby chicks, won the Tenderfoot Hill Climb with a time of 10 minutes, 39 seconds. The second place runner came in at 11 minutes 7 seconds which means Taylor was hauling butt up and down that hill. Even more impressive, he didn't even look like he had broken a sweat doing it. Just came running across the finish line like it was a stroll in the park. Amazing. Especially when you consider he was running at an altitude of about 7000 feet. Wow. (And he was only 7 seconds off the all time record speed of 10 min 32 seconds set back in 2006.)
Exploring....Being a tourist where I live.
You know how you can live some place forever and never see the "tourist attractions"?
I have tried to avoid that here and when the girls were younger (and didn't have their own cars) I managed to con them in to many adventures. Some were fun (St. Elmo's ghost town, white water rafting) and some were not (the Great Sand Dunes National Park, the Royal Gorge Train).
But realizing that there are only a few more weeks for my "full time" here in Colorado, I decided to knock out a couple more things that I have wanted to see, but haven't.
Today, Bunny needed my assistance at the Verizon store so I struck a deal. I would help her get her phone activated, she would take me up "S" mountain and to the Smokestack here in Salida.
"S" Mountain looms over Salida. Technically the name is Tenderfoot Mountain but it has a huge white S on it, hence the nickname. There's a little building at the top, windows and door gone. All the kids have been up there. Even the hubs and the Big Guy have hiked up to the top. But I had never been. Until today.
S Mountain from F Street- Salida, Colorado
photo - ColoradoGuy.com
Up Spiral Drive and thank goodness we didn't meet anyone on the way up. A narrow, winding gravel road that could have benefited from the installation of a few guardrails. O well. We made it.
The wind was crazy but the view was worth it.
Me, holding on for dear life.
I thought we were going to be blown away up there.
All of Salida behind me.
F Street dead ends into the turn around at the Arkansas River.
You can see the S on the mountain towards the bottom of the pic.
Bunny, my tour guide for the day, on the steps up to the summit.
After S Mountain we headed to the Smokestack. This is exactly what the name says- a huge smokestack towering over a couple of falling down buildings and the surrounding fields. Old and abandoned. When we first came to Salida, the girls went with their friends and said it was spooky and haunted. Four or five years later, a few more windows and doors are gone, the space is more open and not so spooky. Maybe still haunted.
The actual smokestack is 365 feet tall and was constructed in 1917. At the time it was the tallest smokestack in the world. It's in the area of Smeltertown, west of Salida, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places back in 1976. Built by The Ohio-Colorado Smelting and Refining Company to carry the noxious gases away from the smelter, the stack is constructed of beautiful brickwork with a concrete foundation that goes 30 feet into the ground. The site was contaminated with lead, arsenic and creosote at one time, but has since been cleaned up.
There are a couple of buildings around the stack and all of it is fenced off to discourage vandalism.
But, as Bunny says, if they really wanted to keep people out, they would repair the fence.
We snuck in, no problem.
Bunny, breaking and entering.
Actually here we are leaving- but out the same way we came in.
Standing at the base of the smokestack.
Impressive.
Look at all those bricks.
Looking up the inside of the stack.
Again, notice all the bricks.
Inside the little building connected to the stack, looking up.
The stairs up to the second floor have wisely been removed.
But look! The ceiling above is also brick.
The brickwork is phenomenal, marred here and there by graffiti.
The smokestack entrance is on the left, at the back by the stairs.
An adjacent building, also in disrepair.
Again, brick after brick after brick.
A fun couple of hours, a chance to spend some time with my youngest and have her show me around, with lunch thrown in for good measure. So happy to finally visit these sites.
