One winter day came up to Leadville...passing the bowls that lay on the backside of Breckenridge...glad they have not been converted into ski resorts. I took instead to the Mineral trail on cross country skis. Got on the trail just up the road from the hostel...it winds 12.5 miles through old mining camps and the woods which have grown over them.
I have always been struck by the association of Leadville with the Guggenheim family...its great wealth and its association with some of the world's great art museums in New York, Bilboa, Abu Dhabi.
Only words on a marker along the trail...but interesting to think the abandoned mines are now one of the country's largest superfund sites. I don't think the museums were asked to contribute to the cleanup.
"In 1880 Meyer Guggenheim, a siccessful lace merchant, bought part interest in the AY and Minerva Mines for $5,000. After buying out his partners, he spent several thousand dollars to pump out the mines, increasing their value to $15,000,000."
He went on to form smelting companies....which blackened the skies over Leadville for decades...but now all is quiet. As quiet as the museums after closing hours.
After doing the whole trail circuit...whew...the contrast between the warmth of the hostel and the ice sickles hanging off the dragging gutters is fine to contemplate. The beauty of inside as opposed to outside.
Don't need to go to a museum for beauty.
Of course it is always good to know where you are in space as well as in time.
And then the kitchen in the hostel...lots to remind one that the warmth allows us to indulge in all kinds of silliness without concern for the freeze of a dark winter night.
Location:Leadville February 14
