Idarado Mine and vicinity

Red Mountain, Colorado (the name was not drawn from a hat!) Looking east. This was a bonanza-grade precious metal mining area from the late 1800s thru 1978. Presumably stricter environmental regs have forestalled new activity due to the run-up in gold prices the last few years. The trestle in the foreground comes out of the portal of the Idarado Mine, which was connected under the mountains to the west (that is, back under the camera position) to the workings out of Telluride. The insets have a couple of more detailed interpretive signs on the area. Off US 550, the "million dollar highway."