 Gilpin Lake - August 31, 2024  Starting Out: Wilderness Sign It’s early morning on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, and Charlotte and I are navigating the washboard and potholes of Seedhouse Road, about an hour north of Steamboat. She’s home from college for a couple of days, and we’re taking advantage of the perfect weather to do a little backpacking on the Zirkel Circle. Seedhouse Road got its name from a 1910 U.S. Forest Service seed-processing building. Workers roasted cones from Engelmann spruce and lodgepole pine over fires in the seedhouse in order to release the seeds, which they then sold. The operation lasted only a year, but the name stuck. We pull into the Slavonia trailhead at the end of Seedhouse Road. The moniker Slavonia has always struck me as unusual; the area is named for the Slavonia Mine, established by four Slavics in 1904. What was mined there? Gold, silver, and copper were most commonly mined according to the records for Routt County, and you can see a more complete list of the various minerals recorded for the Slavonia region here. Many prefer to do the Circle counter-clockwise; we opt for clockwise and head down the trail. The Zirkel Circle is an 11-mile loop in the Zirkel Wilderness. Although the loop doesn’t include summiting the 12,185’ Mt. Zirkel, (highest peak in Routt County, and named for German geologist Ferdinand Zirkel), it does offer water crossings, stellar vistas, and both Gilpin and Gold Creek Lakes. It is a beautiful blue-sky day, and the sun feels warm enough to start shedding layers early on. It's been over two decades since I last backpacked, evidenced by my pack’s lifeless bungee cord and my needing a YouTube refresher for how to even load the thing. Being out here with my pack feels familiar soon enough, and the time with Charlotte feels like a lark, and an adventure with the bonus of learning from some of her well-earned wilderness skills. Throughout high school she’d taken advantage of dual-enrollment with the local Colorado Mountain College for math and science, but in her senior year she took part in several field classes, including Desert Orientation, Snow Orientation, and Canyon Orientation. Being out there for days and nights at a time, and learning from the best, has resulted in some serious experience and know-how for Charlotte. We reach the turquoise-hued Gilpin Lake, plunked down between sharply angled peaks, and then hoof it up and over the 11,000+-foot saddle to make camp on the other side. Finding a sheltered little spot in the trees, overlooking a huge meadow with Gold Creek merrily gurgling through it, we pitch camp and eat lunch. Then we use our math and shot-put skills to rig the food bag on a high branch. It takes a while but, satisfied with our bear-proofing, we head out for a couple hours of exploration. We follow Gold Creek trail east and then north, which is the trail to take if you plan to climb Mt. Zirkel by way of Red Dirt Pass. We see no other people on this part of the trail, and enjoy the solitude as the loop trail is so popular. The wind blows down the valley through the long grasses. Red Dirt Pass glows scarlet in the afternoon sun. Then we step over something odd on the trail - a long rusted pipe that disappears up into the ridge of trees to the west. A little further we catch sight of some log cabin ruins, with a metal bed frame and the remains of box springs sticking up above the decomposing cabin walls. I am mystified. We are at 10,000 feet, out in the middle of nowhere - Mt. Zirkel to the north, Red Dirt Pass to the northeast, and here is this cabin with its decorative, heavy, bed frame. What self-respecting miner would bother hauling a bed frame up here? It is hard to imagine a miner returning after a long day of hard work to enjoy the decorative bed - more likely they preferred a plain old bottle. It turns out this is the site of the Slavonia Mining Camp. Just west of where we stand gawking at the bed frame is a ridge that lies to the east of Gilpin Lake. The Slavonia Mine is located at the base of this ridge. The old pipe we’d stepped over on the trail runs all the way up to the mine, most likely used to drain off excess water when the mine was in operation. I notice another cabin a few hundred yards away, more intact, and with a nice fire ring near it. This area is often used by backpackers as their campsite before summiting Mt. Zirkel. Standing in the quiet, the breeze blowing through the evergreens bordering the cabin remains, the place feels lonely, and a bit…spooky. You couldn’t pay me to stay the night here. I notice Charlotte smiling and she points out the two pine martens playing peekaboo with her. Their endearing heart-shaped faces watch her inquisitively before they run off. The sun is getting low, and it is time for us to head back to our own camp for a warm dinner and maybe a game of Crazy 8s in the tent before snuggling into our sleeping bags, content with a day well-spent. Resources/Learn More
Books:
 Bed Frame, Slavonia Mining Camp  Cabin Ruins looking directly at Red Dirt Pass, Flattop Mtn to the right, Mt. Zirkel to the left  We got water!!
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AuthorJacqueline Denny, ACC, CHPC, LMT Categories
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