Cimmaron, New Mexico

After a two week break from Silverton, the crew met up again to continue working on an episode for Cimmaron, New Mexico. The first day we gathered b-roll of the town and finished with some interviews.  Opted to do the ghost hunting the next night since everyone was too tired the day we arrived.

The 6k sq ft WS Ranch house we stayed in

Cimmaron Jail

Next day was spent at the original Cimmaron jail, and later at the St. James Hotel.  Lots of filming and several full-costume reenactments. The guest of honor we spent a lot of time with was Clay Allison, great nephew of the famed old-west gunfighter Robert Clay Allison.  And of course all three days we were spoiled again with amazing home-cooked meals by Sandy!  The last day we took the scenic drive back through Taos, then up to San Luis and Walsenberg back to I-25.

Clay Allison, Tracey, Erick, and Tammila

Who killed Kevin?

There and back again

Return to Silverton

April 22-29 was our return trip to Silverton, Colorado to finish filming for the history and paranormal episode.  Being National Parks week, we decided to spend the first night on our way down there camping in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  And since it was a Sunday night in April, Eric and I almost had the entire park and campgrounds to ourselves.  After dusk we went out to painted wall to get some night shots of the stars, and early in the morning we drove the rim and got all the virtual and earth geocaches.

Sunrise at the Black Canyon

We took our time driving the rest of the way to Silverton the next morning, stopping for lunch in Ouray and at every pullout and geocache along Million Dollar Highway (550).  Once we got to Silverton, we met up with a few others from the crew then later took a drive just out of town to see the old ore bins still hanging across the valley.

I never noticed this waterfall until we stopped there to get a cache!

Ironton

Ironton, a ghost town on Million Dollar Highway

Bear tracks!

Geocaching along Million Dollar

Ore bin and tower

The next day we drove south a bit on 550 for more geocaches, and I even spotted a snowshoe hare! The rest of the crew all finally arrived by 2pm, and we got to work investigating and filming.  Wednesday and half of Thursday were spent running around town doing the same.

Geocaching on 550

Filming in the Imperial Hotel

In full costume at an old brothel!

At the archives

Thursday afternoon Sandy generously provided everyone with a big grilled steak lunch to wrap up filming.  Everyone else left town shortly after, but Eric and I stuck around as long as we were allowed so we could enjoy the area and film a bit more around town.  Which meant for the next few nights it was just the two of us staying in an empty, haunted hotel!
Friday was a bit rainy and there was a dusting of snow from the night before, so we spent the day driving the entire San Juan Scenic Skyway.  Even with so little snow in the area just enough prevented us from getting to Alta lakes.  We stopped in Telluride for lunch and got back to Silverton just in time for sunset.

Scenery along the drive

Lizard Head

Alta Lakes road

San Juan scenic Skyway drive

The next day our plan was to make an attempt to get to the abandoned 7-level boarding house perched on the face of Galena Mountain.  Around the third switchback on the 4wd road up there we found a large and impassable pile of snow.  Though only late April, this had been the warmest winter in Silverton in nearly 50 years.  Snow was mostly non-existent already, and all the Jeeps in the area were out making the same attempt we had.

The abandoned 7-level boarding house high on the mountain.  We'll make it one day!

4-wheeling Pike, the Subbie Foz

Eric spotting the rougher patches back down the 4wd roads

A Forester in it's natural habitat

Instead we spent the day climbing to the top of the ruins at Eureka, which were much more steep and difficult to climb than any photo could emphasize.  The ruins were more in-tact and interesting the higher we went!

Making our way up

Eureka ruins!

Top of the ruins!

Farewell, Silverton

The hotel was to open again for guests on the 30th so we left Sunday morning.  Searching for an interesting route we ended up going back through Montrose, Gunnison, Buena Vista, Leadville, and stopping in Breckenridge for a bit, then back along I-70.

Geocaching at an abandoned mine in Breckenridge

Sunset near Frisco

Silverton Film Trip

After another fantastic annual ghosthunt at the Elkhorn Lodge in October, I was asked to join a film crew of paranormal investigators and Colorado history fanatics (sounds like my kind of group!) on a week-long investigation and filming for the Grand Imperial Hotel in Silverton, Colorado.

Silverton, Colorado

The Grand Imperial was built in 1882 and is full of history. There are so many old west mining town stories surrounding it, and even an original bullet hole above the bar. It had never been investigated, but everyone who worked there was a firm believer with plenty of personal stories about the ghosts. To make things easier for our hunts, the hotel was completely closed off to all other guests for the week.

The full gang in front of the Grand Imperial

Once I got to the Grand I met the rest of the crew. Less than 10 of us with the whole place to ourselves! I was set to work on some B-roll of the active rooms, got some interviews, then at 10pm I ran the infrared camera for a 4 person investigation of the basement. Later we switched with the other group upstairs. Some very interesting things happened, but you'll have to wait to see the episode. We held two more investigations throughout our stay, and will likely return for more in the summer.

Filming in the hotel lobby

The Grand Imperial Hotel

We filmed at the town museum, the graveyard, and even a special stop at the rail yard for some footage of famous engine 315 and to interview the caretaker. Aside from filming interviews, our cameras were also occupied with historical reenactments, complete with full time-period costumes.

Engine 315 at the railyard

Durango and Rio Grande Railway

We were constantly busy filming and digging into history! Four members of our crew left a day early. Since they had experienced paranormal activity in their rooms two nights in a row, the remaining five of us all switched rooms in hopes of something good. Sadly we didn't hear anything.

Silverton cemetery

One highlight of the trip was going to the ghost town of Animas Forks for some stock footage. The structures are incredibly preserved for being in such a harsh climate. We also spent many hours wondering the Silverton graveyard in search of familiar names, and looking through some excellent history books.

Animas Forks

Inside one of the buildings

Second floor of the famous "bay window" house

The trip was late nights, early mornings, plenty of filming, lots of history, and tons of fun. The drive to Silverton and back was also amazing. The San Juan Mountains and Million Dollar Highway are beautiful, I don't have time to visit that corner of the state nearly as much as I'd like.

Ouray, Colorado

Million Dollar Highway

Another ghost town on the way

Mountain goats on Monarch Pass

Crested Butte Film Festival

"Third Bridge" made it into the Crested Butte Film Festival! Eric directed and I produced the project. Of course this called for a 5-day extended weekend trip to the mountains. As even more incentive, the festival was generous enough to pay for filmmaker housing, and provided us with VIP passes so every event and film was free. Our trip was Thursday-Monday, Sept 29-Oct 3. The fall colors were at their peak, and I ended up with nearly 10 Gigs of photos.

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/19143717

Sept 29
We headed through Buena Vista and over Cottonwood Pass, stopping for several photo ops on the way. Filmmaker accommodations were at the Nordic Inn, a homey little place in Mt Crested Butte, and one of the few we haven't stayed at before!

Lighting is key when shooting fall aspens

Mt. Crested Butte aglow at sunset

The sunset was spectacular as we drove down to Gunnison after checking in to the hotel. Caught the reception after the opening films at Western State, met a few people, and picked up our welcome bags and passes.

Rain curtains at sunset

Filmmaker SWAG bags!

Sept 30
Spent the morning driving down Kebler Pass and taking photos of the fall colors. Later headed up to Gothic (now I've seen it in every season!), and also tried for a few geocaches in town.

Shooting fall colors on Kebler Pass

Aspen Groves along Kebler

Eric at the base of a mining headframe

Nearing Gothic, colors at their peak!

Got back by 4pm for the Kickoff Party at Brick Oven Pizza. Headed over to the mountain theatre for the 5:30 showing of "Play Again" preceded by a short called "Scrapertown." Play Again was a documentary about taking technology addicted teens into the wilderness on their first outdoors experience.

Film Fest Reel

Kickoff party at Brick Oven Pizza

Unfortunately we didn't have time for another showing before heading to the Filmmakers party at Montanya Distillers. The festival was quite generous with free drink tickets at all the events. Finally met a few of the filmmakers there since most of the people at the gatherings were VIP sponsors. Jacob Siegel-Boettner of "With My Own Two Wheels" was present, Denver-based Phil Mirabito and Ross Smith with their films, and Charlotte Barrett and Sean Fallon of the feature "Virgin Alexander." Also a few film representatives here and there.

A portion of the Filmmaker party

Oct 1
At Noon we had our first showing of "Third Bridge" with the Shorts II program. Got great response from the audience during the Q&A, and the theatre started a little empty but filled up nicely in good time. Next we went to the 3pm showing of "From the Ground Up" and "Back to Life." The first was about 9/11 firefighter's widows and the organizations they started to honor their husbands. "Back to Life" was a documentary on a group of severely injured soldiers from Iraq going on a week long rafting trip down the Grand Canyon.

Our first Q&A after the noon showing

More Kebler Pass trips

After those showings we had just enough time to drive out for some sunset photos, and return for the 8pm "Third Bridge" showing. More of a crowd this time, including several filmmakers we knew. Again we got lots of good feedback and questions, the most popular of which always seems to be "how can I find the bridge?" Later headed over to the VIP Party at Dogwood Cocktail Cabin for more socializing with fellow filmmakers!

A favorite photo spot, yup same truck as previous post!

Aspens and afternoon storms

Oct 2
Eric and I were scheduled to participate in the Filmmaker Talks at Rumors Coffee at 10:45 am. Festival director Michael Brody lead the discussion, and the other filmmakers talking were Phil Mirabito, Charlotte Barrett, Sean Fallon. At noon we headed over to see the Shorts I Program, and at 3pm "If a Tree Falls" a documentary about the Earth Liberation Front. For the 6pm time slot we debated between "Marwencol" or "Virgin Alexander," but eventually went to the latter since we knew the filmmakers Charlotte and Sean fairly well by this time. A good choice since apparently "Marwencol" is on Netflix anyway! Finally on to the last event, the closing party, at The Lodge in Mt. Crested Butte.

Eric shares his two cents at the filmmaker talks

Oct 3
Still looking for more fall photo ops, I headed out just before sunrise to a nearby location to finish filling up my memory card.

First light hits Gothic Mountain

Sunrise in the valley

Deciding to take our time driving back, we stopped at many geocaches and ran into two other teams caching. We usually only run into other cachers during FTF (first to find) runs, but we met a couple from the Springs, then a team of 3 on a daytrip, and ran into the first pair again at another cache later. One of the more fun stops was a hike to some alpine lakes along Cottonwood Pass.

Fall Colors on the drive home