Arastra Gulch, Silver Lake Mining District, Mayflower Mine

Our day trip to Arastra Gulch and Silver Lake Mining District above Silverton, Colorado. This is one of the first and largest producing valleys in the area and without donkeys and dynamite it never would have happened. The Mayflower Mine and Mill still remain prominent in the lower valley with huge steel tram towers and ore buckets still on cable, frozen in time. Silver Lake district was difficult to access over the steep rocky bluffs and over 12,000 feet in elevation.