Crystal Mill and Lead King Basin near Marble CO

Brent W

Brent W

New member
Thought I would share a few pics of the old Crystal Mill and the Lead King basin area. The wife and I took this little journey last summer.
Crystal mill.jpgLead king basin.jpgLizzard lake.jpgredstone waterfall.jpg
I didnt have the JK at the time these were taken,thought I would throw in a pick of the old CJ-7 we made this trip in.
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Yes it is. If you keep going through the old town of Crystal you can go over Scofield Pass or make the loop through Lead King Basin.
 
those are great pictures. some friends and I are planning a trip out that way next year, were wanting to run a trail and camp as we go for a couple nights before having to go back to town. can you point us in a direction for that. thanks
 
Hi Toys, I see your from Lee's Summit MO. I grew up no far from there as a kid in Independence and Oak Grove MO. Small World. On to the directions to the Marble area. If your coming out on I-70 stay on it from Denver until you get to Glenwood Springs. Exit on the first Glenwood exit and turn right. You will make another right at the light and fallow the signs for Aspen. (what a crap hole that place is lol) Anyway you will want to fallow Hyw 82 south to Carbondale and then make a right. You should now be on Hwy 133, stay on this to the Redstone and Marble area and go from there. The last stop for gas is Carbondale so make sure your topped off there. Redstone only has a General Store and Marble only has a good BBQ joint and a little coffee shop. Have fun on the trip.
 
no kidding, small world. thanks for the tip I'll pas it on to my friends and we can start working on a time to go for sure. what would you say is the best time to go up there?
 
July or August. That area received a lot of snow this year and it probably wont be clear until July. If your interested in a bit of research you-tube Scofield pass, Taylor pass and Pearl Pass. They are all in close vicinity and great trails. Nothing super difficult but fun and unsurpassed beauty.
 
I was there last year at the end of June and could not get through Scofield pass. FYI. Snow drift was deep and across the entire trail about an hour into the run. Still worth a try. Careful though, not easy to turn around in some parts of the trail. I had to do a very sketchy turn around up the wall of the rock face with about a 200 foot drop. There are plenty of trails to run in CO it is just finding the trail heads that can be tough. With the snow this year, I would bet a lot of the runs won't be open until very late in the season.
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July 2013. Heaven on the Third Rock. To this point from Marble the trail is Easy Peasy for a stock JK. My wife and I hiked to the nearby marble mine/quarry in 1977. Snow blocked our CJ in July that year. The mine hadn't been operated for a very long time and peering down into it was fantastic. How those miners got those huge slabs of marble to the surface and shipped around the country speaks to how tough these guys were.:yup: I think the mine has been operated recently so it's probably posted.
Crystal Mill.jpg
 
cool picks! We are heading up there the first week of July after making our annual trip to Ouray. Hoping to be able to trail up to Crystal Mill.
 
Looks stunning. Nice photography. that old building beside the river, what would it have been used for in it's day?
 
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