Eightmile Creek Drive

This is a drive we'd have never found had it not been for geocaching.  While exploring the history of the Yankee Fork area, we thought we'd try to find some geocaches.  While we never did find this geocache, it took us along a fascinating road, high up the windy Estes Mountain road, with sweeping views of the mountains and a huge open-pit mine.  We couldn't reach the 9600-foot top of the mountain, where the geocache was, because a large tree had not been cleared from the road during the previous winter.  We had to settle on 8400-foot views of the surrounding area instead.

Now defunct, this is a picture of the cyanide lake at the site of the disappointing and devastating Grouse Creek open-pit gold mine operated by the Hecla Mining Company.  (The interesting white-colored pattern on the lake is caused by sprinklers... we're guessing that these are used to help aeriate or dilute the toxic lake.)

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GPS Info

We collected all of the following data from our GPS unit during the adventure:

Maps

This Google Map is provided by GPS Visualizer

Elevation Profile

This profile is provided by GPS Visualizer

Coordinates and other details

Mileage:  Time:  Average Speed:    Beginning Coordinates:   Ending Coordinates

11.7 Miles 01:01:04 11 Miles/Hr. N 44º 23.249, W 114º 41.799 N 44º 26.313, W 114º 42.590

 
If you would like to use this info with your GPS unit, the full GPX file is here.
If you want to view this in Google Earth, you can download the KMZ files of the track and topographic overlay.