The Blue Bird Mine at Caribou Ranch

Blue Bird Mine Bits and Pieces. Caribou Ranch Open Space, Colorado, 2016

Prospectors first started scratching about in the soil around here (and pissing off the Native Americans) sometime around the time of the American Civil War. By the late 1870s, this site was a very active silver mine. A bit later, Colorado’s sorta famous Switzerland Trail railroad passed by, bringing as passengers more miners, ranchers, tourists, and general gawkers from back east.

The mine area was stabilized (tunnel entrances closed off, buildings reinforced, doors locked, etc.) and was opened to our current generation of hikers, equestrians and gawkers in 2010. For the historically curious, the Boulder Daily Camera summarized a bit of the mine’s history in an article dated June 30, 2010 on occasion of the official public opening: Boulder County opens historic Blue Bird Mine to Public.

I found the area mildly interesting. A little too tame really. I think a human bean ought to be free to risk life, limb, tetanus, and the hantavirus exploring rickety old buildings and dangerous and bottomless mine shafts. Keeps the gene pool healthy and makes for great campfire stories.

Also, I like my ruins to look like they are really, really old and seldom explored. The 1947 house, especially, looked like it would only need minor interior restoration to move into it today. As the Europeans might say: “Ruins!? These aren’t no stinkin’ ruins! The Romans and Greeks, now those guys left behind ruins!”

But, all that is just me spouting and opining. It still makes a worthwhile side trip if you are out on Caribou Open Space hiking “the Blue Bird Loop”.

A selection of images from the site…

The restored bunkhouse/boarding house, the first structure you’ll see as you approach. On the porch railing, visitors have displayed bits and pieces of history that they have found throughout the grounds (see above image):

Bluebird Mine, #1. Caribou Ranch Open Space, Colorado, 2016

A view down the small valley to the southeast, with the 9,000′-plus “hills” of Golden Gate Canyon State Park visible in the background. The Moore House on the right is relatively new, dating from the later 1940s (it was even wired for electricity!), Mr. Moore being the mine manager for a time. What a place to bring the family to live!

Bluebird Mine, #2. Caribou Ranch Open Space, Colorado, 2016

Another view of the Moore House. The pool, according to the sign, was most often used for storing trout for the next meal, rather than for bathing and swimming (too cold!). Curious anecdote: María Rosa saw a small black snake dart into a hole under the foundation by the front door–a water snake, maybe? Surprising to see such a critter at this elevation:

Bluebird Mine, #3. Caribou Ranch Open Space, Colorado, 2016

The actual mine entrance was just off to the right, not 200 yards away from the bunk house where the tired, dusty and smelly miners collapsed into their cots and beds. You can see the chopped rails hanging out into space and what was perhaps the last ore car to roll out of the cold and dark depths. The mine was apparently active until 1964:

Bluebird Mine, #4. Caribou Ranch Open Space, Colorado, 2016

In the foreground, this might be the remains of a boarding house, with the bunk house (what’s the difference?) still standing. The rails in to the mine (now closed off–but you can feel a cold breeze coming from the small opening!) can barely be seen on the right, just beyond the wood fence:

Bluebird Mine, #6. Caribou Ranch Open Space, Colorado, 2016

The time and effort to build these rock walls was surely significant–although, yes, the Incas could have taught them a thing or three. If you look closely, inside the Blue Bird Mine Loop Trail and just off of the old Switzerland Trail railroad bed, you can find a series of these rock walls forming at least a three-level terraced structure–maybe for the railroad tourists who visited, or merely a siding for the loading and unloading of mine materials?

Hidden Ruins, #3. Caribou Ranch Open Space, Colorado, 2016

Make sure you walk up past the mine to the end of the trail–only a few hundred yard farther. There, a picnic table by the creek makes a nice spot for a quiet lunch. I liked the abstract and disorienting nature of this image, made just across and very slightly upstream from the picnic table:

North Boulder Creek, #2. Caribou Ranch Open Space, Colorado, 2016