Bob and I loaded the dogs into my car and took a drive up to Gold Hill over the weekend. Bob got a new camera and I heard this town had some nifty structures to try to photograph. Beware the photos posted here were only taken with my point-and-shoot camera so don’t judge my artistic photography abilities (or lack thereof).
This is somebody’s house! It is so tiny and simple.
This town was booming in the mid-1800′s due to gold mining. And by booming I mean they had 1500 residents. Today they have only 200 residents. Some folks call it a ghost town which isn’t accurate since there are still people there. A lot of the buildings are old and falling apart.
There is a store in town. I tried to go in to get Bob a coffee but the hours posted on the door were “Open sometime after 10am and Closed sometime around 3pm”.
They also have the Gold Hill Inn & Restaurant in town. The restaurant is run by 2 brothers that choose the menu each day. They are only open for about 2 1/2 hours each evening for dinner and that is it.
There is also a 2-room school house. Have I mentioned all of the roads are dirt roads in this town? I felt like we were in an old Western movie. I half expected a cowboy to ride up on a horse, spurs jingling and challenge Bob to a draw. Bob would say “naw, partner, I forgot my chaps and my donkey is in the shop getting fixed”.
There was a major forest fire just west of Boulder in September. The fire devestated much of Gold Hill. We could see a lot of charred land and trees and some old foundations from where structures used to stand. All of the trees in this valley were black.
Bob and I want to head back up to Gold Hill without the spazzy dogs so we can spend mroe time checking out old houses and taking pictures. It was an adorable little town!
