Here I am on the west side of Little Giant Peak in the heart of the western San Juan, 1,300 feet above one of my favorite spots in that sprawling mountain range, Silver Lake. Silver Lake was the region's most prosperous and successful mining operation at the end of the 19th century. It survived long after many of the other mines had closed, but finally shut down for good in the 1940s. The town now quietly rests, mostly in collapsed ruins, on the penninsula just below the tundra horizon in the lake just to my right.

In my hands is my Nikon Camera, which I had used extensively during our 2006 San Juan vacation to take route photos for Little Giant and Half Peak for SP. Little did we know that 45 minutes after this picture was taken, my camera would be gone forever, along with all of its valuable information.

Luckily for us, Ellen still had her camera, which inherited the route photo duties for the rest of our trip and for the forseeable future.

For more information concerning this event and other traumatic experiences, please read this report.

San Juan Mountains, Fall, 2006.

Digital photo by Ellen Ritt