Day 12 we did a fun ride to Silver City, ID. This small former mining town is half abandoned and half occupied. The road to it is about 9 miles paved and then 14 miles of dirt road. I am not really a dirt rider and I also had a passenger on board. Rene' rode great and did not upset the bike as it bounced and plowed through the soft gravel. One of the interesting things about this road into Silver City is the Mormon Crickets. These crickets are huge and all over the road. You will see them in the video at times. Some places they were pretty thick and the road looked like it was moving. These crickets are cannibals. They eat the dead crickets that were run over by the passing vehicles.
Once we arrived at Silver City we walked around and sized up the place. One home looked fairly new, but was all boarded up. Silver City had a population of close to 2500 at one time, but I am not sure how they all fit in the town. Silver City was a mining town for silver and gold. I don't know how much happens now, but I suspect it is small miners claims. It is estimated that they mined 60 million dollars at that period time worth of gold silver. There were over 250 mines and 12 stamping mills. The largest piece of precious metal was a 500 lb silver crystal that was on exhibit at the Paris World's Fair.
Rear view of the largest building in Silver City the old Hotel.
A short video of the ride to Silver City. Tomorrow we may just go for a hike and give ourselves a break from the bike.
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