I will be taking a mini vacation to my favorite place in the world this weekend – Tincup, Co. It is a small ghost town on the Western Slope of Colorado. I have grown up visiting the town since I was born, Tincup is a very special place to me and my family. About 8 years ago my parents decided to start on their dream of building our own cabin. Summer after summer my amazing father build us a cabin with his own hands. The only professional help he had was putting on the tin roof. I grew up in this small community each summer, and have many fond memories. It has resulted in my love of history as each summer I find new treasures from the past that fascinate me. I am so excited to start off my summer with a trip to Tincup and spend time with my parents, sister, and grandparents. It will be a great time to be with my family one last time before I am married.
Whats the speed limit in Tin Cup?
I just saw your post on your summer vacation to Tincup. It’s a small town so you have to be a neighbor. Just wondered who you might be? I have the first two cabins on the left as you head up Washington St.from the town hall towards Mirror lake. Bing
I also know what it feels like to visit Tincup every Summer. I have been going for 37 years now. I have missed a few Summers, but not by choice. I spend my Summer’s at the end of town at Ted & Mary’s (Grandparents) cabin. I helped my Grandfather and Father with the construction of my parents cabin (Louis & Andy) during my Summers while in college. My children go there now in the Summer and get to experience the things I was able to as a child. It is one of the places I can go and forget about everything else going on in the world. It is definitely God’s country.
I have been going to Tin Cup since 1958. My local (Lawrence, KS) youth minister, Bob Balch, went there each summer to work on the church. He asked my family to comne out. We went the summer he opened Timberline Trails Boys Camp. My family evenutally bought Mr. Luce’s cabin on Washingon street. We enjoyed it tremendously until the middle 1980’s. Tin Cup cannot be equaled for scenery, quietness, or starry nights.
We are returning there this summer, staying at the old Holt’s Guest Ranch. I was a Holt Girl in 1965.
Tin Cup and Taylor Park hold a very dear place in my heart. It is still so unspoilt that it is almost unreal.
I’m glad others love Tin Cup, but let’s not spoil it by telling everyone. Let’s just keep it our secret!!
Oh my gosh, I happened upon Tin Cup this last fall and fell in love with this little town. I then was just messing around tonight on my computer and saw your post. I am a resident of Lawrence, Ks, and have been for almost 40 years.
We stayed in Rainbow with our friends Chuck and Molly Sponsler and we wanted to come back next summer. They have a housefull then and wanted to know if anyone in the area rents out their cabins/house? We LOVE it there. We visited the cemetary and ate at Frenchy’s.
Please send inof to email address.
Thanks,
Michelle
I went to Timerline Trails Boys Camp for many summers as a camper then a councelor. I miss the camp, the mountains, my freinds and Bob Balch.
Any way to have a reunion, or get in touch with Bob?????
Richard in Kentucky 859-621-0336
I HAVE SPENT A WEEK IN TINCUP 2 YEARS AGO AND LOVED IT. IF ANYONE HAS ANY INFO ON RENTING A CABIN IN TINCUP IT WOULD GREATLY BE APRECIATED. MY E-MAIL IS travis29@centurytel.net
Howdy folks:
Whatever happened to “Timberline Trails”. Did it get split up into private cabins? I went there as well and remember Bob Balch and Hap. By that time Bob was at Ft. Worth Country Day School. A few of us from Austin, TX. would drive to Ft. Worth and meet up with some of the boys there and then drive up to Tincup. Still remember the great hikes and jeep trips. Ghost stories around the fire in the cemetery. Gold cup, climbing peaks. Best memory of all is moving the horses to pasture in the evening. They’d bolt through town at high speed and we’d hold on for dear life. Need to get my family up there some day for a vacation so they can see it as well.
Jeff Latimer
is there a summer camp there in tincup called timberline trails i used to goto summer camp there back in the 80’s oh is the reastraunt called frenchies still there or is called something eals now please reply to all the guy whoed owend the summer camp also owned the the restraunt what was the guys name i think his frist name was kirk wat was his last name please e-mail back with answers from all of the above icrr3107@ao.com
Found your website doing search on Tincup. My son went on a fishing trip about 8 yrs ago with some buddies and went through there. He would like to take us there for a few days this summer along with his 8 year old son with the hopes of doing a little gold prospecting. Is there anywhere nearby where we could doing some panning? Where would be a good place to stay or camp for a few days? Hope you can help. Please send any info to usmarinemom@mchsi.com
I grew up spending my summer in Tincup. I used the work at the cafe’ washing dishes for Sue Cole. I played in the lodge when it was being built When the cafe’ closed I worked for Joy at Frenchy’s as a waitress as well. I was very young then and had so much fun seeing friends I knew every summer. The Friday night dance was the highlight of the week. Picnics up to the cemetary, the lily pond, trips to the the “candy store”…. I am taking my own family up there this week for the first time. I am looking so forward to seeing my sons fishing at the same children’s pond I did when I was young.
My grandparents and the Holt’s were best friends. My gma used to run a cafe out of their cabin when my mother was younger….and give people in town haircuts!
My grandpa built their cabin with the help of one of my uncles about 50 years ago. I haven’t been up to Tincup in 10-15 years! It will be strange not seeing some of the older folk in town that have passed on. This spot in Colorado is a true treasure! I’m so glad that some day the cabin my grandparents passed on to my mother and uncle will be passed on to me as well!
My parents purchased a cabin in Tincup in early 2002. We had only been to this specific area (Gunnison County) once before and not long before the purchase. My parents always loved central and southwest colorado and once they found Tincup, they fell in love. That has since passed on to my brother and myself. We are unable to keep the cabin anymore, but as another poster has said before, let’s keep Tincup our little secret. When I buy a cabin there, I don’t want it to be as commercialized as the rest of the great colorado locations have turned!
I, too, went to Tin Cup with my parents as a child back in the 50’s and 60’s. The cabin we stayed in was owned by my great aunt Elsie Olsen(nee Frisbie). My father had spent many summers there as a young man with this aunt and her sons. I am planning a trip to the area next July for the purpose of seeing if that cabin is still there. Everyone in our family who had any knowledge of the cabin is now deceased. The cabin was somewhat diagonal from the church. A nice creek ran outside where my brother would fish for trout. Does anyone know of any available odging close by or cabins you can rent?
I would like to hear from anyone prospecting in the Tincup area. Month of july 2007 we did prospect the area south of Tincup and were very lucky to find 5 pickers, We have been prospecting this area for 3 years and this was our first find. We have been coming to the area for about 25 years. My son and grandson and I have enjoyed the area and are counting the days till we return.
from the Boyhood Home of Dwight D. Eisenhower
Abilene, Kansas My email ams@access-one.com
I first came to Taylor Park in 1950. My Senior year in H.S. I bought some land from Bob Balch and worked at Timberline Trails as a counselor until I got my cabin built in 1965. I have not missed a year since than and now spend 4 months there since I retired from teaching. TinCup is a very special place, with lots of good people from all over the country. I help with the Sunday service the past 25 years at the old town hall which was built in 1903.
I just sat down at the computer and just typed in tin cup, colorado and whow! I’m amazed at what I found. So I ended up here. My wife and I were there in 1973, just 5 months afer we got married. We camped in a tent at Mirror Lake. At that time it only had 8 campsites as I remember. I’ll never forget how beautiful a place it was. We wanted to walk the road up around the lake, but it rained and rained and rained somemore. It stopped raining the next day enough for me to get a great picture of a cattle drive up the old road around the lake. Photography is my hobby and that 20 by 30 inch picture graces our familyroom wall. The frame was made of redwood I estimated to be at least 500 years old. We only stayed at Mirror Lake for 2 days because of constant rain. I don’t remember anything but old buildings being in Tin Cup?? Maybe someone can tell me exactly what was there at that time. Are there really places to stay at there, other than camping at Mirror Lake campground? Colorado is still our favorite place to visit. We can’t hike the mountains like we used, but we still enjoy the day hikes. We were in Colorado in 1987 with our 3 children and 5 years ago with just my wife and I. Both trips had some problems but we love the mountains and intend to be back. I’ve enjoyed reading the other comments and am glad that others also have a love for the mountains.
Wayne Souser/Michigan
Hello,
I would have to agree with Jesse Geary…
Although Tincup is a great place, it’s better peaceful. I have been quite upset with all the noise from the four wheelers and the disrespect they show while riding off the designated trails. Please don’t get me wrong, I love the place as much as the next TRUE Tincupper, but keeping it out of the lime light it what’s best for its preservation.
So I ask, please remove this from your blog.
Thank you,
Joanna Grenawalt
About Tincup and being peaceful, Taylor Park of Colorado is discovered and more people are coming there every summer. Asking to have this topic removed from the blog will not help in stopping the tourists or the four wheelers. This reasoning is like removing a tree from the forest and hoping the forest will thin itself. From reading the comments, it appears that many people have fond memories of this town and enjoy sharing them. I suggest that Jessy and Joanna take a procative approach and contact the US Forest Service and work with them to close the park and roads to ATVs and extended camping.
Whow, I am surprised to see so many responses to Tin Cup and specifically references to Timberline Trails Boys Camp.
I just had lunch with Bob Balch and Thad Leonard. Bob owned the Timberline Trails Boys Camp and hired me as his wrangler for the 1970 summer. Thad is a high school buddy of mine who got me the job through a recommendation of his father who went to college with Bob. Thad was also a counsler for Bob at the camp one year.
We were talking about putting together a web site or blog to see if we could recreate the contacts, adventures, friendships and bond we all have as a result of having been touched in our relationship with Tin Cup. All of the records of attendance at the boys camp have been lost. If anyone would like to share their Tin Cup/Timberline Trails Boys Camp experience, please do so.
We will try to set up a seperate blog so we do not bog down Keli’s site. Once we do, perhaps she will be willing to reference ours.
Thank you Keli for facilitating this message.
My summer as the camp’s wrangler was the best job in the world. The scenery was beautiful, I met so many great people, learned how to square dance at the Friday Night Town Hall…Truth be known I even learned how to be a wrangler.
I first went to TinCup in 1948, and it changed my life forever! That is because I fell hopelessly in love with the country there, made it my summer vacation spot for several years, fished every stream, lake and beaver pond in Taylor Park, and eventually purchased a summer home and property there which I turned into Timberline Trails Boys Camp — the bright spot in my life for 15 years. I reluctantly sold the boys camp in 1977.
Can’t tell you how thrilled I was to find Kelli’s blog, and especially read all the responses to it from former boys campers and others who have come to love that near-sacred place. I could write forever on this cherished experience, but don’t worry, I won’t! Suffice to say, I am now 84 years old, retired, and living in my original home, Tulsa, Oklahoma: e-mail rbalch5@cox.net, cell phone is 918/269-1521. Would love to hear from any other TinCup lover.
P.S. I will be visiting Tin Cup again this summer and have been asked to conduct the TinCup Church Sservice there on August 31st.
I attended timberline trails camp in the 60’s. I have so many great memories of the two summers I spent there. I am getting married in September and was really wanting to take my new bride there for our honeymoon. If you by chance have any information of a place I could rent in Tincup it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
I love the pie at Frenchy’s! They call it Tin Cup Pie, and it is cream cheese and chocolate, cool whip and graham cracker crust….just tastes so great after hiking or riding ATV over from St Elmo!
Seems like Jessee Geary has has some bad experiences with 4X4 riders and for that I am truly sorry.
My experience with Tincup began back in about 1946. My maternal grandfather and grandmother had retired from the ranching business down in Kiowa County and had relocated to Pitkin. My parents would take my little sister and me to visit them and I fondly remember the trips to Tincup and Taylor Park to fish with Grandmother baiting my hook. Soon after, Grandmother found that she had cancer and she died in a very short time. Grandad lived for a number of years until he died at Waunita Hot Springs in 1957. I have made several trips back to Pitkin and up over Cumberland pass to Tincup over the years. They always brought back pleasant memories.
Back to the four-wheeler experience…… As I am now rapidly approaching 70 and have been diagnosed as having COPD, I find that the only way I can get out into the woods in the high country is with a 4X4. My wife, a native Mississippian, and I truly enjoy four-wheeling the Rockies. We make every attempt to be good neighbors to those of you who live there but some who have come before us have unquestionably left a bad taste in the locals mouth’s.
Again, I am sorry for the actions of those who cause such great dislike to Mr. Geary. I only hope that he might learn to judge each individual by his actions and not condemn four-wheelers as a whole.
Bill Dawson
Colorado Springs, CO
BOB Glad to see your note. Wish I saw it in time to meet you guys there. Will you all be going again in 09′?
Rich TT (73′-76′)
Timberline Trail names from my pictures:
Peter Shelton
Dan Tatum
Marshal Young
Stuart Cottrell
Martin Monson
Bobby Dowling
John Whittaker
Ellen Knapp
Rob Dupree
Willie Foster
Kyle Portman
Stan Tanner
Scott Miller
Dick Eastman
John Hill
Gregg Doull
Frank Stevenson
Ryburn Taylor
Berrend Wamilink
Vance Lambert
Tom Hatch
Willy Burnette
Ned Flemming
Will Tucker
Dave Knoop (Nordic Dave)
Bob “Mongol” Lantz
Gregg Dolby
Kim Holbert
Drake Sorey
Joe Lippert
Jeff Guzzle
Chip Payne
Hubert Kelly
Russ Mitchell
Moose McAndles
Jody Dugan
Robert Kelly
Wow..I too typed in Tincup and Timberline Trails and came across this site.I was a camper there in 1969 at 10.5 years old and had a wonderful time.I was friends with alot of the country day school boys where Bob taught at( i believe) correct me if i’m wrong. The biggest thing i remember was the trip to Crested Butte to watch the first moon landing in July 1969. We camped outside at some motel there and watched the TV the had set up in the motel.I will never forget that and all the great times i had as a kid there.
Bobby Driskell/Ft. Worth
Nice site! I, too, have always enjoyed Tincup, though my enjoying was always passing through. My family has had summer cabins on the Gunnison River near Gunnison since the early 1920s, so there have been a lot of trips around the surrounding area, and Tincup with the placer mining and beautiful scenery was always one of my favorites. Luckily I will be out there from NH this summer in July for a week, and I’m sure that the trip through Tincup, Lake Irwin, and Alpine Tunnel will be on the agenda. Arnie
Bob
Thanks so much for making such a great camp for all
of us kids back you had Timberline Trails Boys Camp.
I will never never forget all the geat experiences I had
the summers I went to camp there.
On the hikes with Dave Knoop (Nordic Dave)I was so tired.
I thought this is IT..I am done for…I cant go hike any
more.
When I reach the next bend in the trail ahead.I am just
going to collapse and that will be that.
But I found I could keep going more even when I thought I could not..A great lesson I have applied to the rest of my life.
I wish all kids today were as lucky as we were to have such a wonderful and positive experiences as I had at
Timberline Trails Boys Camp growing up.
Thank You so much for sharing your love for Tin Cup with the rest of the world.
I know now as a adult it must have been a huge amount of work to to make your dream of a boys camp come true.
But I want to say say it was a fantastic success in my eyes.
Thanks again Bob.
Kyle Portman
well said Kyle…. wish i had an easy way of send you a pictue of you from back then…..
Bob, how was your visit this summer??? sorry i did not make it.
Rich
I enjoy reading the comments of Tincup and the area, we just got back from the area staying at Holts and have been for years, we started prospecting the area several years ago and probably had our best year ever this July, 09. Cant wait to get back . Rode atvs and had a great time. Enjoy the area its a great place.
Abilene, Kansas
ams@access-one.com
Boyhood Home Of Dwight D. Eisenhower
I recently was thinking of taking my 13 year old daughter on a little vacation. As I was searching the internet I was thinking about my experience at Tin Cup so I thought I would google it, and came across this site.
I to went to Camp Timberline trails with my father more of a tag a long cause I was actually to young to be a camper. Those were some of the best times of my life. I remember so well the games of kick the can, and capture the flag. Eating eggs with spam in the morning. Loved the horseback riding, rafting, hiking, camping, bonfire at the cemetary (headless horseman, & the harry baby stories). I could go on and on.
Bob I loved your house. I can’t remember a whole lot of details, but do remember spending alot of time there.
Bob thank you for a very fond memory!
Looking for Susan Cole, daughter of Sue Cole. Last I heard she had moved to the east coast with a man she met in Japan. I know her dad used to minister at the church, her brother’s name was Charlie.
Any information would be appreciated. For the earlier post, I do have the recipe for Tincup Pie, compliments of Joannie Norris.