Independence Pass, Aspen, and Paonia SP

 

We left Buena Vista with Ouray, Colorado as our next destination for a few days.  We took the long way around.  Heading back North from Leadville to Hwy 82 and Independence Pass.

Quite a view from up there.  This was the road we took up.  It was restricted to a total vehicle length of 35 feet.  Thanks to the Casita, we got to experience this beautiful drive.

On the way down, we discovered how Aspen got its name.

The remains of old mines seemed to be everywhere.

Check the size of those timbers.  Yep, I had to put something there for a reference.

We traveled through the town of Aspen without stopping.  Not really my cup of tea. Hung a left at Carbondale, and found ourselves at Paonia State Park around 3PM.  The only ones in the campground until around dark when a camper van joined us for the night.

About ten yards from our door was a pretty little stream named Muddy Creek.  It was sort of discolored, but not muddy by my standards.  The view downstream from our site.

Thanks for looking, and a belated welcome to all our followers, old and new……jc

A Trip to St. Elmo

 

About a ten mile drive up a paved, then gravel, road Southwest of Buena Vista will take you to the ghost town or St, Elmo.  Billed as one of the best preserved ghost towns in all of the West.  Settled as a mining and railroad town around 1880, there were over 50 mines operating in the area.

The mines ran out,  and the railroad survived until around 1925 before pulling up stakes.  By then most residents had left the area and the town became practically deserted except for the two children of a couple of original settlers.   They stayed until the 1950’s, acting as guardians and protectors of what was left behind.  It is to them we owe thanks for what we see today.

Notice the tin siding?

I love old doors.

 

All of the properties are now privately owned, but as it is a Registered Historic Site, the buildings have to remain true to their roots, so to speak.

Even to the outhouses in the back yards.

 

More old buildings.

 

The old school, with a shot of the interior through a glass partition.  Notice the wood burning stove in the center of the room.

The only full time occupant that I could find;

Other than the chipmunks.  There has been built near the middle of town, a nice pile of crossties and landscape timbers that’s the home of hundreds of chipmunks.  It seems that everyone feeds them and they are very tame.

There were dozens of folks feeding them while we were there, so Wanda and Sally had a seat amongst them.

As you can see, Sally wasn’t as interested in getting scratched as she was in tagging one of those chipmunks.

She didn’t get lucky, though.  We left them all behind in good health, as far as we knew.

Another interesting day on the road…….jc

Buena Vista

 

After leaving Leadville, we decided to spend a few days in Buena vista, CO.  We needed to dump the tanks, do laundry, recharge batteries, etc.  We found a nice RV park on the North side of town that fit the bill.  Mostly filled with folks that come up from Texas and Oklahoma to spend the Summer.  There also just happened to be three couples from Mississippi in the park, too.  One was just across the street.  It was sure nice to hear some Southern spoken there.

One of the things I did one day was tour the County museum.  Lots of stuff in what was once the County Courthouse and then the city school.  Lots and lots of stuff.

 

 

You couldn’t guess I was an old telephone man, could you?

Lots of other things too, including an original classroom.  Check out that map case.  We never had anything like that in my school.

 

 

More stuff.

Boys were a rarity in 1946.

There was also a room dedicated to a model railroad.  It depicted the complete railroad system from Leadville to Salida.  An awesome display that had to take years to complete.

As I was leaving, I noticed these two guys lounging by the gas meter.

About as safe a place as they could find.

On another day we took a drive up to Cottonwood Pass.

Sally and I hiked on up toward the summit.

 

Another great day to be alive, and well.

Thanks for looking……jc