Ghost Towns in Colorado

[Tom Schaefer]

Taking The family to Colorado Springs next week getting a tour of NORAD and the Mountain. Can anyone recommend any ghost towns in the area.
Thanks
Tom

[lenser]

Can't speak for Colorado, but I did a google search by entering Ghost Towns Missouri (where I live) and came up with about thirty all over the state. May be that will work for you out there.

[Curt Palm]

the web site is sometimes painful to look at, (music and blinking ads)
but try http://www.ghosttowns.com/

[mikebarger]

Lenser what part of Missouri are you in?

Mike

[windpointphoto]

Cripple Creek and Victor are an easy drive from Colorado Springs. St. Elmo is only a couple of hours west via hwy 24. All are easy to get to and very interesting for the family. Buena Vista has nice opportunities and the white water rafting is great and geared for a family.

[Joseph O'Neil]

Taking The family to Colorado Springs next week getting a tour of NORAD and the Mountain. Can anyone recommend any ghost towns in the area.
Thanks
Tom

It's a long drive, but I took the I-75 to Denver from Co Springs a couple years ago, then down to Aspen, and took Independence Pass. You pass the Ghost Town of Independence. Amazing photography all along the way. See a poor scan here
http://www.start.ca/users/joneil/bw6/target10.html

Take LOT of bottled water, take your car/truck OUT of Overdrive - turn it right off, and turn off your AC. A lot of blown engines, trannies and rads along the way - even saw busted driveshafts. Air is very thin up there, and your engine will run hotter than normal.

Again - TURN OFF YOUR AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE! Sorry to yell, but I've seen the blown engines myself. People in the area who buy cars/trucks locally have the tunning set different for the thin air.

Also, check your brakes. Maybe it's just me, but Co. Springs seems to have more brake shops than Starbucks. :)

Last - remember the water. You dehydrate like crazy. You will get so darned thirsty even warm water will taste great. Buy a case or three of bottled water.

There are several lost Ghost towns in the mountains of Colorado, and i would love to visit every one of them. however, no matter where you go, take my advice about the water & driving.

good luck
joe

[John Schneider]

For a quick and readable first reference look for Brown, Jeep Trails to Colorado Ghost Towns. The book hasn't been updated in about 30 years, so some things are no longer correct (e.g., Ophir is no longer a ghost town but a thriving "bedroom community" to Telluride), but most of the info is still good. I'd give you more advice but my personal experiences only involve ghost towns in the San Juans.

In addition to the good advice above, I'd also take radiator water and plenty of sunscreen. Thunderstorms often roll in the mountains in summer afternoons so beware, and darkness comes very quickly after local sunset. I'd recommend a set of USGS topos and a National Geographic map of the Rockies. But, depending how far you want to go off the beaten path, you'll find that there are no infallible maps, as most haven't been field-walked in 40+ years, and that's a lot of time for mine remediation, new trails, old trails to become overgrown, streams to move, so don't trust your maps implicitly.

[Donald Miller]

If you have enough time, you might look to Animas Fork (totally deserted). Come in from the Silverton side. The other way in over Engineer Pass or Cinammon Pass is probably not well suited to someone who has not had some experience driving over unimproved mountain roads. Silverton is where AA made one of his published photos. The town of Ouray (over Red Mountain Pass from Silverton) is, in my opinion, one of the neater towns and areas of Colorado. While Silverton and Ouray are not ghost towns you will find the mountain scenery refreshing to the soul. You can arrange jeep tours over Engineer and Cinammon Passes and they are well worth visiting.

Crede Colorado is also a great place. Not as well settled as Silverton and Ouray it was the site of a silver strike that produced a lot of wealth for a time.

[mrladewig]

I live in Colorado Springs but am not a ghost town expert by any means.

As far as ghost towns are concerned, this time of year can be tough for offroad mountain travel, so some of the best ghost towns are unreachable. And there was exceptional snow in the mountains this winter, so many roads are still blocked.

Victor is probably pretty close to "ghost" status, but Cripple Creek is a casino town now. These are probably the two closest to Colorado Springs. I haven't been to cripple creek or victor in years, but I've heard that the gold tailings in the area are being reworked these days.

I think it depends on what you're looking for. Ashcroft is a rather famous true ghost town near Aspen, but I don't think you can reach it yet. If the road is open, it is CR15 between independence pass and Aspen. Independence Pass opened just a few days ago. Same would hold true for most of the ghost towns in the San Juans (SW Colorado).

If you go over to Buena Vista and then head north, there are three cool ghost towns on Clear Creek (Winfield, Rockdale and Vicksburg). This road (CR390) should be open as people live in Winfield. Go north on US24 from Buena Vista until you reach Granite and turn left on CR390. Leadville itself is teetering between boom town and ghost town all the time.

Como (On US 285 near Fairplay) has an interesting roundhouse, though it is fenced and turned into a bit of a tourist spot with too many signs. I wouldn't consider Como to be a ghost town though.

If you're up for a hike with snowshoes, there is a ghost town called Mayflower on the trail to Mohawk Lakes. I talked to my Dad who was up in Breckenridge this weekend. He said the lower trailhead for Mohawk Lakes is opened, but there is a 6-7 foot snow drift still blocking the road to the upper trailhead. You could probably rent snowshoes at Mountain Chalet or REI in Colorado Springs.

Mel-

[windpointphoto]

If you're going to go all the way to Aspen, see Ashcroft. You'll also be at the Maroon Bells park. Then you might as well go on to Glenwood Springs and see Doc Holiday's grave. This is how a nice inexpensive trip grows out of control!!!
Here's Ashcroft in June in a snow storm.

[Tom Schaefer]

Thanks for all the great info. Victor looks like a good option. After the Great Sand Dunes we will try Tin city and maybe a few others from the ghost town website. I didn't
think about the remaining snow. Not much of that here in Miami.

Thanks again
Tom

[windpointphoto]

There is very little in Tin City. It's a hard drive needing a 4wd. Go to St. Elmo. You won't be disappointed.

[Chauncey Walden]

John Sexton had some snapshots at Foto3 that he had taken on the way there down in the San Juans. So this would be just a week ago. There was one of the road cut through a 14 foot snowbank. You won't be going into the high country next week!

[steve simmons]

We did a view camera class in Victor last week and there are many. many possibilities. One place to check out is outside of Victor and up the hill. Take the road back out of Victor in the opp direction of Cripple Creek about a mile and you will see a bunch of old railroad cars on the right. Turn left and go up the hill less than a mile.

steve simmons

[Bill_4606]

Steve is referring to a little ex-mining town called Independence. It has been preserved with many, many photo opportunities. If you go up the mountain on the back side of Victor to the American Eagle mining camp, you not only get a terrific mining camp experience at 10,500 feet, but you also get a spectacular panoramic view of the back side of Pike's Peak and a top down view of Independence. Oh, and you also can watch the current open pit mining operation pulling out a reported $10M of gold per month.
Combined with the town of Victor, there is easily a couple of days of shooting there. Check out the Victor hotel and the local diner.

Bill Riley