GHOST TOWN

Our first outing while in Buena Vista was to visit St. Elmo, Co.  It is a ghost town and way up in the mountains at over 9,000 feet,  By the way, we did not see any ghosts.  St. Elmo is an old mining town.  In 1880 it was named Forest City, but the post office would not let them keep that name as there was a Forest City in California.  The name was changed to St. Elmo.  As the mining industry there dried up so did the town.  People are in the process of rebuilding the town as it was back in the booming days.  There are quite a few modern houses that have been built just across the Chalk Creek.  The town is coming alive again with the general store renting ATV's and rooms to rent at the hotel. 

This is the Chalk Mountains probably named because they look like chalk.

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If you take in account the whole population of aspen trees in the area, very few are changing to their fall colors.  The locals are saying they won't be as pretty this year due to more than usual amounts of rain.  We hope they are wrong.  Driving up the road we did see some trees that were changing to their autumn clothes though. 

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One of the big attractions is the feeding of the chipmunks.  I could never get an accurate count as they were scurrying around so fast.  You can bring your own seeds or buy some at the General Store.  The little munks will climb all over the visitors.  While I was taking pictures, I had one crawl up my leg.  I heard a man say "you have a big chipmunk behind you"  To my surprise it was a huge dog and very friendly.  He was keeping an eye on the little rodents.

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This wagon was for sale.  It was an idea, but we are already 50 feet towing the Jeep.

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Here are some of the buildings in the town along with some beautiful scenery.

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Allan found another buddy.  It was a butterfly.  The butterfly was insistent on staying on his hand or his back.  We thought we would have to take him home.  Katie would have a buddy.

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We walked across the Chalk Creek by way of a bridge to see the school house.

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This is a flash flood area where water from higher levels cross the road.  There was a sign that warned people not to cross during heavy rains.

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Several miles down the road is a Hot Springs Resort that seems very popular.  They have a hotel, cabins, several pools, event facilities and of course hot springs. 

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Four wheeling is one of the most popular activities in this area.  There are miles and miles of trails for ATV's and Jeeps.