Work Continues In Northern Colorado

I’ve been checking off the ghost town boxes here in Northern Colorado this week. Three ghost towns found and photographed. There is a fourth, but it no longer exists. Manhattan. It’s just a grassy hillside on the road to Mooseville.

Speaking of Mooseville, I’ve made my first incursion to take a look at conditions up high near Cameron Pass. It was a mid-day run and I didn’t see a moose, but that wasn’t really the purpose. The trip made me a little sad though, looking at the remains of the Cameron Peak Wildfire, it’s hard to explain, knowing the forest isn’t going to grow back in my lifetime. Ghost towns, ghost forests, eventually I’ll be gone and my ghost will haunt these mountains too.

So, here are a few photos of the ghost towns.

Elkhorn Ghost Town

Elkhorn is actually fairly close to my place in Red Feather Lakes, so it was the first one off my list this week. I’ve been driving by this general area for so long, I can’t count. Why I never went to look at the ruins, I don’t know. Having a different mindset this year probably has a lot to do with it.

Rustic Ghost Town

Rustic isn’t much, just a few leftover buildings and vacation cabins from a resort and a home or two that is still occupied. Most of the junk buildings have long since been removed. The cool thing about Rustic is that it still has the Glen Echo Resort, which is a general store and restaurant. I have eaten at the restaurant with my moose friends and family many times. It’s one of the few decent restaurants in the general area of Red Feather Lakes.

Highway 14 in Rustic, Colorado. Looking West.
Looking West on highway 14 in Rustic. Glen Echo Resort on the left.

Rustic is the half-way point between my cabin and Mooseville. The Cameron Peak wildfire burned down the canyon but the firefighters did a great job of protecting the property most of the way back to the source of the fire some 15 miles or so up this road. The fire did burn past here and on to the east for many miles(behind me,)

The remains of Kinikinik

Kinikinik is on highway 14 about ten miles to the west of Rustic. I have driven through this ghost town about a million times, never once stopping to take a look. It is private property, so one can’t really stroll in and take a closer look, But there is a nice roadside pullout in front of the ruins, so it’s easy to get a good look from outside the fence. It’s obvious that whoever owns the property is trying to keep it up as best they can.

And the journey continues. I’ve got a long list of ghost towns to visit. The progress to date has been good.