On Wednesday, March 5th, I made a 350 mile day trip to photograph three ghost towns on the Eastern plains of Colorado. Traveling with my buddy Ricardo, we visited the towns of Last Chance, Arriba and Vona located in Eastern Colorado in the general vicinity of Limon, Colorado.
This was my first real photography trip this year and I am still recovering from surgery, less than a month ago. I wasn’t sure how well I would handle the driving, but I did pretty well with it. A good practice run for my trip to Monte Vista on March 10th.
This was a great opportunity for me to give the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR lens a workout. Mounted on my Nikon D850, I used the same lens all day long. I’m pretty happy with the results too.
The first photograph above of the Dairy King was made in Last Chance. Apparently this Dairy King, now abandoned, was the last business in Last Chance to close it’s doors. Today, there has been some work done to restore the building, mostly on the exterior. I don’t know what the plans are, but it’s looking like the property owner is putting some effort into retaining the structure. Last Chance has a few other abandoned buildings, including the Last Chance Motel, which is in a advanced state of decay.
Here’s another photograph from the town of Vona, Colorado. I’m not sure of this building’s original purpose, but it was next to an old abandoned gas station and restaurant, and may be part of that original business. Today, these buildings are showing no signs of being restored and are falling apart.
I don’t know that I would classify these towns as Ghost Towns, but they are certainly dying. There are occupied residences in all of them, but there is no sign of commercial business or infrastructure. All three are fairly isolated though Arriba and Vona are along Interstate I-70 east of Limon and all three still have active residences.
