Saint Elmo & Cottonwood Lake, CO (7/16/2018)

St. Elmo was founded in 1880 and thrived as a support community for the many mines in this area.  With some 150 official mining claims nearby, the town prospered and grew to a population of about 2000 hardy people living at the 10,000-foot level.  The railroad installed a spur track through St. Elmo on its way to and through the Alpine Tunnel to retrieve ore from the other side of the mountains.  As mining played out in the early twentieth century, the railroad closed this line.  Locals like to say the last residents rode out on the last train.  However, two people stayed  and ran the General Store for many years.

While the town is classified as a ghost town today, it is actually inhabited, and the residents are working to restore some of the old abandoned buildings.  Frankly, in many cases it's hard to tell which buildings are occupied, except for a few that are either new or recently restored.  Remnants of abandoned mines are all around.

 Notice the hummingbird feeders on the front of the General Store.

 The cabin below is obviously one of the newer ones.

A spur road leads to the old mining town of Hancock, and to Hancock Pass.  Going up that road, a sign on a side road said "Mary Murphy Mine", which I had read about at some point in time.  Since the sign indicated it was only a mile, I took the bait.  This was a very long mile due to the condition of the road, extremely rough and rocky.  Several groups were parked at the start of the road, choosing to walk the mile steeply uphill rather than try it with their SUVs.

There are several ruins at the mine site, including remains of the tramway system used to transport ore down the mountain to the stamp mill.  All this is at the 12,000 foot level.

One parcel of land is for sale, but I haven't checked into that opportunity.

Back on the road to Hancock, I found a few more ruins.  One was a railroad bridge over a creek, a rare section of track that's left.  Most was torn up to create a road up the mountain.

I finally turned around and went back down the mountain.  My plan was to visit Cottonwood Lake, which I had missed on my earlier visit to Buena Vista.  This beautiful lake is popular for hiking, camping and fishing.

Headed back to Buena Vista, I encountered a Bighorn Sheep along the side of the road.  A passing vehicle alarmed him, causing him to race up the nearby rocky slope.  It was fun to watch his rock climbing skills at work.