Beneath the Sawatch peaks

Twin Lakes

The waters still raced on Chalk Creek as it passed Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort. But this time I did not stop, not as the road went from asphalt to dirt, not as it ended at a ghost town high between mounts Antero and Princeton. Chalk Creek runs deep into the Sawatch Range, home to Colorado's highest peaks. The creek runs between Mount Princeton (north) and Mount Antero (south). Several miles past Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, the creek rushes toward the Arkansas.

Ghost towns in the West don't fare well due to abandonment and the elements. St. Elmo's few blocks still look somewhat healthy. St. Elmo was saved from collapse by a few heart residents who preserved the buildings after the railroad pulled up their line and effectively killed the town. Chalk Creek meanders through town. The school was open, although we were inside before I realized it was for a memorial service, and quickly exited.

Chalk Creek at St. Elmo

I was intrigued by the signs for Tincup Pass, the old wagon road that connects St. Elmo to Aspen. The curiosity faded quickly after finding out it was a high-clearance-only road with at least one section heavy with rocks. It was high clearance or no-go.

At the General Store, the antiques and secondhand finds played second fiddle to the hummingbirds. The store owners set up hummingbird feeders at the entrance and along the side of the clapboard building, and the birds shows up in droves. I thought of the three hummingbirds to visit Crosswood Court every year, then got overwhelmed by the dozens buzzing around the general store. It took a lot to pull me away from the feeders, since tantalizing photos of hummingbirds with


Downhill from St. Elmo, Chalk Creek grew ferocious.  At Cascade Falls, it rivaled some tough whitewater, even if the creek were too narrow for even the best kayakers to run. Raging water at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs had not eased up. The early season prediction that thecreekside pools would not open for the season seemed to prove true.

Up the road from St. Elmo and Salida sat Leadville, the highest incorporated town in the U.S.  A week before Burro Days, its signature summer event involving a marathon in which racers must lead a pack mule along the race course, the town was packed to the gills at noon Saturday.

Streaked with high-altitude ice fields, Leadville has unforgettable views of Mount Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado and among the tallest in the Lower 48. When clouds break, the sun beats down with an intensity far stronger than a few thousand feet below in Colorado Springs. Anytime the clouds break, the sun made its presence known.

The opera house, the old hotel, the bars and cafes were all thriving on a summer Saturday. I spied Periodic Brewing, the country's highest brewery, from a block away, but stuck with my July sobriety. After lunch at a cafe, we walked through the crowded streets, then further west to the Victorian homes that former the core of Leadville's preserved housing stock. The houses were small, close together but beautiful and unique, indicative of the time of their construction in the 19th century.

For a lark, we stopped at the Leadville Jewish Museum, which is no longer a functioning congregation but had its members 150 years ago. One of those who tried their hands at silver lining was a young many from Cincinnati named David May. After finding he had little aptitude for mining, May returned to the family business, founding the May Company in 1877. I hardly expected one of the department stores from my childhood to have routes in a high-altitude silver mining camp. But I shouldn't be shocked - in southwest Wyoming, Kemmerer boasts the home store of J.C. Penney, so it was not an isolated origin.

In a few hours, the streets had quieted, the day trippers on their way back to Denver and the mountain resort communities. 

South of Leadville, trip culminated on the shores of Twin Lakes, a high-altitude glacial lake made larger by a dam. But it sits where multiple mountains land at its shores, including Mount Elbert.We stopped at a day use area in the national forest, where it was easy to walk among the low hills covered with scrub that grazed the lakeshore.

The water levels were high here too, straining against their dam. Even with boats plying the open waters, it was relaxing. I envied the campers, as cold as their nights would grow in the thin air south of Leadville. But the views of the mountains, the sunsets, the stars - I could just imagine. In fact, I have ever since.

One more from Twin Lakes