Back to the Future... AGAIN!

It was July of 1965 when Mom, Dad, brother Jim and I trekked west in our 1963 VW camper and ultimately through Independence Pass, from South Park to Aspen in Central Colorado.

The road was dirt all the way fortynine years ago, and the campgrounds were primitive in every way.  Dry camping (without hookups) was the ONLY way to camp.

It was in the valley of the Roaring Fork River, west of the Continental Divide, in the area a treaty had made an eternal Ute Indian Reservation, that we found what was left of the town of Independence, founded July 4, 1879, despite the treaty. Gold was the draw until that gave out in 1899 and everyone but a couple of hanger's-on left for better pickings... too late for the Ute.  They had already been transported to Oklahoma Territory and over 30% of the nation had died.

 66 years later the DeWalt family showed up to take these pictures of the rotting buildings of this true ghost town, some still with their original wooden roofs.

And today, 49 years after that momentous RV trip another DeWalt family, myself, Mona and Jim, walked those same streets, now being preserved by the county historical society.

 Today some of the buildings have actually been excavated and restored. Though their roofs are of metal so that they last much longer and preserve the delicate foundations for decades to come.





Some of the foundations are signed with their original uses, such as the old town hotel pictured here.

 And one of the restored buildings, the General Store, houses these two summer interns from 10 am to 6 pm, whose names I wrote down on a slip of paper and promptly lost somewhere along the road, darn it!  Boys, if you read this post, PLEASE, send me your names so I may credit you as I promised!

Independence Pass closes every winter.  In fact the guys in the store told me they had snow just a short while ago.  But the road is no longer dirt, and while there are two spots where it is only one lane with natural stone walls on one side and falling away cliffs on the other, the most dangerous stretches have guardrail.  Still, our coach would not have been allowed over the pass.  We were greeted at the entrance with signs that read, "If your vehicle is over 35' long, TURN AROUND NOW."

So Toad made it just fine alone, and Frog got to rest up in the campground back at Basalt, near Aspen, where there were FULL hookups and a pool, thank you.


-Ken