Ghost town of Independence - Aspen area

    Last Update: 10/30/1997 - Jens Moller

    On the Main Road

    As you are driving highway 82 from Aspen Colorado to Twin Lakes (or visa-versa), you will pass the ruins of the Ghost town of Independence. Access to this town is directly off the main paved highway into a parking area along the road. There is no special requirements on your vehicle to get here. Highway 82 reaches 12,095 feet above sea level. Its a fairly narrow road and if you are driving a wide vehicle (such as a motor home, or towing a trailer) you really don't want to be driving here. Normal cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, mini and full sized vans will do fine.


    Looking down the valley, just off the parking area.


    My kids found an old barn down the hill
    and decided it had a great view
    		This was the first town in Aspen county. A lode mine was discovered here on Independence day. The town eventually grew to have 2,000 people in the 1880's. The most productive mines in the area were the Independence and Farwell and both were worked until 1900. There was another mini-boom around 1908 and even today, an occasional prospector is out and about in the summer months. At this altitude, its quite an effort to do anything, much less swing the 8 lb sledge hammers that the miners used to bore holes into the rock with.

    This pass fell into disuse when the railroads opened routes to Aspen in the late 1880s. In 1919, The state of Colorado allocated funds to reestablish this route for motor car travel. There are spectacular views from this pass, and if you are headed for Denver or Colorado Springs from Aspen, it can save a few hours driving time.

    The dogs particularly liked this stop, as they needed to get out and relieve themselves. My wife is taking one of them for a walk in this photo. We drove thru Aspen down to the Twin Lakes area and found that this was pretty easy on the car (not much up-hill driving), but we spent most of the trip out the outside lane of with a very steep drop off on the passenger side of the car. This road, like all other high mountain passes in Colorado get between 200 and 400 inches of snow per year, so, you only get to travel this in the late spring and summer months.
    A great place to stretch your legs,
    but I don't think I'd want to live here.

    Comments? Questions? contact Jens Moller

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