Way back up in Roaring Fork Valley, high in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado is a town full of ghosts ghost town. Just pass Independence Pass on the Aspen side of the Continental Divide is the remnants of Independence.
At 10,830 feet (3,300 m) above sea level it's a bit on the blustery side even in summer, it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to live here during the winter.
Gold. Its discovery nearby is what led to the town. Unfortunately, Independence was dependent upon gold and when it ran out so did most of the town.
A few stuck around until the high country winters got the best of them. When one of the worst snowstorms in the state's history hit, following on the heels of multiple other bad snowstorms the town ran out of supplies and the remaining townspeople abandoned it en masse on homemade skis.
Most of what's left of the town is in ruins but I'm honestly surprised anything is left considering the harshness of the winters there. Colorado State Highway 82 runs by the ruins of the town but it closes through that area each winter.
This area was Ute territory before the prospectors and miners came and they were forced onto reservations.
It doesn't take too much imagination to hear the ghosts of all the people who struggled and survived in this rugged place on the wind when it gets to howling.
Just don't pet the ghosts!
