It's day 433.....it's also July 12 2020...and we are in Elk Springs Colorado

It's day 433.....it's also July 12 2020...and we are in Elk Springs Colorado.....

That quick over night stay...in Elk Springs Colorado...for some shuteye....that turned into a couple a days.....Fascinating place...at least to me.....these sorta places always get me.....places that have come.....and gone......in just a matter of a few years.....just a drop...in an ocean of time......and we've been through places like this all across the country.....From union oregon to Shurz Nevada.....and then all those old mining towns across the Arizona.....and California deserts.......

here....A search on the internet finds very little about this spot half way between Dinosaur and Craig Colorado. This place looked unique in that it seemed it's hey day could have been as recent as the 60's....maybe even 70's? But then one day....something happened.....the two motels shuddered......folks left their homes...empty to rot away in the high desert of Colorado....for where? Were they up the road just 20 miles in Maybell? Not likely....just 70 or so folks call Maybell home....so did they keep going....another 30 miles and join the 9000 or so folks there in Craig? Or had they left the Western Slope altogether.....soooo many questions.....always......but there's never anyone to ask

The place just seemed to stretch out alongside highway 40.....mostly just driveways off the hiway....very few still in use....occassional road here and there....off into those hills to a ranch maybe? Does anyone still live here? Looks like a few....but short of knocking on some doors....I'll probably never know.....I did read of the 30,000 acre privately owned ranch named The Elk Springs Ranch....The property is part of the states Ranching for Wildlife program...which provides Colorado residents a unique opportunity to hunt on private ranch land normally closed to the public. Participating ranches provide public hunting recreation access to their land free of charge to those who draw licenses....I wondered which of these dirt roads would take us there?

We'd hang out here for a couple days....rest area's nothin much to look at....but our quiet corner under those trees meant Dougie and I could take lot's of long walks.....watching 3 or 4 cars speed by each hour......somebody....in a hurry to get somewhere.....wherever that is....it certainly wasn't Elk Springs.

Snapping photo's during our walks.....the decrepped....half rotted away RV's long since abandoned in the parking lot of a motel....and that parking lot....now more weeds and sage brush than it is asphalt....abandoned even longer ago. Each time I look at that circa 1970 RV I imagine the person....spent hard earned money on it....used it....who knows how much.....but certainly not intending it end up here....in a junk heap....on that day they forked over 1000 bucks for their dream.....a life on wheels or even just a weekend getaway from time to time.....up there in those amazing Mountains within the Dinosaur National Monument....a paradise....in their own back yard....they absolutely had big plans....big dreams....but here it is....how many of those dreams were fulfilled before their hard earned cash had been deposited in this...parking lot....in front of that motel.....that motel that was very likely another persons dream. They spent their hard earned cash...they'r sweat....their time......on a business...a life of their own.....and how many passers by had they played host to before deciding one day....that their dream had died as well....and all their hard work would become a graveyard....for not only their dreams...but the dreams of others....and now....what we see.....is simply a place to dump garbage....hmmmph

The world whizzes by those long dead dreams.....one car at a time....80 miles an hour on the road of life....there's still life...somewhere out there.....on either end of that road......and again....why no life here?

The faded for sale sign in front of one of those dead dreams .....shifts subtly in the draft of each car that passes by...no one see's it....I wonder how long ago the person that dug that hole...planted that sign....gave up waiting for the phone to ring. I shoulda called....and asked.

Like I said...internet can tell me little....can't even tell me how many folks even still live here....certainly ain't many. The ones that do....they'll make that 30 mile drive back into Dinosaur for their mail...no mail delivery out here...for groceries.....another 40 miles into Vernal....or maybe in the opposite direction.....do their shopping in Craig Colorado.

9000 folks call that place home. And I have to be curious...right....when a town that bares my name shows up in the windshield...or on a map.

This entire region...including Craig would be home to the Ute...and Shoshone people until Europeans began showing up in the late 19th century.

The town would be founded in 1889 by a couple of real estate developers. They recognized the potential there...at the confluence of the Yampa and Bear Rivers. The Bear River would later be renamed Fortification Creek...the town would begin life as home to Himleys Ferry crossing service and Peck's Store...a one room trading post....

But those two developers saw more......so they went out in search of financial backers....and they found 'em....one in particular....Reverend William Bayard Craig....a prominent Minister in Denver would also see the towns potential and would become a major investor in the town....lending his name to it upon founding.

For over 80 years....the town would prosper.....ranching....all sorts of farming....and the railway would arrive shortly after the turn of the century helping to connect the area with the rest of the world....or this part of it anyways.....

But then....the 1970s and 1980s happened..... with the construction of the largest power generation plant in Colorado and several coal mines opening in the area.....The Craig Generating Station would hold the title of largest power plant in the state until 2004.....when the Commanche Generating Station was established in Pueblo....but today....the Craig plant still holds the second top slot....and remains the backbone of Craig's economy.....My guess.....those two motels we're lookin at.....along with a few other dreams mighta been born right around that time....here in Elk Springs...

Seeing the name "Craig" reminded me how I had searched the internet...."How many towns are there in the US with my name.....Craig .....And learning there are 14 of them...Virginia, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio, Nebraska, Montana, Missouri, Mississippi, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Colorado, California, and Alaska.....

We knew about the one in Montana....sorta where we're headed next actually.....got some family history to dig up there.....figured I may as well check out the rest of em at some point.....and now.....1 down....13 to go.

And what about those 75 folks up the road in Maybell.....another 130 year old ranching community here on the Western Slope of Colorado......but seems Maybell made it....still alive and well....that tiny little community..... all these years later....seemingly avoiding the same fate as Elk Springs just 20 miles up the road....

Maybell also has a spot in the record books of Colorado......coldest temperature on record in the state...February 1, 1985 when the Maybell post office recorded 61 degree's below zero! yikes.....

As usual....I can't seem to spend time diggin around the internet without coming across some random piece of information....here....it would be learning that Deer and Elk....can be pretty dangerous....(insert video)....always reminders out there...that if we're choosin to spend our time out here in the boonies......most every type of wild life can get in a mood.....and ruin your day.....

Probably hit Craig for some supplies when we head out.....and Maybell...gotta give that a look...just for fun....Map say's we'll head north just past Maybell......

And I wonder what we'll learn there