Company at Iron City

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Our guest - being shy
We stayed at the Iron City Campground this weekend, buried in the trees below St. Elmo. Unlike most camp grounds that are loops off the main roads, Iron City is right on the road! It's not the main road - in fact the minute the campground ends the road quickly becomes rough and tricky. Because the campground was so far from Buena Vista and "civilization" it was pretty quiet. There were a few other groups there, but everyone was anti social. A wave walking to the bathroom and that was about it. Our company consisted of a pair of chipmunks - and not the normal fat campground chipmunks either. These two guys were skittish and not super interested in handouts. They were more interested in the pine nuts and such in the parking area! But if we didn't move, they scampered around like we weren't there. One movement and they were gone in a flash. It was fun to watch them scurrying, stopping and darting around.
This was right before he decided to climb on my foot

Sitting next to Nick's Chair

The other thing that made this camp ground a little unusual was the history around it. Lots of history - from a circa 1880s cabin that could be rented out, to the entire town of St. Elmo. But at the eastern end of the campground, we found something even more unusal. Not too common to have a cemetery inside a campground! Maybe that accounts for all the weird noises and such... Seriously, this was the historic cemetery for St Elmo, Iron City and the surrounding area. Not all the graves are marked with headstones - some just had white wood markers. All were surrounded by rocks, some adult sized, some tiny. Just inside the gates, there was a placard with all the people buried there, including cause of death when known. Lots of mining accidents - one person died of a "gathering behind the ear." It was cool, but a little creepy to wander around the grounds, looking at everything
Fancy entrance to an old cemetery - although it is still in use today. 

The cemetery sign

The list of names - interesting reading, and would be more interesting with a good history book



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