Life Anchored

Let the adventure begin

Navigation
  • Home
  • LIFE ANCHORED HOME SHOP
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT

St Elmo Ghost Town: A Colorado Day Trip Adventure

This post may contain affiliate links.

A few months back we studied cowboys in school and John became obsessed with visiting cowboy towns, aka Ghost Towns. We visited a local reconstructed ghost town about an hour from our house called the J. Lorraine Ghost Town after I saw it highlighted on the show Day Trippers. Both kids had an amazing time and of course dressed the part for their visit, complete with jeans and cowboy hats and bandannas. It was a nice surprise that the area we would be visiting during our end of Summer vacation had a famous ghost town, The St Elmo Ghost Town. We were quick to add it to our itinerary.

St Elmo Ghost Town A Colorado Adventure // Life Anchored

St Elmo Ghost Town: Location

Located 10,000 feet deep in the Sawatch Range, 20 miles southwest of Buena Vista Colorado in the Upper Arkansas Valley. St. Elmo Ghost Town sits beautifully preserved and waiting for visitors. Rich in history and interesting tales. 

St Elmo Ghost Town A Colorado Adventure // Life Anchored

St Elmo Ghost Town: What to Do

When you visit St. Elmo Ghost Town you aren’t going to find a shiny tourist attraction. You are going to find the town well preserved and interesting. If you are there for a day of off-roading there are many trails around the area that are equipped only for 4 wheel drive vehicles and give you a beautiful view of the Sawatch Range. You will see many jeeps, razors and other off road vehicles. Many of these can be rented in near by towns like Salida or Buena Vista. We had an amazing time the day we rented a jeep and spent the day exploring. 

St Elmo Ghost Town A Colorado Adventure // Life Anchored

When you pull into town stop into the Miner’s Exchange to pick up snacks, souvenirs and chipmunk food. Directly in front of the Miner’s Exchange the chipmunks gather and they are just waiting for you to bring them seeds. We hand fed the little critters and the kids loved it. John was unsure what to do at first but within a few minutes he settled and had them eating out of the palm of his hand. I love the look of astonishment on his face when the first one came right up to him. So glad I captured it. 

St Elmo Ghost Town A Colorado Adventure // Life Anchored

St Elmo Ghost Town A Colorado Adventure // Life Anchored

Make sure to walk the actual town and take in all of the amazing structures. You can stay in an existing cabin if you are interested in staying overnight. We walked along the buildings taking them in, several have interiors that you can enter and see dated photos and read some history on the exact building. 

St Elmo Ghost Town A Colorado Adventure // Life Anchored

St Elmo Ghost Town A Colorado Adventure // Life Anchored

We decided to walk down the the creek that runs through town and play in the water a bit. While cooling off the kids “panned for gold” and had a great time finding tiny little specks of something shiny in the water. So bring a few sifting pans to let the kids play for sure. 

St Elmo Ghost Town A Colorado Adventure // Life Anchored

All in all it was a great adventure. We spent about 3 hours total round trip from the main road. So play a half day trip or pack a lunch and spend the full day exploring all of those awesome trails around the area. The St. Elmo Ghost Town is a must see for sure. 

Looking for more amazing adventures around Colorado?

Check out this great family travel guide.

Guide to traveling Colorado with kids // Life Anchored #familytravel 

Filed Under: Adventuring

« 5 Tips for Successful Intermittent Fasting
Easy No Carve Pumpkin Decorating with Kids »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

LIFE ANCHORED HOME SHOP

LIFE ANCHORED HOME SHOP

SEARCH

Categories

  • Adventuring
  • Cooking
  • Crafting
  • Disney
  • Essential Oils
  • Family Life
  • Favorite Things
  • Holiday
  • Homeschool Resources
  • Motherhood
  • Parenting
  • Parties
  • Pregnancy
  • Toddler Meals
  • Uncategorized
Top 35 Baby Registry Must Haves // Life Anchored

Copyright © 2025 · Life Anchored · By Anchored Design

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in .

Life Anchored
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.