On
our way to the Arches National park we needed a place to camp as it was getting
dark and we saw massive cumulonimbus clouds and lightning in our vicinity. To our “luck”, as we travelled east at the i70 we pulled into a place where the time had been gradually slowing down till it
almost stopped. Thompson Springs used to
be a prospective town, located on the interstate 70 and main railway connecting
Denver and Salt Lake City, where lots of coal miners used to find their last
resort. Unfortunately, the last three decades have been quite uneventful, and
as one of the locals said; ‘The school closed down, the trains stopped
stopping, the restaurant shut down and people started moving out leaving
everything behind.'
Thompson Cyn Rd
The main boulevard boasted with many gems from
centrally located train station to many motels and restaurants. Everything that’s left behind now are
abandoned buildings, some still in a really good shape but some in ruins only
forming the ghost town nature of Thompsons Springs. As we explored the main boulevard, we noticed
an old pick-up truck cruising around with a kid on its bed.They most likely realised that there are two
strangers roaming around their town and eventually aimed at us through a grass field next to the railway tracks and pulled over to question us. As it was already getting dark and the stormy
background really did add a dose of strangeness to the creepy atmosphere of
emptiness, we didn’t feel quite safe. If
you ever watched a movie with a setting in a half-abandoned American town you’d
know why.
Closed Cafe
Frontage Rd
Three
men in an old shady truck, where one of them was balancing the bumps of their
not really carefully chosen direction on the truck’s bed approaching us. Well,
that kind of felt like we might no longer find our way back home. It turned out they were the law of the
town. With the emptying town, the
official law enforcement left with it and they, claiming that “there’s no
police in the town no more”, only wanted to check up on us and ensure we don’t
vandalise their treasures. In fact after
a little chat with them it turned out that there’s quite a sad story behind it
all. People, who left the town, are for
no reason holding their properties and refuse to revitalise the town, even if
it seems like there might be a little potential for occasional tourism due to
its location.
Grocery St
We
heard stories about voices in the wind and occasional visual appearance of ghosts,
not far from the town where natives’ graveyard is located and native art is
decorating the walls of Sego Canyon.It
turned out to be a very friendly encounter and they even gave us some tips on
where else to go in the town, let the other nervous locals know that the “two
guys from ‘tzecheslovekia’ are around and are harmless”.
Still,
seeing all this and having in mind the classic stereotypes of abandoned
American towns in the desert we were very hesitant to pitch a tent in this
area.We carried on down the road
leading us to the bespoken mountains carrying the native mysteries to find a suitable
spot.Another of those creepy scenes was
brought to our minds when we saw headlights in the rear-view mirror that are
quite rapidly moving towards us.We were
scared for no reason; it was a campervan doing the same as we are.Trying to find a safe place to camp.The dawn brought a very new perspective to it
all and as we left with sunshine in our back and a great memory of sleepless
night thinking of ways to revive the spirit of Thompson Springs.
For more Pictures, click HERE
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