Leadville

Colorado is a state obsessed with elevation. Everywhere you go there are plaques telling you how high up you are. Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the USA (10,152 feet; 3,094 meters). Looking south from Leadville you can see two of the state’s highest peaks, Mount Elbert and Mount Massive.

Leadville is a charming one stoplight town with a nice historic district that isn’t completely given over to resort town kitschiness. Originally a mining town, it’s gone through several boom and bust cycles. Racing (bike and running) is popular. While there we got to watch the start of the Leadville Trail 100 Run.

It rained our first day in Leadville so we headed to National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum. This turned out to be far more interesting than I expected. It included a great history of mining in the area. Diorama-rama! I also learned more about molybdenum than I thought possible…and why Leadville is on the EPA Superfund list. More photos of the results of unregulated development in my next post.