Yampa: A bit of the past still lives

© 2012 Lydia Hinshaw 

Old hotel still open on Yampa's Main Street

Only the Antlers Cafe and Bar, at right, remains open

 YAMPA, CO -- We were sent here Thursday by a U.S. Forest Service employee directing us to campgrounds nearby.  Turned out, we found a closer State Park campground and spent Thursday night there, but we set out Friday morning to explore Yampa anyway.
 Yampa is 30 miles and several generations removed from Steamboat Springs, a modern tourist town that is at its busiest during the ski season.  
 In Yampa, population about 400, the streets are unpaved and most businesses were abandoned years ago, although several remain, including three liquor stores.  The vintage Royal Hotel is across the wide Main Street from a new, modern hotel and restaurant, though neither of them appeared to be doing much business this weekend.
 In the late 1800s, the town was a railroad and agricultural center.  Today it's surrounded by cattle and sheep ranches.  And it is at its busiest during the hunting season.
 In contrast to downtown, the rest of Yampa contains many modest and well-kept homes worthy of your average suburb, if your suburb had dirt streets, that is.
 I was curious about the town's name.  "Yampa" is a plant, similar to parsley, which grows abundantly in the area.