Traveling "Grave-Walkers": A great day!!!!!

Another terrific day in finding another "hard" cemetery! The 1st time we drove up Casper Mountain (where there are 3 little ones) it was foggy & rainy and we couldn't "spot" anything, let alone a cemetery! Went up for the 2nd time yesterday after 2 days of no rain & sunny. Everyone we asked up there didn't know of any cemeteries - finally stopped a bicyclist and he said follow me, I live by one of them, so off we went! After a mile and a half he took us right to it - terrific young man!! We talked to him a little bit & he was training for a race this coming weekend. He is also a coach for U.S. Biathlon Paralympic athletes and he sells real estate part time. He lives on Casper Mountain year round, right next door to this cemetery & museum.

In 1929 there was just a 1-room cabin - there in the middle - for the first 5 years or so that Neal & her husband lived there. Then they built the rest of it on. After her husband died, Neal, only spent summers there. never winters again. It gets pretty harsh up there.

The museum was not open yet (the 21st is opening day) but a lady & her granddaughter were there just getting things unpacked & set up after a winter's vacation. She spent time giving us the tour & telling us all about Crimson Dawn. So we did the tour, walked up to the cemetery, went on the "witches" trail and I loved it all!!!. The original owner, Neal Forsling, did a Midsummers Eve celebration every year for her 2 daughters & their friends , starting in 1929 and it has continued ever since. Don't know if it's really magical there or not or if it was the openness, beautiful scenery, and nature that made me feel so at peace & not wanting to leave! I know now why people live on Casper Mountain.

Depicting the 7 witches that Neal made up stories about.

View from the cemetery, looking over the valley. Spectacular!

Jim Forsling froze to death on this mountain at age 39 in 1942 when he had gone into town for supplies & tried to ski back in a blizzard.

Another view from the cemetery.

When they have the Midsummers Eve celebration on June 21st, this is where they end up & have a huge bonfire, at the top near the cemetery.

Going back down towards the cabin/museum.

The start of the Witches Trail. All along this trail are the following signs & little areas where people who have dressed in costumes will be & at each stop they will tell stories, the way Neal Forsling made them up.