Valley Of The Naked Dolls

SAN ISABEL NATIONAL FOREST

TWIN LAKES, COLORADO

I've seen some weird things in my life but this might just be the weirdest. We were in the middle of a three night stay at Twin Peaks Campground in Colorado. Twin Peaks campground is off of CO-82 just west of the Twin Lakes Reservoir on the road to Independence Pass and further on Aspen. On one of our day trips we decided to go up over
the pass and see what Aspen is all about. Julie has a keen eye for details and soon after leaving the campground (almost immediately) and heading west she noticed something strange at the entrance to a private property. On the way back to the campground that night we decided to stop and take a look. Here is what we found...

Driving towards Twin Lakes and our campground this entrance was on the south side of the road. There was plenty of room to turn off and park. Julie didnt know what she saw but she said there were things hanging from the trees and it just looked "weird". After pulling off it didnt take long to figure out what it was we were seeing. 

Those are dolls hanging on those trees! I took another look at that NO TRESPASSING sign and then looked over at the dolls again. Wow! I hit the jackpot with this one. I decided to get out and take a closer look.

Julie couldn't believe that I was getting out to take a look and she wasnt half as surprised as I was that I was getting in for a closer look. When you see something like this and a stern warning you kinda have a million thoughts race thru your head. Will I really be prosecuted? What else do they hang from trees? How many other people have walked here and never walked away? What kind of freaky Vincent Price character is going to walk out of the woods and tell me in a grizzly voice "I shouldnt have gotten out of my car....now look what I'm going to have to do". 

I dont remember who all got out of the van with me but I know I wasnt alone because I vaguely remember Julie telling me not to go onto the property. I told her I would do nothing of the kind. The gate was open and we wouldnt walk thru it. I scanned my eyes left to right just to make sure Vincent Price didnt walk out of the woods. I also said that I cant get into trouble because I havent done anything wrong. Lets just say my answer lacked confidence.

What seemed like hours probably lasted minutes as my visit came to an end. When it was over I had snapped only these six pictures. No video record was made. Now that I am home I feel a huge disappointment and will be making a trip back. I did a google search of "Twin Lakes, CO, naked dolls" and came up with a reddit post with pictures just like mine. Had to be a reddit post! Turns out one other person that I know of has found this intriguing enough to give it a post. To be honest I'm not sure whats going on in there but it cant be good. At least thats my initial thoughts. I'm pretty sure its not a torture chamber. We talked it over a million times then and since and wonder if its some sort of nudist colony. Naked dolls....no trespassing...do not enter...private...violators will be prosecuted. The dolls were not hung in a violent manner but it almost seems like they were hung to get attention. You dont hang dolls and not get attention. Which made me wonder if its a sign for people driving by to TURN HERE if here is where you are going. 

I have since looked at satellite shots to get a birds eye view. It literally is the first piece of property west of Twin Peaks campground where we were staying. We wanted to ask the hosts but that situation was weird in its own right. Lets just say hammocks...straps...leave no trace...and a strange power play on the part of a campground supervisor. But thats another story.  If anyone goes out looking for this just know if you get as far as the Mt Elbert Lodge you have went too far. Please do go out looking for this and take more pictures. I even would encourage you to walk on in..knock on the front door...and ask "whats up?"

So here is the first satellite shot showing the property and what it looks like from above. I cant believe how close we were. Amazing. I did think that first night back at the campground after seeing this that who knows who is going to walk into the campground tonight! The campground was pretty empty. It was a Tuesday night and there were maybe five campers and that counting the host. 

So here is the best overhead shot I can get. A satellite shot from many miles overhead makes it look like a mansion. From the ground though this has all the makings of a compound. Not that I've ever seen a compound. Add to that it being deep inside a forest at an elevation just shy of 10,000 ft and its kinda creepy to say the least. I've studied this picture for a good amount of time and know my plan of action when I go back next summer. I do wonder if its some sort of nudist colony though. But wouldnt nudists want an outdoor pool!? Maybe I'm not thinking like a good nudist with that line of thinking. Oh well. I'm pretty sure those people in Rosemary's Baby didnt have a pool but then they were in NYC. I'm moving onto pure speculation now. Guess thats all I will have until next summer in Colorado!