A Day on the Silver Thread

Jim Ingraham, from Glenwood Springs, made a cameo appearance today. He’ll ride with us today and tomorrow, then head home.

Today, we’re giving ourselves a break. It’ll be a simple 210-mile ride. 

And we’re giving you a break, too. That’s my intention, anyway. Your reading task should be significantly simplified. Expect to get through this post in no time at all, even if you’re a slow reader. You’re welcome.

Our destination today is Creede, 105 miles from our starting point in Gunnison. We’re riding to Creede, then back to Gunnison for our second night in college town USA. Simple as pie. That’s it.

We begin the day by heading west on US Highway 50, riding along the Gunnison River.

Rain was in the forecast all day, and the skies were dark, so we kept our rain gear on. Just in case. Note Jim’s new rain suit, replacing his old “Michelin Man” balloon-style outfit.

Nine miles out of town, at the Lake City Bridge, we turn south onto Colorado Highway 149. It’s called the Lake City Bridge, because it leads us to Lake City, 45 miles away. We’ll be on this roadway the rest of the day. It’s also known as the Silver Thread Scenic Byway, the ninth scenic byway we’ve ridden on this trip. We’re racking up the numbers!

The Silver Thread Scenic Byway name honors the vast silver industry that once thrived along this road. The byway finds its roots in the rich mining days of the late nineteenth century. 

Ahead of us on today’s rise is a vertical rise of nearly 3,200 feet in the San Juan Mountains, before descending into Creede.

This road was once a trail used by the Ute Indians, helping them reach hunting camps and hot springs. In the 1850s, the Utes were overwhelmed by homesteaders and miners, and were relocated to the southwest corner of Colorado. Their ancestral paths were eventually widened and improved to become the Del Norte-to-Antelope Toll Road. It was a pay-to-ride stage line that linked the supply station of Del Norte to the mines in Lake City and Creede – two of our stops today.

In 1990, the Colorado Transportation Commission chose a 75-mile stretch of this highway to become a Scenic and Historic Byway. A Silver Thread Committee set a goal of promoting all the resources on the byway, educating the public about them, and improving safety and comfort along the Silver Thread. The committee also sought designation of the Silver Thread as an All-American Road; that hasn’t happened yet, as there are only two All-American Roads in Colorado – so far. One was the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway, which we rode yesterday; the other is Trail Ridge Road, which we’ll do on Saturday.

With the discovery of silver in Lake City and Creede in the late 1880s, toll roads and railroads were extended at a breakneck pace, creating a vast transportation network throughout the San Juan Mountains. 

Lake City and Creede flourished until the silver panic of 1893. Even after the panic, the mountains were still rich with ore, so miners regrouped and opened again, operating with great success for decades. It was only in the last half of the twentieth century that the silver market completely collapsed, forcing the mines to close. Those mines remain a legacy as rich as the silver veins that still run through the San Juan Mountains.

Lake City

An hour after leaving Gunnison, we roll into the town of Lake City, which sits at 8,660 feet. Lake City is named after nearby Lake San Cristobal (Saint Christopher), Colorado’s second-largest natural lake.

The small mountain community was founded as a mining town when four prospectors illegally set up mines in Ute territory in 1871. After the Ute people ceded the territory in 1874, miners discovered a hotspot for silver and gold in what was then called the Hotchkiss Lode – now known as the Golden Fleece Mine.

The entrance to what was once the Golden Fleece Mine.

With the completion of the first road into the mountains of this region, Lake City served as a supply center for the many miners and prospectors flooding into the area, starting in the 1880s. At its peak, the town boomed to as many as 5,000 settlers. Today, Lake City has shrunk to 430 residents.

By 1905, the mining era was effectively over and Lake City entered a decades-long period of economic decline. Its economic driver today is tourism. The mountains around Lake City provide an array of outdoor recreation opportunities, including fishing, hunting, boating, mountain climbing, off-roading, horseback riding, and hiking. And, motorcycle riding.

The town is on the National Register of Historic Places and has a designated Historic Downtown. It still has many of the original buildings from the mid-1800s. The town’s remote location and decades of economic decline helped conserve the buildings from the mining era, allowing Lake City to avoid many of the modern “improvements” to historic buildings that often happen in more prosperous towns.

In the winter, Lake City hosts a series of winter-themed events called Winter White Out. Starting at the end of January and lasting six weeks, activities like pond hockey on Lake San Cristobal, an ice-climbing competition, and a snowshoe race take over the city.

Before leaving town, here’s a Lake City fun fact: In 1874, Alferd Packer, Lake City’s most notorious resident, was jailed for killing and eating five fellow gold prospectors when their group became trapped in a blizzard atop nearby Slumgullion Pass. Packer became known as the Colorado Cannibal. Great nickname! After his release from prison, he allegedly became a vegetarian. You can visit the massacre site – we don’t – and then go to the Hinsdale County Museum to view the skeletal leftovers from the meal.

Slumgullion Pass

The road out of Lake City climbs steeply, and ten miles later, we find ourselves at 11,530-foot Slumgullion Pass. I love the name. Almost as much as Colorado Cannibal.

It’s believed Slumgullion Pass got its name because the pioneers thought the “yellow” nature of the mud from the earth flow looked like slumgullion stew, a popular dish for miners, with its variety of vegetables and meat. Today, slumgullion stew’s modern version is familiarly known as American Goulash.

Give it a try. Probably tastes better than it sounds.

Slumgullion stew, in a slow cooker. Very tasty on a cold winter night.

Slumgullion Pass is mostly known as part of the Slumgullion Earthflow National Natural Landmark. About 700 years ago, a large chunk of decomposing volcanic rock slid down the mountain to form a natural dam. This blocked the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River and created Lake San Cristobal. The “Slumgullion Slide,” as it is known, is still active today and can move up to 20 feet per year in certain areas.

Slumgullion was popular during Colorado’s mining boom. Miners historically referred to the leftover mud in gold sluices as slumgullion. Slumgullion Pass is said to be the steepest in Colorado, with a nine percent grade.

Creede, Home of the Giant Fork

Creede is quite colorful.

The 40-mile journey from Slumgullion Pass to Creede is spectacular. That’s an over-used descriptor, but I’m running out of words that adequately convey the beauty of the terrain.

First, we cross 10,901-foot Spring Creek Pass. It’s the tenth 10,000-foot pass we’ve crossed on this trip, and our second crossing of the Continental Divide.

The road drops about 2,000 feet over the next 33 miles, as we descend into Creede, a historic former mining town of whose population today is 250. In 1891, at the height of the mining boom, Creede’s population swelled to 10,000. Our last ten miles or so follow the Rio Grande River on its course into Creede.

The last passenger train to Creede ended service in 1935. Since then, cars have dominated the landscape on the Silver Thread Scenic Byway. In 1968, Highway 149 between Lake City and Creede was paved – except for one small portion, which was completed in 1982.

We arrive in Creede, today’s destination, around noon. It’s a perfect time for a cold beverage, a fuel fill-up, and a rest stop.

At a watering hole in Creede.

The Creede Repertory Theatre is a nationally acclaimed theater that has produced a number of plays about Colorado and Creede. The theater, which this year celebrates its fifty-eighth season, is open throughout the summer.

Creede also hosts the Colorado State Mining Championships. Of course, it does. The event, known as the “Days of ’92,” has been held every July 4, since 1892. Competitions include hand steeling, hand mucking, double jacking and single jacking. These methods of working the rock by hand were used by miners before they had electricity to power their tools. About 10,000 people come to Creede every Independence Day weekend to watch these rapidly disappearing historic mining techniques.

In Creede, that mining heritage is celebrated at the Underground Mining Museum. The museum offers a glimpse into Creede’s rich mining past. To create the museum, workers “mined” the mountainside in the early 1990s, a few years after Creede’s last mine closed. About 45,000 visitors a year experience the underground.

There’s a lot going on here, for a town of 250.

The Underground Mining Museum gives you a sense of what miners experienced.

Before we head back to Gunnison, there’s one roadside attraction worth checking out. The Creede Fork, also known as the World’s Largest Fork, is a 40-foot aluminum sculpture built in 2012. Created by artists Chev and Ted Yund, the fork is made of aluminum and weighs more than 600 pounds. The unique piece of art was commissioned by Keith Siddel as a birthday present for his wife, Denise Dutwiler, owner of the local Cascada Bar & Grill, which has since closed.

If you’re compelled to visit the fork, you can find it at 981 La Garita Street.

Yes, it’s a big fork.

Our time in Creede has come to an end.

It’s been a laid-back day, with some fabulous riding, among exquisite scenery.

On Main Street in Creede.

We do a U-turn in Creede, and make our way back to Gunnison, 110 miles away.  Over Spring Creek Pass, across the Continental Divide, over Slumgullion Pass, through Lake City, along the Gunnison River. Before you know it, we’re back in Gunnison and it’s time for dinner.

Dinner at The Dive in Gunnison. That’s the name: The Dive.

For dinner: fish and chips.

***

The Day in Review:

Click here to see today’s complete route from Gunnison, Colorado, and back to Gunnison – via the Silver Thread Scenic Byway.

Today’s Takeaways:

1. Silver Thread Byway, scenic and historic.
2. Slumgullion, a stew worth trying.
3. Get forked, in Creede.

Today’s Trivia: Colorado’s Smallest Ski Area

When you think of skiing in Colorado, what often comes to mind is gigantic areas like Snowmass, Vail, and Telluride. Lots of lifts. Tons of vertical rise. Beautiful people. And, they’re quite expensive to visit.

The Colorado ski industry is a huge hunk of the state’s economy, accounting for $5 Billion in annual economic output, attracting more than 12 million visitors, and supporting 45,000 jobs – including mine.

It’s big business.

Yes, big business – except at Lake City, one of Colorado’s smallest ski areas.

Lake City has 14 skiable acres, six trails, and 247 feet of vertical rise. Compare that to Snowmass, where I work in the winter, and you get a sense of scale. Snowmass has 3,362 skiable acres, 94 trails, and 4,406 feet of vertical rise. And, 16 lifts.

With its single lift, the Lake City Ski Hill represents a fading era. It’s what skiing once looked like. Old school.

A young skier takes the Poma lift up the Lake City Ski Hill.

Lake City’s Poma lift is Colorado’s oldest operating lift, an A-Basin hand-me-down. The lift ran at Arapahoe Basin in the 1950s before arriving in Lake City in 1966 to open what the town called the “Lake City Winter Wonderland.” The name of the ski area owned and operated by the town has since changed to better fit its modest ambitions. It’s now simply called the Lake City Ski Hill and Terrain Park.

Lift tickets are $25 for a day pass, $10 for children 17 and under. Those rates include equipment, if you need it – skis, boots and poles – free of charge. The ski hill is usually open Saturday, Sunday and Monday, from 10 am to 2 pm. If you need a warm-up during your ski day, stop by the small hut where lift tickets are sold, and grab a cup of hot chocolate. 

There’s no artificial snow-making here, but given Lake City’s extreme winters, it isn’t necessary. Lake City Ski Hill is the quintessential, bare-bones, bygone ski experience. It takes “small” to the next level.

Shredding it at Lake City Ski Hill.

Only a few community hills like this have managed to survive in the wake of the mega resort boom across Colorado. Ouray has one, too – Lee’s Ski Hill, with one rope tow and 75 feet of vertical. It’s run by the town of Ouray, just as the Lake City Ski Hill is run by the town of Lake City. Skiing, as it used to be.

If you’re curious about what skiing used to be, try out Lake City. Tell them Gary sent you.

If you aren’t into skiing, Lake City has other pretty cool winter activities.

The Lake City Ice Park.

And now you know.