SW Colorado – The Silver Thread
What do we do when we get a few days off during a busy July work schedule? Road trip to explore Southwest Colorado!!
Part of what makes these trips possible is that we keep them simple and make them affordable. We both enjoy camping and are perfectly fine sleeping in a tent so it makes travel light. Of course, the pad under the sleeping bags is a memory foam mattress, we are not completely willing to sacrifice all comfort! Since I have been unable to convince Gayla that the creatures in the woods are probably not interested in eating us for a midnight snack, we modified the back of the truck to make it a hard-sided tent and save the soft-sided tent for camping on the beach. Toss in two lawn chairs and a bottle of wine and the camping experience begins. This may not be everybody’s idea of fun but we absolutely love the time outdoors and minimalist approach to camping really allows us to focus on why we are there in the first place.
We heard a rumor that these two little 1870’s era towns, Creede and Lake City, were pretty cool places. A little internet search revealed various ghost towns in the area, beautiful scenery, waterfalls and a host of other enticements. Highway 149 from South Fork running north to the Gunnison area, named the “Silver Thread” became the destination. We decided to loop around from South Fork, head northwest to Hwy 50, then east through Gunnison and back home. Camping was easy, there are several camping areas ranging from Forest Service campgrounds to private RV parks along the route. We didn’t make reservations hoping the midweek travel will prevent the sites from filling up too quickly and we wanted to play it by ear. It worked great and we were able to find Forest Service campgrounds just southwest of Creede and along Lake San Cristobal south of Lake City. Nothing fancy but each less than $20 per night and were great locations with spectacular views.
The charming town of Creede was tucked into the base of a canyon that was loaded with abandoned mines. A drive up a rough but easily passable road is a great journey back into the mining history of Colorado. Afternoon thunderstorms made for some interesting landscape lighting.
We camped a few miles from Creede in the Marshall Park campground. In addition to a nice site along the river, it made a great location for some night time photography. Once the afternoon storms cleared, a short walk out of the campground gave us a great location to see the Milky Way in it’s full glory!
The road to Lake City is loaded with spectacular views looking west towards the San Juan Mountains
…and some pretty cool water features like North Clear Creek Falls
Yes, the dogs joined us on this adventure. We love them dearly but are rethinking if truck camping road trips are really their thing! That’s another story but they did seem to enjoy all the time outdoors! 🙂
The campsite near Lake City had a great view of the lake, surrounding mountains and a momma moose with her two babies hanging out just up the road. Tons of hiking in the area and if running water fascinates you, the opportunities are endless!
We didn’t even scratch the surface of all the cool things that the Silver Thread had to offer. Plenty to see along the roadside, endless back country roads and hiking trails. I didn’t even get warmed up taking pictures of the fabulous scenery. Definitely need a re-do, thinking the fall would be unbelievable with all the aspens in full color.
Some helpful links:
http://www.colorado.com/articles/colorado-scenic-byway-silver-thread
The End
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