South Central Byways

11 | Silver Thread
Length: 117 miles. Driving time: 3 hours.
The colorful old mining camps of the Silver Thread offer history, scenic beauty, and a heavy dose of authenticity. The heights around Creede and Lake City remain strewn with abandoned mining structures, most of them accessible via rugged backcountry roads. … Read More

14 | Top of the Rockies
Length: 82 miles. Driving time: 2 hours.
The route crosses the Continental Divide twice and traces the Arkansas River. With altitudes seldom dipping below 9,000 feet, this byway earns its name. Visit historic mining railroad towns en route to historic Leadville, the highest incorporated community in the U.S. … Read More

15 | Collegiate Peaks
Length: 57 miles (one way). Driving time: 90 minutes.
You could call this byway “the Avenue of Fourteeners”— along its entire length, the Collegiate Peaks continuously rise above the 14,000-foot marker, and include such summits as Mt. Princeton, Mt. Yale and Mt. Harvard. Take a detour up Cottonwood Pass Road in fall for an explosion of autumnal color. … Read More

16 | Los Caminos Antiguos
Length: 129 miles. Driving time: 3 hours.
The San Luis Valley is one of Colorado’s most impressive landscapes, with massive sand dunes, nine 14,000-foot peaks ringing its edge and the historic Rio Grande pulsing through its heart. … Read More

20 | Gold Belt Tour
Length: 131 miles. Driving time: 5 hours.
In the early 1890s the mining towns in the shadow of Pikes Peak enjoyed the greatest gold boom the state has ever known. This 131-mile circuit tours historic Cripple Creek, Florence, McCourt, Adelaide, Wilbur, Victor, and other former gold camps. … Read More

21 | Frontier Pathways
Length: 103 miles. Driving time: 3.5 hours.
The name of the byway sums it up perfectly. This old frontier zone south of the Arkansas River marked the intersection of Native American, Spanish, French, and American territories. Thousands left their footsteps in this much traveled corridor-first the Ute Indians, then Spanish and American explorers, and finally traders, fur trappers, homesteaders, ranchers, and gold prospectors. … Read More