The Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway is a

National Scenic Byway A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...

, a Back Country Byway, and a

Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways are highway and backroad routes in the U.S. state of Colorado designated by the Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways Commission for their scenic and historic values. These byways follow existing roads or highwa ...

located in Fremont and Teller counties,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, USA. The byway is named for the Gold Belt mining region. The

Cripple Creek Historic District Cripple Creek Historic District is a historic district including Cripple Creek, Colorado, United States and is significant for its gold mining era history. It developed as a gold mining center beginning in 1890, with a number of buildings from ...

is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. The byway forms a three-legged loop with the Phantom Canyon Road (narrow gravel), the Shelf Road (narrow unimproved), and the High Park Road (paved).

Route

The Gold Belt Byway contains many roads. Most of them are dirt roads that are narrow and run through canyons and other geological features.

Phantom Canyon Road

Phantom Canyon Road is a scenic road that connects

Cañon City A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...

and

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

. The road goes through Phantom Canyon. The road has two

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

s and three elevated

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

s. It has many camp locations. It was originally the route of a railroad that connected Florence and Cripple Creek. The route contains many narrow roads and high wooden bridges. The road is unpaved.

Shelf Road

Shelf Road is a portion of the byway going through

Fourmile Canyon Fourmile Canyon or Four Mile Canyon is a mountainous canyon in western Boulder County, Colorado that channels a stream known as Fourmile Creek or Four Mile Creek (this is not Fourmile Canyon Creek which runs a few miles north of Fourmile Creek).) ...

. It was originally used as a

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

road. The cliffs of the canyon near Shelf Road offer some of the best sport climbing in Colorado.

High Park Road

High Park Road was the first route to connect gold mines with the Arkansas Valley. Unlike Shelf Road and Phantom Canyon Road, it doesn't run through a canyon and is entirely paved. High Park Road is located in area where cattle ranching takes place.

Teller County Road 1

Teller County Road 1, shortened to Teller 1, was the first stagecoach route to Cripple Creek and thus it is called County Road 1. It is a paved road that offers diverse views of scenery. For example, along the road are steep mountains and rolling hills where cattle graze.

Gold Camp Road

Gold Camp Road follows the former railroad from

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

to Cripple Creek called the "Short Line". In the 1920s the railroad was converted to a car toll road, eventually becoming a free public road. In 1988, tunnel #3 collapsed and was never repaired. This portion of the road is now closed to vehicular traffic and is popular with bikers and hikers, and vehicular traffic was rerouted to Old Stage Road behind

The Broadmoor The Broadmoor (stylized as THE BRODMOOR) is a hotel and resort in the Broadmoor neighborhood of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Broadmoor is a member of Historic Hotels of America of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Its visitors hav ...

. In September 2013, flooding washed out a large portion of the road between tunnels one and two. It is said that the tunnels are haunted and many stories abound concerning the tunnels.

Attractions

*Colorado Territorial Prison Museum *

, a

Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad The Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad (CC&VNG RR) is a narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates seasonal tourist trains between Cripple Creek and the city's outskirts to the south. The railroad uses a revitalized section of the o ...

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument The Florissant Formation is a sedimentary geologic formation outcropping around Florissant, Teller County, Colorado. The formation is noted for the abundant and exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils that are found in the mudstones and ...

Garden Park Fossil Area Garden Park is a paleontological site in Fremont County, Colorado, known for its Jurassic dinosaurs and the role the specimens played in the infamous Bone Wars of the late 19th century. Located north of Cañon City, the name originates from the are ...

, a

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best ...

*Gold Camp Road * Phantom Canyon *

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest ...

, a

Royal Gorge The Royal Gorge is a canyon of the Arkansas River located west of Cañon City, Colorado. The canyon begins at the mouth of Grape Creek, about west of central Cañon City, and continues in a west-northwesterly direction for approximately until ...

*Shelf Road

Gallery

File:Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway - Bicyclists Along the Gold Belt Tour Byway - NARA - 7718643.jpg, Cycling along the Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway File:DowntownCrippleCreekColorado.jpg,

File:Cripple Creek and Victor N.G.R.R.jpg,

File:Pikes Peak by David Shankbone.jpg,

from the Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway File:Petrified Stump P6010846.JPG, Petrified

redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affini ...

stump in

File:Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway - View of Florissant Valley and Teller 1 - NARA - 7718671.jpg, Florissant Valley File:Nom022 pq.jpg, A climber above the Shelf Road File:Nom023 pq.jpg, Rock climbing above the Shelf Road File:Window-rock01.jpg, Window Rock along the Shelf Road

Notes

References

External links

America's BywaysBureau of Land Management Back Country BywaysColorado Department of Transportation

Colorado Scenic & Historic Byways Commission
*
Colorado Scenic & Historic Byways

Colorado Travel MapColorado Tourism OfficeHistory Colorado
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