Colorado’s eeriest free stop sits two miles above sea level in the San Juan Mountains

It’s called Animas Forks

Twelve miles northeast of Silverton, at about 11,200 feet in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, nine buildings from the 1870s still stand where silver miners left them.

Animas Forks ranks among the highest-elevation mining camps anywhere in North America, and you can walk through every structure without paying a dime.

About 250,000 people make the drive each year on a rough dirt road with no cell service.

The town sits where the west and north forks of the Animas River meet, and the original name said exactly that: Three Forks of the Animas.

A log cabin started it all in 1873

Prospectors raised the first log cabin here in 1873. Two years later, a post office made it official.

By 1876, you could count 30 cabins, a hotel, a general store and a saloon.

Then a sawmill went up in 1878, cranking out 4,000 board feet of lumber a day, and residents swapped their log walls for wood-frame buildings.

The town incorporated in 1881 and even ran its own newspaper, the Animas Forks Pioneer, from 1882 to 1886.

Walk through nine original buildings for free

Nine structures still stand today, and you can see the stone foundations of about 30 more scattered around them. No ticket booth, no ropes, no guided tour required.

You walk right in. The Bureau of Land Management posts interpretive signs at the parking area along with brochures and maps, and the whole site sits on the National Register of Historic Places.

Restrooms are on site, which matters more than you think when you’re two miles above sea level.

The Duncan House has the best window in the San Juans

William Duncan, a miner and mail carrier, built this two-story house in 1879.

What makes it stand out is the large bay window facing the surrounding peaks, a design choice that had no business being this far from civilization.

It’s one of the most photographed buildings on the entire Alpine Loop.

People sometimes call it the Walsh House, after mining magnate Thomas Walsh, but Walsh never lived here. The Duncan family left Animas Forks in 1884.

One family connected their outhouse with an indoor hallway

Charles and Alma Gustavson, immigrants from Sweden and Finland, built their home around 1906 on land Charles reportedly bought for a dollar.

The house had what passed for an indoor toilet at 11,200 feet: an outhouse connected to the main structure by an enclosed hallway.

Alma hung floral linen wallpaper on the walls, and you can still see framed remnants of it inside. The Gustavsons were one of the few families who stayed through the winter.

The 1882 jail is built like a stockade

Thick boards laid flat and stacked like logs give the 1882 jail the strength of a stockade, and it’s the oldest building still standing at Animas Forks. Anyone locked inside didn’t stay long.

Prisoners went down the road to Silverton to face a judge.

Beyond the jail, you can walk past a miner’s boarding house and the stone foundations of the Gold Prince Mill. The Columbus Mill is another structure that held on through 150 years of weather.

A 23-day blizzard buried the town in 25 feet of snow

In 1884, a blizzard hit Animas Forks and didn’t stop for 23 days. Snow piled 25 feet deep, and residents dug tunnels between buildings just to get around.

Avalanches were a constant threat at this elevation. Most people left every fall and spent winter in Silverton, where the temperatures were kinder.

Only a handful of families toughed it out year-round. At 11,200 feet, winter doesn’t ask if you’re ready.

A fire, a failed comeback and then silence

Mining profits dropped through the late 1880s, and businesses started shutting down. A fire in 1891 burned 14 buildings, and the town never fully came back.

The Gold Prince Mill brought a short revival starting in 1904, but it closed by 1910. The post office shut its doors in 1915, and workers hauled the mill equipment away two years later.

By the 1920s, nobody lived in Animas Forks at all.

$330,000 in grants brought the buildings back to life

Vandalism and decades of brutal weather nearly finished what abandonment started. The San Juan County Historical Society stepped in during the late 1990s to stabilize what was left.

A 2011 land swap handed full ownership to the BLM, and a major restoration in 2013 and 2014 repaired roofs, windows, doors and drainage across the site. About $330,000 in state grants funded the work.

Now, a quarter million people come through every year.

The 65-mile dirt road crosses two passes above 12,600 feet

Animas Forks sits along the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway, a 65-mile unpaved route linking Silverton, Ouray and Lake City. You’ll cross Engineer Pass at about 12,800 feet and Cinnamon Pass at about 12,640 feet.

A high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle is the only way in. The road typically opens in June and closes by September, depending on snowfall.

Cell service drops out on most of the loop, so tell someone where you’re headed.

Wildflowers fill the meadows above the treeline

The drive from Silverton follows the Animas River through valleys lined with waterfalls and crumbling mine ruins. Come in July or August and the alpine meadows around Animas Forks light up with wildflowers.

Above the treeline, the tundra opens wide and you can see peaks topping 13,000 and 14,000 feet in every direction. Bring layers and water, because afternoon thunderstorms roll in fast at this elevation.

The area draws photographers, off-roaders and picnickers alike.

Three more ghost towns sit within a few miles

Eureka, about four miles south, still has the remains of a water tank that doubled as a firehouse and jail. Capitol City, on the Lake City side of the loop, was once supposed to become Colorado’s state capital.

Half a mile west of Animas Forks in California Gulch, the ruins of the Frisco-Bagley Mill sit along the road.

Colorado has more than 1,500 ghost towns, but few hold together this well or sit this close to a drivable route.

Explore Animas Forks near Silverton, Colorado

You can reach Animas Forks by heading 12 miles northeast of Silverton on County Road 2. The unpaved road takes about 45 minutes, and you’ll need a high-clearance 4WD vehicle to get there.

Jeep and UTV rentals are available in Silverton if you don’t have one. The site is typically open from late June through early October, and admission is free.

Drink plenty of water and give yourself time to adjust to 11,200 feet.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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