A couple of the peaks coming around on the climb rotation, La Plata and Huron, are nearby but are accessed via an area I’m unfamiliar with, Clear Creek canyon.  And since most 14er climbs start with a drive in the dark, we decided it would be a good idea do a little reconnaissance work in the daylight to locate the trailheads and get a sense for the difficulty of the road.  The trip would have the added benefit of getting to see the historic mining town of Winfield, which sits near the top of Clear Creek Canyon.  

The drive up Clear Creek canyon starts with a pass by the scenic, blue Clear Creek reservoir.

The road parallels Clear Creek all the way up the canyon. Just above the reservoir are several other nice little lakes.  

The road is listed as 2WD and indeed, we saw at least one standard sedan parked at one of the many campsites along the way but it is without a doubt one of the most rocky, washboarded and potholed piece-of-crap 2WD roads I’d ever driven on.  After 12 miles of bumping along at no more than 20 mph we finally reached Winfield.

To call Winfield a ghost town probably isn’t accurate since several of the old buildings are privately owned and have been restored by the owners as seasonal cabins.  In addition, there are more modern houses mixed in with the historical ones.  Apparently, years ago people bought some of the old town lots and built their own cabins.  All are done in log style to blend in with the 19^th century mountain surroundings, some of them are quite nice.  I had never seen this in other ghost towns in Colorado.  It gave the place a strange feeling of having one foot in the 1880s and one in 2020.

We walked around town for a while looking at the restored buildings. We stopped at the old school house where, quite appropriately, there was an audio recording provided to teach you about the history of Winfield.

According to the nice lady on the recording, Winfield was founded on 120 acres at the junction of the north and south forks of Clear Creek.  50×100 foot lots were free to anyone who wanted to build there and the first cabin was built in 1861.  The town went through several name changes before Winfield stuck.  By its heyday around 1890, Winfield had three saloons, three stores, two hotels, a boarding house, a post office, a church, a school, a smelter and homes for 1500 people.  People lived there continuously for over 40 years until the silver crash in 1893. Standing there in the meadow at 10,000 feet, deep in the mountains it was undeniably beautiful but it was hard to imagine anyone, let alone 1500 people, could live there any time outside of summer. 

A couple of the more recent constructions:

Bingo! The sign I’d hoped we’d find.

A short hike deeper into the woods is the old Winfield cemetery.

About halfway back down the canyon we stopped at another old mining town named Vicksburg.  We passed it without stopping on the way up because it wasn’t on any map and I’d never heard anything about it.  But after our brief tour of Winfield we were feeling all historicalized and decided to pull over to take a look.  Like Winfield, Vicksburg had a combination of restored historical buildings and old cabins that had been turned into private seasonal residences. Vicksburg also had an outdoor “museum” of equipment collected from various mines in the Clear Creek area.

Things I learned from our trip to Clear Creek canyon:

• People in the 1880s were tough!  Way tougher than us. Living at 10,000 feet, no electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing. Oh, and they got there on horseback and wagon, not in a cushy SUV.

• People in the 1880’s were tiny.   Look at those door frames!  I would have to duck to get my average-sized 5’10” frame through them.

• People were tough but they didn’t live long.  No one knows when they’re going to go but I feel reasonably confident I don’t have to worry about getting taken out by a gunfight, explosion or lightning!