Kutsu PointScenic drive · starts 30 min away from the ridge
Gold Belt Scenic Byway
The Gold Belt is not one road but a web of them: the historic routes that once moved ore, miners, and mail between the Cripple Creek and Victor goldfields and the Arkansas River towns below. Phantom Canyon Road follows an old narrow-gauge railroad grade through tunnels and over a canyon that keeps tightening; Shelf Road clings to a ledge blasted out for wagons in the 1890s. The nearest stretch begins about thirty minutes from the lodge, and the whole thing drives as a grand loop through canyons, old town sites, and open mining country.
What to do
- 01
Drive Phantom Canyon Road, the old railroad grade, through one-lane tunnels with the canyon walls closing in overhead
- 02
Take Shelf Road for the wilder line, a narrow 1890s wagon route carved into the cliff above Fourmile Creek
- 03
Link it all into a loop through Cripple Creek, Victor, and Cañon City, stopping at the overlooks and townsites along the way
Know before you go
- Phantom Canyon and Shelf roads are unpaved and narrow. A high-clearance vehicle is the comfortable choice, trailers should stay home, and conditions are worth checking after any storm.
- There are no services in the canyons. Fuel up and stock water and snacks in Cripple Creek, Victor, or Cañon City before you drop in.
- Best for
- The road-warriors, photographers, history buffs who want the gold country beyond the casino street
- When to go
- Best in the dry months, late spring through fall. The unpaved canyon roads can be impassable in snow or after heavy rain.
- Official site
- blm.gov
starts 30 min away from your front door
Reach it, and still be back by the fire.
Kutsu Point sleeps sixteen on forty private acres, the perfect basecamp for Gold Belt Byway and the rest of the Front Range.
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Check the dates, hold the week, and get the whole group up the mountain.