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Central Colorado
At the center of Colorado in the dizzying heights of the Rocky Mountains you will find a million-and-one attractions. Much of the adventure centers in iconic ski resorts like Aspen, Vail and Breckenridge. By summer, these are also great spots for hiking, mountain biking and other alpine adventures into the vast alpine wilderness found here.
In the less-known areas around South Park and Leadville you can still find world-class rafting, mountain climbing and vistas that go on for miles. There are alpine lakes to be visited, wildlife to be seen, backroads to mining ghost towns to be explored, steam trains to be ridden and much more.
It's also a place of fun-loving irreverence, wild parties and plenty of mountain-town high jinx. Part of the journey is connecting with the sun-kissed broad-smiled locals.
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Central Colorado.
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Barney Ford Museum
Barney Ford was an escaped slave who became a prominent entrepreneur and Colorado civil-rights pioneer, and made two stops in Breckenridge (where he ran a 24-hour chop stand serving delicacies such as oysters) over the course of his incredibly rich, tragic and triumphant life. He also owned a restaurant and hotel in Denver. The museum is set in his old home, where he lived from 1882 to 1890.
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Frisco Historic Park & Museum
Set on the site of the original town saloon in 1889, and later converted into the town’s second school in 1901, this museum features a number of historical displays, including one on the Ute nation, a diorama of the original Ten Mile Canyon railroad that fed and connected the mining camps of Leadville and Frisco, and a historic map of Colorado (c 1873). The main attractions, however, are the half-dozen old mining cabins scattered out back. Aficionados of log-construction techniques will appreciate the double-dovetail joints at the Dills Ranch House (c 1890) and the Bailey House (c 1895). Inside the Trappers Cabin, visitors will find the kind of pelts that once sustained the area’s meager economy prior to mining. Other prize specimens include the Frisco jail and the town chapel, which now screens a 15-minute documentary video.
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Edwin Carter Discovery Center
This award-winning museum sheds light on a pioneer lured west by the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush in 1858. He reached the Blue River valley in 1860. An original environmentalist, he noticed the impact of mining on wildlife early on, documenting genetic deformities (such as two-headed animals) that he suspected were linked to leaching toxins. He eventually became a taxidermist to preserve the wildlife he encountered in the area, and his collection grew to some 3300 pieces, which were displayed in his house (now the museum). After he died, the majority of his collection became the original foundation of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. A choice selection of animals remain on display, along with several interactive, kid-friendly exhibits.
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Ice Age Discovery Center
In October 2010, a bulldozer working near Snowmass unearthed the tusk of a female mammoth. Spurred by this unusual discovery, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science moved in for the next 10 months to conduct its largest-ever fossil excavation, resulting in the discovery of some 36,000 bones from 52 different Ice Age animals (including camels, sloths and mastodons – distant relatives of the mammoths). Five years later, the fossils were still being unpacked in Denver, but in the interim Snowmass set up this small discovery center with replica skulls and bones staffed by a paleontologist five days a week. Ground has been broken for a new museum close to the Snowmass gondola; it's projected to open in 2019.
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Boreas Pass
Originally known as Breckenridge Pass (11,481ft), this road first began serving stagecoaches in 1866 when prospectors flooded into the area from South Park looking for gold. In 1882, a narrow-gauge railway replaced the wagon road and remained in operation until 1937. Although the upper section across the Continental Divide is unpaved, you can easily drive up in summer and in fall for spectacular views. A parking lot halfway up Boreas Pass Rd on the Breckenridge side serves as the winter road-closure point for the Boreas Pass, and a trailhead for hikers in summer and snowshoers and cross-country skiers in winter. To get here, follow Main St (Hwy 9) south and turn left onto Boreas Pass Rd just outside town.
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Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park
This family-oriented destination lumps together several attractions at once: the Fairy Caves (once billed as the eighth wonder of the world), a full-on amusement park, and a tram ride 1300 ft up to the top of Iron Mountain. The regular cave tour is probably the main attraction here: this is the largest cave in Colorado open to the public. The Wild Tour of the caves is a heart-racing experience for would-be spelunkers, allowing guests to crawl through narrow passages, but our favorite ride is the Giant Canyon Swing, which sends folks squealing 1300ft in the air above the Colorado River at 50mph. There are also several roller coasters, a zipline and Wild West laser tag.
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Independence
Just 16 miles east of Aspen, at the foot of Independence Pass, this gold-mining boom town turned ghost town started as a tented camp in the summer of 1879, when one lucky miner struck gold on the Fourth of July. Operated and preserved by the Aspen Historical Society, the site offers the chance to see the remains of the old livery, the general store and a miners cabin or three. After its population peaked at 1500 residents, the town fell away during the harsh winter storm of 1899, when supply routes were severed due to heavy snowfall.
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Ashcroft
The access point to the breathtaking Castle Creek Valley is the ghost town of Ashcroft, a silver-mining town founded in 1880. What remains are mostly miners cottages (log cabins with tin roofs), a couple of broken-down wagons stranded in the waist-high grass, a post office and a saloon. At its height in 1893 about 2500 people worked here, but the silver veins were quickly exhausted and by 1895 the town's population plummeted to 100 residents. To get here, drive half a mile west of town on Hwy 82 to the roundabout and follow Castle Creek Rd south for 12.2 miles.
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Linwood Cemetery
Established in 1886, this is where John Henry ‘Doc’ Holliday was allegedly laid to rest in November 1887 (debate about this persists, since some scholars claim the ground would have been frozen). Harvey ‘Kid Curry’ Logan, a member of the gang headed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, is also here. It's a 0.5-mile hike uphill from 12th and Bennett. Every year in October there’s a guided cemetery ghost walk, which can be arranged through the Frontier Historical Museum.