Iowa Hill Mining District

Distance: 1.2 mile loop, not counting spurs to visit buildings
Elevation: 9,600 ft - 9,910 ft
Elevation Gain: 310 ft
Bathroom at Trailhead: No
Dogs: On leash
Date Hiked: 17 June 2012

The restored boarding house is the highlight of the Iowa Hill Trail

Iowa Hill is a historical mining exhibit just north of the ski resort of Breckenridge.  Its short trail winds up and around a Ponderosa covered hill filled with interpretive signs, old buildings, and mining relics.  While Colorado has no castles it certainly has mining ruins!

The fancy sign at the entrance to Iowa Hill. The verbiage says trailhead, but that is actually 100 yards further up a dirt frontage road that starts near this sign. 

The official trailhead

Early trail segment through young Aspens

Obvious signs lead the way through the exhibits

Sluice box for capturing gold

Gentle trail segment

Blacksmith shop with interesting tools wired to the wall

It took me a bit to find Iowa Hill because it is much further north of town than than I realized. It is actually past the Highway 9 bypass and roundabout. To get there from downtown Breckenridge, take either Main Street or the Highway 9 bypass and head towards Frisco. If you are on the bypass, turn left at Airport Road and continue north. If on Main, go into the roundabout and take the bypass for a quarter mile or so and then turn right on Airport Road. The entrance is on the left of Airport Road near the public works facility. Take the short frontage road near the fancy copper and wood sign to a small parking lot with a typical trailhead sign. A small arrow on the fancy sign points the way.

Old mine shaft now filled in

Crane with Bald Mountain in the distance

Hydraulic pipes use gravity to enhance the  water pressure 

Example of the cannon head

You can actually see where the water cut into the hillside in large swaths.

Mining car outside a closed tunnel

Iowa Hill is all about hydraulic mining.  This technique involved shooting water canons at the hillsides to erode and dissolve the dirt and run it through a series of sluice boxes where heavy metals like gold fall out.  It is engineering intensive and does not exactly leave a pretty picture behind.

Canon perched on a hillside in the distance

Bench overlooking the lower part of the trail

Backside of the boarding house

Weeds along the house highlighting the mud insulation between the logs

Close-up of the log construction

Iowa Hill educational and pleasant, although I did it on a day when it was way to hot, so plan accordingly if you are in Breck during another Colorado heat wave. If you like this sort of thing you can also check out the smaller Lomax Mine on the way to Peak 8 in Breckenridge.

Ashcroft Ghost Town

Aschroft's Hotel View

Ashcroft is a small ghost 12 miles down Castle Creek Rd from Aspen. There are few buildings to walk around and some nice mountain backdrops.

Looking down the scenic valley

Blue Mirror Saloon

Ashcroft, originally Castle Forks City, was larger than Aspen at one point. It boasted a bowling allye, two newspapers, six hotels, and 20 saloons. What little ore that was there was quickly depleted, however, and the town folded by 1885. Much of the infrastructure was moved to Aspen.

old cabin

With all these Aspens, a fall visit to Ashcroft would be picturesque indeed

Independence: Ghost Town

Ghost towns and mining ruins are everywhere in Colorado. You see them from the highways, you trip over them on the trails, and you read about them in the newspapers.

Independence is one of the better known ghost towns. It is located 15.5 miles from Aspen and 44 miles from Leadville atop Independence Pass (12,095 ft) and so is visited by many of the travelers on Highway 82.

Independence was founded in 1879 when Leadville miner Billy Belden struck gold in the summer of that year. Called by many names during its short lifetime (Belden, Chipeta, Sidney, Farewell, Mammoth City, Sparkhill, Mount Hope, and Farwell) most modern types know the town by its current name of Independence.

There is a small guided trail through the ruins today and the cabins are being slowly restored by the Aspen Historical Society. Even in spring, the pass can be cold and snowy as the pictures in this post attest (they were taken in May 2005). The peaks surrounding the ruins have been eroded by the winds into smooth edifices that stand witness to the transitory nature of human endeavors.

Before the railroad reached Aspen, Independence Pass was the primary route between Leadville and Aspen. Independence became a transportation hub as well as a mining camp. The gold did not last long, however and by 1912 the town was dead.

A restored cabin

If you are every driving on Highway 82, don't blow by Independence. Take a half and hour and walk around. Try to imagine living in a cabin at 12,000 ft in the middle of winter. Your SUV's heated seats and ipod connector will be appreciated that much more!