Slow Travel to Las Vegas – Mountain Passes, Mountain Towns and Chimney Rock NM

We kind of left you hanging on our return trip from Colorado to Las Vegas last September. The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta happened and here it is November and I’m just catching up now. So, way back in September, if you can remember that long ago… here’s the rest of the story.

With two major Colorado highways closed (I-70 and US-50) and not wanting to backtrack, we searched for an alternate route and found just what we were looking for: the Silver Thread Scenic & Historic Byway.

According to the brochure, the 116-mile Silver Thread “follows old toll, stagecoach and rail routes that were important supply lines for silver and gold mining camps of the late 1800s.” It sounded like a winner.

From Gunnison, the road snaked its way through the mountains. We crossed over the Continental Divide and climbed over two passes… Spring Creek Pass, at 10,901 feet, and Slumgullion Pass, at 11,530 feet. I love that name… Slumgullion… don’t you? Reminds us of reading about the quasi-stew that sailors of old were fed while on long passages. “Its name comes from an old word for slime and gullion, a slang for stomach-ache.”

A fat, old marmot sunned himself on rocks along the high mountain roads.

Alferd G. Packer, aka The Colorado Cannibal… He’s got Ted Bundy eyes!

We passed through little towns with names like Powderhorn and Lake City, Creede and Wagon Wheel Gap. David remembered these little towns from travels in years past. I didn’t remember them at all despite having climbed nearby Umcompahgre Peak, a fourteener, with the kids back in the early 1990s.

Lake City was particularly scenic but crowded, so we gave it a pass. By the way, it was near Slumgullion Pass just south of modern-day Lake City that Alferd G. Packer, aka "The Colorado Cannibal", ‘et’ five of his compadres during the winter of 1874.

By the time we arrived in Creede, we were ready for a break and a leg-stretch. Creede proved to be a fine place for both. It’s a quaint old mining town that was buzzing with tourists and shops. We stopped at the Visitor Center for some info about the town. It seems Creede was home to some notorious, unscrupulous fellows.

According to Wikipedia, Soapy Smith was an “American con artist and gangster in the American frontier. Smith operated confidence schemes across the Old West, and had a large hand in organized criminal operations in both Colorado and Alaska. Smith gained notoriety through his "prize soap racket," in which he would sell bars of soap with prize money hidden in some of the bars' packaging in order to increase sales. However, through sleight-of-hand, he would ensure that only members of his gang purchased "prize" soap. The racket led to his sobriquet of "Soapy." The success of his soap racket and other scams helped him finance three successive criminal empires in Denver, Creede, and Skagway, respectively.

And then there’s Bob Ford, aka ‘the dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard and laid poor Jesse in his grave…” After shooting Jesse James in 1882, Ford moved to Creede where he owned and ran a gambling hall and saloon. In 1892, a mysterious stranger entered his saloon and shot him dead. Enough outlaw stuff.

Downtown Creede was bustling with shops, saloons and eateries.

The scenery is awesome. Main Street dead-ends in these steep rock faces.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we reached Chimney Rock National Monument, another national park we were never even aware of. Chimney Rock was declared a national monument in 2012. “This undiscovered gem is an off-the-beaten-path archaeological site located at the southern edge of the San Juan Mountains in Southwestern Colorado.” Home to Ancestral Puebloans of the Chaco clan, artifacts and architectural remnants date from 1000 years ago. We arrived too late in the day, unfortunately, to hike or take a tour. Next time maybe?

The twin pinnacles of Chimney Rock viewed from the makeshift visitor center which is currently under construction.

We spent the night in Durango in a nondescript chain hotel and once again chilled out. Next, we plan to head to Mesa Verde NP… or maybe not. Guess we’ll figure it out when we get there. Stay tuned.