Stepping Back in Time in Silverton, Colorado

After a fairly rocky first night to our trip (which you can read about here), we were eager to get back into the rhythm of things and prove to ourselves that we could actually do this whole camping thing for days on end. After all, there is nothing more motivating than waking up with views of cheerful flowers for days.

Our next destination was near Silverton, Colorado, but to get there we first had to conquer Cinnamon Pass.

The views heading up the pass were breathtaking as we got our first glimpse of the high alpine area of the San Juan Mountains.

Cinnamon Pass is on the southern portion of the famous Alpine Loop. This 65 mile (105km) “loop” is not to be taken lightly though as it is 4x4 only, far from civilization, and crosses two high mountain passes.

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Earlier in the summer, these alpine basins are overflowing with alpine wildflowers, however, we were a few weeks too late to experience them.

The road was rough and bumpy, but worth the drive when you can conquer the pass and are rewarded with views like this. At least it was worth it for me, Bettina may have other ideas. Our Toyota Tacoma performed extremely well again and we had no issues getting up the steep and rocky roads.

This post is not sponsored by Toyota in any way but we can highly recommend Toyota as we didn't have any problems with the truck throughout the trip.

Clearly, I'm overwhelmed with excitement that we managed to make it to the top.

We reached the top of Cinnamon Pass at 12,640 ft above sea level (3,853 metres) in the early evening, and so we had the whole place to ourselves! We couldn't resist stopping to take in the view and to make sure we remained hydrated. Voss was so kind as to provide us with their flavoured water for our trip, which are incredibly refreshing! My favorite flavour is Lime Mint but Bettina swears by their Lemon Cucumber water.

The road downhill on the other side was even rockier, but we were soon setting up camp again hoping for a better nights sleep. This was our second night camping remotely in an area with nobody else around (except for perhaps the odd deer and bear). Luckily we had a much better sleep that night, and with the sun warming up our campsite we packed up our tent and were headed into town.

Silverton is a town that appears to be stuck way back in the past, but in a good way. The town was founded back in the 1870’s as a center for the numerous silver mines that were operating in the area. Back in the day, this town was booming, with thousands of prospectors scouring the hills for gold, silver, and everything in between.

The town has managed to preserve most of its architecture and feel from that era.

We enjoyed walking the streets, feeling like we were on a film set, window-shopping, and also having a connection back to civilization.

With buildings like these, you can just imagine what it would have been like to be here over a hundred years ago.

While the town is fairly small, it’s easy to fill a day exploring, and we both had a great time. (Can't get enough of Silverton? We also share a few glimpses of the town here.)

Have you been to an old mining town before?