The first time I went to Lake City, we passed through from Gunnison to Durango. It was early spring, but only a few places were open due to the shoulder season, and it was too chilly to enjoy tent camping. I knew right away that this was a place I wanted to come back to. That summer, we returned for a two-night camping trip and had an amazing time. Despite rainy afternoons, we enjoyed the wildflowers, hiked to some high alpine lakes, and explored the town. 

We returned the following summer to tackle the Alpine Loop, heading to Silverton for an afternoon before making the trek back. The Alpine Loop consists of 2 mountain passes and is one of my favorite off-road drives because of the challenge and the serene beauty. It connects the best small San Juan Mountain towns of Lake City to Silverton over Cinnamon Pass, or to Ouray over Engineer Pass. It's hard not to feel like you're living in the Wild West with the old mines and ghost towns. Additionally, you're surrounded by wildflowers and high-alpine tundra; in the fall, you're treated to the golden hues from the Aspen trees. 

Outside of Silverton, Colorado

Lake City is a small town, with a population of less than 500 people year-round, surrounded by over 50 hiking trails, a third of the roads are solely designated for off-highway vehicles. There are souvenir shops, restaurants, places to stay, and friendly locals. Surrounded by five fourteeners and more than twenty peaks over 13,000 feet, there are plenty of mountains to climb. With miles of hiking trails, mountain bike trails, and horse trails, often ending a beautiful high alpine lake, Lake City has so much to explore. 

Lake City, Colorado

When we had an opportunity to go camping in June, I immediately knew I wanted to go back. We headed to the same designated campground where we had camped before, thinking we had a slight chance of finding a good spot to set up. We lucked out! We scored the perfect place. It was private, next to a creek, and had a flat area for the tent. As we unloaded our over-packed gear and began setting up the tent, panic struck when Mike realized we were missing the tent. We had the bag, where the tent belongs, all the needed accessories were in the bag like the rain fly, stakes, ground cover, but not the tent. The excitement quickly turned into a sad reality. 

We packed up and went back into town to find accommodations for the night. We grabbed lunch at Packers Saloon, chatted with locals for advice on places to stay, did some shopping, and enjoyed some ice cream at the San Juan Soda Co. Almost everything was sold out or didn’t take pets, so we decided to keep the adventure going and head south. 

Going south on Highway 149, we passed by North Clear Creek Falls, which was amazing! Mike had always wanted to stop there and it was well worth it. I searched for a place to stay and found one of our favorites, the Wolf Creek Ranch Ski Lodge was available, just outside of South Fork, putting us in a great location to start the next day. Our day was far from over as we continued to Creede.

-Amy E. Bauer