---
id: "2116"
name: Silver Thread Scenic Byway
distance: "117"
description: The very name of this byway alludes to the abundant silver mining that peaked here in the late 1880s. Once a toll road and stage route for the miners, this route now offers spectacular scenery along the Lake Fork of the Gunnison and Rio Grande Rivers.
path: 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websites:
  - url: https://www.codot.gov/travel/colorado-byways/south-central/silver-thread
    name: Colorado Byways
  - url: https://www.colorado.com/byways/silver-thread
    name: Colorado Travel Guide
  - url: https://www.coloradodirectory.com/maps/silverthread.html
    name: Colorado Vacation Directory
  - url: https://www.americanlegacytours.org/colorado/silver-thread-road-trip/
    name: National Travel Center
  - url: https://www.thearmchairexplorer.com/colorado/silver-thread-scenic-byway.php
    name: The Armchair Explorer
attractions:
  - url: https://www.fs.usda.gov/gmug
    name: Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests
  - url: https://www.fs.usda.gov/riogrande
    name: Rio Grande National Forest
  - url: https://www.fs.usda.gov/sanjuan
    name: San Juan National Forest
designations:
  - National Forest Scenic Byway
  - Colorado State Scenic Byway
states:
  - CO
ll:
  - -107.05886099999998
  - 38.48947100000004
bounds:
  - - -107.31738999999993
    - 37.669201000000044
  - - -106.64074700000003
    - 38.48947100000004

---

The colorful old mining camps of the Silver Thread offer history, scenic beauty, and a heavy dose of authenticity. The heights around Creede and Lake City remain strewn with abandoned mining structures, most of them accessible via rugged backcountry roads. Between the two towns, Highway 149 shadows the upper reaches of the Rio Grande, serving up a bounty of natural wonders - sparkling North Clear Creek Falls, the Slumgullion earth slide, and the shark-like fin of Uncompahgre Peak. These mountains can be unforgiving: In 1848 explorer John C. Fremont lost a third of his men - and a quarter of a century later the infamous Alfred Packer cannibalized his companions - in two ill-fated winter expeditions.