Explore the South San Juans Near Pagosa Springs: Elwood Pass, Summitville and Platoro

The backcountry loop from Pagosa Springs through Elwood Pass, Summitville and Platoro crosses the Continental Divide, explores several historic mining districts and follows the Conejos River before returning through Cumbres Pass and Chama.

That is the short answer.

The complete story involves an Army wagon road, silver camps that nearly became towns, a landslide capable of temporarily damming a river, a flood that changed how people crossed the San Juan Mountains, one of Colorado’s most consequential mine cleanups, a truck-powered ski lift, record-breaking snow, a reservoir serving farms far below and a trout river capable of turning one scenic drive into a multiday adventure.

Some scenic drives lead to a viewpoint. This one crosses an entire chapter of Colorado history.

Elwood Pass–Summitville–Platoro Loop at a Glance

Both routes eventually reach Summitville. From there, continue over Stunner Pass to Platoro, descend along the Conejos River and return to Pagosa Springs by way of Highway 17, Cumbres Pass, Chama and Highway 84.

The complete loop exceeds 100 miles, much of it on mountain roads where mileage accumulates slowly. A map estimate does not account for waterfall hikes, mining ruins, lunch, fishing, photography or the inevitable roadside debate over whether an old pile of timbers was a cabin, mine or something much more interesting.

Which Route Should You Take to Summitville?

The Classic Elwood Pass Route

From Pagosa Springs, drive east on Highway 160 for approximately 12 miles and turn onto East Fork Road—Forest Road 667. Follow the East Fork of the San Juan River past the East Fork landslide and Silver Falls before continuing toward Elwood Pass.

The upper road becomes steep, rocky and narrow. It requires a capable four-wheel-drive vehicle, adequate clearance and a driver who already understands rough mountain roads.

This is not where you want to discover what the four-wheel-drive button does.

After crossing Elwood Pass and the Continental Divide, descend into the Alamosa River drainage and continue toward Summitville. From Summitville, travel over Stunner Pass to Platoro and follow the Conejos River downstream.

 

The Park Creek Alternative

For a less technical approach, remain on Highway 160, cross Wolf Creek Pass and descend toward South Fork. Turn onto Park Creek Road—Forest Road 380—and approach Summitville from the east.

Park Creek avoids the rough Elwood climb, but it remains a remote seasonal road. Mud, snow, washouts and recent storms can all change conditions. High clearance is still a sensible choice.

This route also provides an opportunity to stop at Wolf Creek Ski Area, visit Alberta Park Reservoir and experience the highway that replaced the old Elwood road.

Begin Along the East Fork of the San Juan River

East Fork Road enters one of the most dramatic headwater valleys near Pagosa Springs.

The East Fork of the San Juan runs beside the road, gathering snowmelt from high creeks, wetlands and slopes near the Continental Divide before joining the West Fork downstream. From that confluence, the San Juan begins its journey toward Pagosa Springs.

The lower road alternates between forest, cliffs and open meadows. Old grades and scattered remnants hint that this apparently quiet valley once carried soldiers, mail, freight, mining machinery and year-round residents.

Before Wolf Creek Pass became the permanent highway across the mountains, the East Fork provided the western approach to Elwood Pass.

The East Fork Landslide: A Mountain Still Moving

Before reaching Silver Falls, the road passes the enormous East Fork landslide complex.

In May 2008, part of an older landslide reactivated approximately two miles upstream from the East Fork’s confluence with the West Fork. The most active section initially covered roughly 35 to 40 acres, but it belonged to a much larger complex of older earthflows covering approximately 350 acres.

The disturbed slope extended thousands of feet down the mountainside. Trees remained standing at unnatural angles while deep cracks opened across the ground.

The movement damaged East Fork Road and ruptured a natural-gas pipeline. In places, the former roadbed moved approximately 100 feet downhill.

At its most active, the slide was reportedly advancing toward the river at roughly four feet per day. Its toe constricted the East Fork, creating concern that the moving earth could block the channel and form a temporary natural dam.

That possibility mattered far beyond the remote valley.

If the slide blocked the river, water could accumulate until the impoundment overtopped or breached the debris. The resulting surge would travel down the East Fork, join the West Fork and continue toward Pagosa Springs.

Colorado dam-safety engineers modeled a range of possible blockages and breach floods so local emergency managers could understand which downstream areas might be affected. Fortunately, the East Fork carried enough sediment away to prevent a major landslide dam from forming during the 2008 movement.

The broader slide complex remains part of the valley’s active geology. Read more about the East Fork landslide and the resulting Colorado flood-hazard evaluation.

Why the East Fork River Gauge Mattered

River monitoring became an important part of watching the slide.

A gauge could help identify an unexpected change below the moving earth. If water entering the upper East Fork remained steady while flow downstream suddenly dropped, it could indicate that water was collecting behind new debris. A later surge might signal overtopping, erosion or failure of a temporary blockage.

For emergency managers, that information provided another set of eyes on a remote valley upstream from homes, highways and downtown Pagosa Springs.

When East Fork flow information was available, it also gave Pagosa Outside a less dramatic but extremely useful daily benefit.

The public river gauge in downtown Pagosa measures the combined San Juan after the East and West forks have joined. An operating East Fork gauge allowed us to see how much water was arriving from that branch and make a more informed estimate of the West Fork’s contribution.

That distinction matters because the two forks do not always rise and fall at the same rate. Elevation, snowpack, weather and tributary inputs affect them differently. Better East Fork information helped our team understand what was happening in the headwaters, anticipate changes downstream and make better-informed rafting decisions.

The slide, the monitoring equipment and the relocated road all reinforce the same lesson: these mountains may look permanent, but the landscape is still moving.

Stop at Silver Falls

After passing the slide area, continue farther up East Fork Road to Silver Falls.

The short trail climbs through forest toward a tall waterfall descending over volcanic rock. The hike is steeper than its modest distance suggests, but the upper viewpoint reveals a broad section of the East Fork Valley.

The cliffs surrounding the waterfall introduce the geology behind the rest of the journey. Elwood, Summitville, Stunner and Platoro occupy an enormous volcanic landscape fractured by faults and mineralized veins.

The mines were not scattered randomly through these mountains. Prospectors followed altered rock, quartz veins and minerals deposited by ancient volcanic systems.

The same geology that created valuable ore also left steep slopes composed of fractured rock, clay and unstable material. The East Fork slide provides a modern demonstration of those forces.

Before Elwood: The Old Military Road

The route across Elwood Pass existed long before four-wheel-drive travelers began treating it as a backcountry adventure.

Indigenous people crossed and traveled through the southern San Juans for generations before the United States Army began searching for a wagon route between the San Luis Valley and its military post near Pagosa Springs.

In 1877, Lieutenant E.H. Ruffner surveyed a possible road from Fort Garland, up the Alamosa River and over Elwood Pass to the San Juan drainage. Ruffner reportedly considered the route too difficult and expensive despite its directness.

The Army pursued it anyway.

Congress appropriated $10,000 in 1879 for a wagon road connecting Fort Garland with Fort Lewis, which was then located near Pagosa Springs. Crews began on the eastern side and worked westward through the Alamosa River canyon, across the Continental Divide and down the East Fork.

Before the road was completed, Fort Lewis moved west to the Hesperus area. The Army’s original purpose disappeared with the relocation, and precisely who completed the remaining work is not entirely clear. By about 1880, however, a wagon route crossed Elwood Pass.

It became a supply line for settlers and miners but never an easy one. Steep grades, unstable slopes, snow and flooding made travel unreliable. Wagons carried ore, boilers and milling machinery over terrain that can still challenge modern vehicles.

The Denver & Rio Grande Railway crossed Cumbres Pass in 1880 and 1881, providing a more efficient route into the San Juans. Elwood remained useful, but it never became the permanent regional corridor its builders imagined.

Elwood: The Mining Camp That Almost Was

Near the upper East Fork, the road enters the historic Crater Mining District.

The district covered the mineralized country around Bear Creek, Crater Creek, Elwood Creek and the upper East Fork. It occupied the western side of the Platoro–Summitville volcanic complex, where faults and fractures held veins containing silver, lead and zinc, along with smaller amounts of gold and copper.

The settlement of Elwood emerged during the mining excitement of the 1890s. It never became a major town, but for several years it contained cabins, miners, businesses, machinery and enough optimism to make its residents believe they were building something permanent.

The Rush Begins

In 1891, prospector Jacob Lane brought mineral samples out of the upper East Fork country. By 1892, Elwood had begun appearing as an organized camp with roughly 25 residents and several people prepared to remain through the winter.

Claims multiplied quickly. Names associated with the district included the Robert Burns, Mineral Wonder, East Boston, Big Six, Red Bird, Silver Lake, Rob Roy, Good Hope, Uncle Dick, Lady Bug and Treasure-Comstock.

The names were part geology, part salesmanship and part frontier poetry. A promising claim needed enough personality to attract partners, investors and newspaper attention.

The Robert Burns became the best-known early property. Reports of a rich strike appeared in 1893, when its tunnel had advanced approximately 125 feet. Robert and Jack Young, Joseph Miller, W.H. McCormick and George McGee were among the people associated with the mine.

Later accounts described hundreds of feet of underground workings and ore carrying impressive silver values. Some reports came from newspapers eager to promote the next great district, so exact historical assays deserve a little skepticism.

Mining camps ran on ore, but they also ran on optimism.

Moving a Mill into the Mountains

One of Elwood’s most remarkable stories involves D.P. Hatch, a Chicago businessman who backed the Elwood Mining Company.

Late in 1893, Hatch arranged to haul approximately 10 tons of milling and concentrating equipment into the district. The machinery reportedly included a boiler weighing around 7,000 pounds.

Moving that equipment over late-19th-century roads would have been an undertaking anywhere. Moving it into the upper East Fork meant negotiating steep grades, narrow turns, snow and mud using animal teams and wagons.

The mill was operating by 1894. F.E. Tyler also established a house, assay office and chemical laboratory, giving the camp some of the technical infrastructure expected of a serious mining district.

For a brief period, Elwood appeared to be making the transition from prospect camp to producing community.

An Overlooked Group of Elwood Miners

One of the district’s more interesting stories involves the African Company, a group of Black miners from Durango who worked the Uncle Dick claim.

Their presence matters because histories of Colorado mining often reduce the story to white prospectors, industrialists and immigrant laborers. Black miners and entrepreneurs also participated in the San Juan mineral rushes despite discrimination and openly racist treatment in contemporary newspapers.

The surviving references are limited, but the African Company adds another layer to an already surprisingly diverse mountain district.

Life at the Camp

Elwood’s population may have reached approximately 40 miners by 1895. The Hartbauer family boarded workers, while the establishment of a post office that year gave the camp a formal identity. Robert Young served as an early postmaster, and mail reached Elwood through Summitville.

For a short time, Elwood even became its own voting precinct.

Food, tools, machinery and mail had to cross the mountains. Ore made the same journey in reverse. Early shipments traveled toward Amargo and Durango; later freight could move through South Fork and onward to Pueblo.

Mining a vein was only part of the job. The district also had to solve transportation, milling, labor, winter and the basic economics of moving heavy material through difficult terrain.

That arithmetic eventually defeated most of Elwood’s grandest hopes.

The post office closed in 1899, and regular newspaper reports largely disappeared by 1900. Mining continued intermittently, with the Lady Bug becoming one of the district’s more extensively developed properties, but Elwood never grew into the permanent town its promoters envisioned.

What Remains Today

Old timbers, collapsed structures, rock piles, prospect cuts and mine openings remain scattered around the district. It is tempting to attach a famous name to every ruin, but the relationship between surviving features and historical claims is not always clear.

The better approach is to view the remains as one connected landscape.

These are traces of a community that hauled boilers into the mountains, wintered above 10,000 feet, built laboratories, organized companies and expected the next tunnel to reveal the vein that would finally make everything work.

Avoid entering abandoned workings or climbing on unstable structures. Snow, rotten timbers, hidden shafts and collapsed ground can remain long after the last miner left.

The Last Families in the Upper East Fork

Mining activity around Elwood did not disappear all at once.

Wade and Ella Warr and their associate Joe Mann were among the last people to live year-round in the upper East Fork, working around the Black Diamond Mine between approximately 1909 and 1912.

Wintering there required a different understanding of preparation. Major supplies arrived during October, and the residents might not return to Pagosa Springs until April.

In 1907, the Colorado Telephone Company constructed a long-distance line through the East Fork corridor. The line later became part of the Mountain States system and remained in operation until the middle of the 20th century. Old poles can still be found along portions of the route—a reminder that Elwood Pass carried communications as well as wagons.

Then the flood came.

How the 1911 Flood Helped End the Elwood Road

On October 5, 1911, extreme rainfall and flooding struck Archuleta County. Rivers and creeks rose rapidly, damaging roads, bridges, ranches and homes. Contemporary estimates placed regional losses near $1 million—an enormous figure for the time—and two people were reported killed.

The East Fork road was badly damaged.

Supplying the Warrs after the flood reportedly required a pack train of 27 horses. A route built for wagons had been reduced to a pack trail just as another mountain winter approached.

The Black Diamond closed during the summer of 1912. Joe Mann died that year, and the final chapter of permanent settlement around Elwood faded.

The flood also forced Colorado to confront a larger question. If the East Fork could not provide reliable automobile passage through the San Juans, where should the permanent highway go?

The answer became Wolf Creek Pass.

What Is the Elwood Pass Road Like Today?

Beyond the historic mining district, the road climbs toward the Continental Divide.

This upper section gives the classic route its reputation. Conditions change from year to year and sometimes from one storm to the next. Expect rock, embedded obstacles, narrow ledges, steep grades and places where turning around may be difficult.

Use a capable high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle. Begin steep sections in an appropriate gear, maintain a controlled pace and allow approaching traffic room when practical. Stay on the established road rather than creating new tracks across alpine ground.

An offline map is essential. Cell coverage should not be expected, and the network of mining roads near the divide can make an incorrect turn appear surprisingly convincing.

Elwood Pass sits on the Continental Divide, where the trip changes watersheds. Behind you, the East Fork flows toward Pagosa Springs, the San Juan River and the Colorado River system. Ahead, the Alamosa River drains into the San Luis Valley and the Rio Grande.

The Road That Replaced Elwood: Wolf Creek Pass

Travelers taking the Park Creek alternative cross Wolf Creek Pass instead of Elwood. Even visitors using the technical route should understand Wolf Creek because its construction explains why Elwood became a backcountry road.

Colorado Highway Commission engineer J.E. Maloney initially investigated rebuilding through the East Fork. By 1914, however, he had surveyed a new Wolf Creek route and recommended it as the better permanent automobile road.

Construction continued for approximately two years. The first Wolf Creek Pass road opened on August 21, 1916, following a project that reportedly cost around $100,000.

It was only about 12 feet wide.

Early motorists crossed in cars with marginal brakes, narrow tires and cooling systems poorly suited to long mountain climbs. A trip could take most of a day—or longer. Drivers stopped to cool boiling radiators, shovel lingering snow or negotiate which vehicle would reverse to the nearest wide spot.

Meeting another automobile on a one-lane mountain road required cooperation, diplomacy and occasionally a little more personality than either driver planned to contribute.

From a One-Lane Road to the Modern Wolf Creek Pass

The original road was widened to approximately 24 feet in 1930 and paved in 1950. That made it a modern highway by mid-century standards, but avalanches, tight curves and growing truck traffic continued exposing its limitations.

A snow shed was constructed beneath the Alberta avalanche path in 1965, allowing sliding snow to pass over a protected section of highway.

The transformation many longtime Pagosa residents remember occurred much later.

Major reconstruction advanced in phases during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Wolf Creek Upper Narrows contract began in 2000, addressing one of the tightest sections on the eastern side. Crews drilled, blasted and stabilized steep mountain rock while maintaining traffic through the corridor.

A roughly 900-foot tunnel was substantially completed in 2004 and opened to traffic in November 2005. Final widening, drainage and related work continued through the summer of 2006.

Much of the pass emerged with broad shoulders and additional climbing or passing lanes. Several sections now carry three or four lanes—a dramatic contrast with the 12-foot road opened in 1916.

The widening never created a four-lane highway all the way to South Fork.

Below the Lake Fork area, the large-scale reconstruction gives way to an older, winding two-lane section. The road follows Wolf Creek through the forest for approximately the final 11 miles toward South Fork, with tighter curves and limited passing opportunities.

CDOT resurfaced that narrow stretch in 2020, but it remains the conspicuous missing piece in what otherwise feels like a largely rebuilt corridor.

The transition tells its own story. Modern Wolf Creek Pass was not designed and finished as one continuous project. It grew through a century of funding cycles, engineering priorities and compromises with terrain that becomes increasingly expensive every time somebody tries to straighten it.

Clearing Wolf Creek in Winter

Wolf Creek Ski Area reports an average annual snowfall of approximately 430 inches, but even that remarkable number understates what can happen during an exceptional San Juan winter.

The frequently repeated total of 807 inches for 1978–79 comes from ski-area records. Meanwhile, the nearby Wolf Creek Pass 1E cooperative weather station measured 837.5 inches—the official Colorado record for snowfall during a winter season. For decades, CDOT employees lived year-round at the 10,640-foot East Side Camp and recorded the weather while helping keep the pass operating. The two totals came from different measuring locations, but both describe nearly 70 feet of snow in a single winter.

The struggle began long before modern avalanche forecasting. A remarkable 1932 Sargent Snow Plows company album documents an attempt to reopen Wolf Creek after what was described as the heaviest snowfall since 1883. According to the period account, crews confronted temperatures near 40 below zero and snowdrifts ranging from 14 to 30 feet deep. A heavy-duty Sargent plow shipped from Maine cleared the route in ten days after earlier attempts had failed, earning the company an order from the Colorado State Highway Department.

Today’s equipment is considerably more sophisticated, but the basic problem has not changed. Wolf Creek receives enormous amounts of snow above steep slopes capable of depositing an avalanche directly onto Highway 160.

CDOT crews work with avalanche specialists to monitor storms and the developing snowpack. When unstable conditions build, the highway may close while crews deliberately trigger potential slides. Remote-controlled O’Bellx systems positioned in selected avalanche paths allow some of that work to be performed from a safer location. Once the unstable snow has come down, plows and heavy equipment must still clear the highway before traffic can resume.

On the west side, closures commonly begin near Treasure Falls and extend to the summit. When those gates close, there is no quick local detour around the Continental Divide.

Wolf Creek’s winter reputation eventually reached popular culture through C.W. McCall’s 1975 song “Wolf Creek Pass,” which turned a runaway truck’s descent toward Pagosa Springs into highway folklore. The story was exaggerated for entertainment, but anyone who has followed a smoking semi down the west side understands why this particular mountain road inspired it.

Did Otto Mears Build Wolf Creek Pass?

Otto Mears is frequently associated with improbable roads through the San Juan Mountains, leading people to assume that he built the Elwood or Wolf Creek routes.

We have not found solid evidence that he was involved with either one.

The Army initiated the Elwood military road. The Colorado Highway Commission developed Wolf Creek Pass decades later. Mears belongs to the larger transportation story rather than the construction crew for these particular roads.

Known as the Pathfinder of the San Juans, Mears developed hundreds of miles of toll roads and rail lines elsewhere in southwestern Colorado. His transportation network connected isolated mining camps with supply towns, mills and railroads.

His legacy also belongs to the more complicated history of western expansion and the displacement of the Ute people as roads, mines and settlements spread into their homeland.

The direct Wolf Creek connection comes through his family. Mears’ grandson, Kingsbury “Pitch” Pitcher, eventually became the longtime owner of Wolf Creek Ski Area.

From a Truck-Powered Rope Tow to Wolf Creek Ski Area

Wolf Creek Ski Area began with local skiers rather than a corporate resort plan.

During the 1930s, skiers from communities on both sides of the pass climbed the slopes and experimented with basic rope tows. Kelly Boyce, a San Luis Valley farmer, helped install an early tow near the summit using an old Chevrolet truck for power. A day ticket cost approximately one dollar.

Charles Elliott taught himself to ski on homemade equipment and became another important builder of the early operation. Local clubs cooperated to create tow lines, shelter cabins and an organized patrol. Several people involved with Wolf Creek later served in the 10th Mountain Division during World War II.

The earliest ski operation sat closer to the summit. By the 1950s, local organizers wanted more terrain and improved lifts. Ed Sharp and Ronald Major helped lead the effort to move Wolf Creek to its present location east of the Continental Divide.

Communities including Pagosa Springs, South Fork, Del Norte, Monte Vista and Alamosa supported the plan. Organizers formed a public corporation, sold roughly 1,000 shares at $25 each and raised money for a Poma lift.

That history matters. Wolf Creek did not begin as a real-estate development. It grew from residents pooling money, labor and enthusiasm to create a place to ski.

The Dallas Investors and Pagosa’s Resort-Era Growth

After years of volunteer work and uneven finances, a Dallas investment group purchased Wolf Creek in 1972 for approximately $275,000.

Dallas investment counselor and realtor Ben Pinnell helped assemble a group that included Don Carter and Dallas Cowboys figures Charlie Waters, Dave Edwards and Mike Ditka. The group installed Wolf Creek’s first chairlift in 1974.

The purchase belonged to a larger change taking place around Pagosa Springs.

Eaton International entered an agreement with Archuleta County in 1973 to construct roads and public improvements for an enormous collection of subdivisions west of town. The development eventually included homesites, artificial lakes, greenbelts, a golf course and resort accommodations in what became the Pagosa Lakes area.

Fairfield Communities acquired Eaton in 1983, after which the project became widely known as Fairfield Pagosa.

Fairfield and the Dallas Wolf Creek investors were separate business entities, but the ski mountain and real-estate development complemented the same larger idea: promote Pagosa as a four-season destination rather than only a hot-springs town or summer retreat.

Wolf Creek supplied the winter attraction. The Pagosa Lakes development supplied homesites, timeshares and recreational amenities below.

That growth created much of modern uptown Pagosa. It also produced decades of disputes over roads, promised improvements, recreational amenities and ownership following Fairfield’s 1990 bankruptcy.

Wolf Creek followed a different path.

Kingsbury Pitcher became a major stockholder and chief executive in 1976 and eventually acquired the ski area outright. The Pitcher family continues operating Wolf Creek Ski Area today.

That independence makes Wolf Creek unusual in an industry increasingly controlled by large resort corporations. The mountain has grown substantially from its truck-powered rope tow, but skiing—not base-area real estate—remains its defining purpose.

The Park Creek Approach to Summitville

After descending the east side of Wolf Creek Pass, the Park Creek route leaves Highway 160 and climbs back into the mountains.

This alternative avoids the technical Elwood crossing but still provides a genuine backcountry drive. Forest gives way to parks, high meadows and broad views across the upper Rio Grande country.

Park Creek also demonstrates why travel through the San Juans rarely followed one permanent line. Roads moved as mines opened, floods damaged valleys, construction equipment improved and communities demanded better connections.

The route eventually reaches the upper Alamosa watershed and Summitville—one of the most important stops on the loop.

Summitville: Two Mining Stories in One Place

Summitville contains two very different chapters of Colorado mining history.

The first is the familiar western story: prospectors, tents, cabins, rich ore, stamp mills and a town assembled at an elevation where winter could erase a road overnight.

The second is modern: open-pit mining, cyanide heap leaching, corporate bankruptcy, contaminated water and one of Colorado’s longest-running environmental cleanup projects.

Understanding both is essential.

Gold at Nearly 11,500 Feet

Gold was discovered in the Summitville area around 1870. In 1873, P.J. Peterson and F.H. Brandt located the Little Annie and Margaretta claims. The Little Annie—named for Peterson’s daughter—became the district’s most celebrated mine.

The boom accelerated during the mid-1870s. A settlement appeared near timberline, and hundreds of claims spread across the volcanic basin.

In 1876, nine Swedish workers were reportedly paid $1.50 per foot to build a tram from the Little Annie Mine to a mill. They completed the project in approximately 60 days.

Every cable, board, boiler and piece of machinery had to be carried into a place where winter occupied much of the year. Building the mine was often as difficult as finding the ore.

By July 1877, the settlement may have contained around 250 residents. Stores, lodging, saloons and mills supported the remote community. A major fire in 1883 destroyed much of the town, but mining continued.

More than 250 claims had reportedly been recorded by 1885. The richest oxidized ores were largely exhausted by the late 1880s, however, and Summitville declined sharply.

Mining never disappeared completely. Companies repeatedly returned with new technology and renewed confidence that lower-grade ore could become profitable.

That cycle set the stage for Summitville’s second story.

The Modern Open-Pit Mine

During the 1980s, Summitville Consolidated Mining Company developed a large open-pit operation using cyanide heap-leach processing.

Crushed ore was placed on a lined pad. A cyanide solution moved through the material to dissolve microscopic gold, which could then be recovered from the liquid.

Problems with containment and water treatment contributed to extensive contamination. Mining also exposed large quantities of sulfide-bearing rock to oxygen and water. The resulting acidic drainage carried metals into Wightman Fork, the Alamosa River and the watershed below.

The local geology naturally produces acidic water in places, but the mine dramatically increased the amount of exposed mineralized material and the scale of the problem.

Bankruptcy and Emergency Response

In December 1992, the company announced bankruptcy and prepared to stop treating contaminated water. The Environmental Protection Agency began an emergency response almost immediately.

Summitville was added to the federal Superfund list in 1994.

Cleanup has included consolidating waste, covering disturbed areas, controlling runoff, treating contaminated water, stabilizing mine features and restoring vegetation at one of the most difficult industrial sites imaginable.

The consequences extend beyond the mining district. The Alamosa River carries water toward Terrace Reservoir and agricultural communities in the San Luis Valley. Contamination originating near the Continental Divide affected aquatic habitat, irrigation supplies and farms many miles downstream.

Summitville connects nearly every theme on this loop: geology, ambition, engineering, water, agriculture and the long costs of decisions made high in a watershed.

Historic remnants remain, but the modern mine and treatment facilities are active cleanup areas. Obey closures and remain on public routes.

Side Trip : Drive to the Top of Grayback Mountain

Travelers with the right vehicle, adequate daylight and favorable conditions can add a side trip to Grayback Mountain.

Forest Road 330.3A branches from the Summitville road and climbs approximately 1.7 miles toward a communications site near the top of the mountain. Grayback rises to roughly 12,600 feet and provides an enormous panorama across the southern San Juans.

From the upper road, travelers can look toward Summitville, South Mountain, the Continental Divide and the volcanic country surrounding the Alamosa and Conejos headwaters. The view also provides unusual perspective on the scale of the Summitville reclamation site.

The summit is close enough to the road that it almost feels like cheating—until you remember that you first had to drive into one of Colorado’s most remote mining districts.

The spur is narrow, steep, exposed and highly seasonal. Check the current Conejos Peak road report before adding it.

Lake De Nolda, Stunner Campground and Hidden Falls

After exploring Summitville—and returning from the optional Grayback Mountain detour—continue south on Forest Road 380. The narrow, winding road descends from the exposed mining country into thicker forest on its way toward the Alamosa River.

Lake De Nolda

Along the descent, FR 380 passes Lake De Nolda, a small mountain lake sitting at approximately 10,800 feet beneath Lookout Mountain.

The lake creates one of the quieter scenes along the drive. Forest closes around the water while Lookout Mountain rises beyond it, providing a complete change of mood from Summitville’s open slopes, mine structures and reclaimed industrial landscape.

Lake De Nolda and some of the surrounding property are privately owned, so enjoy the view from the public road and respect posted boundaries. This is a scenic pause rather than a developed recreation stop.

Stunner Campground and the Alamosa River

Below Lake De Nolda, FR 380 continues descending toward Stunner Campground at the junction with Forest Road 250.

The small campground sits at approximately 9,700 feet beside the Alamosa River. It has only five campsites, along with tables, fire rings and a vault toilet. There is no potable water, but the campground is free and makes a remarkably remote base for travelers who want to divide this backcountry route across two days.

The remains of the Stunner mining settlement lie nearby. Unlike Summitville, Stunner never developed around reliably productive mines. Difficult transportation and disappointing ore eventually finished the town, and little remains today. Portions of the former townsite are private property, so appreciate the history without wandering past posted boundaries.

The campground junction is also where the route makes an important turn. The main drive takes FR 250 across the Alamosa River and begins climbing toward Stunner Pass. Before crossing the river, however, there is one worthwhile detour in the opposite direction.

Scenic Detour: Hidden Falls

From the Stunner Campground junction, follow FR 250 downstream along the Alamosa River for approximately 3.1 miles to Hidden Falls.

A very short path leads from the roadside into the trees, where Wightman Fork drops over dark volcanic rock shortly before joining the Alamosa River. Calling it a hike is generous. It is a quick walk with a surprisingly substantial reward—and exactly the kind of easily missed backroad attraction that earns a place in a Pagosa Outside itinerary.

The waterfall is generally strongest during snowmelt and after summer rain. Later-season flows may be quieter, but the shaded forest and rock-lined setting still make it a worthwhile break from the vehicle.

Save the location before leaving cell service and find an appropriate place to pull completely off the road. After visiting the falls, return approximately 3.1 miles to the Stunner Campground junction.

Back at the junction, follow FR 250 across the Alamosa River. The road then climbs approximately two miles to Stunner Pass before descending toward Platoro.

Over Stunner Pass

From Summitville, Forest Road 250 climbs toward Stunner Pass.

Stunner emerged as another mining settlement during the 1880s. It maintained a post office from 1886 to 1894 and briefly again during renewed mining excitement in 1913.

Like Elwood, Stunner possessed enough mineral promise to attract people but not enough consistently profitable ore to become permanent. Transportation remained the recurring problem. Freight costs could consume the value of lower-grade material before it reached a railroad or mill.

Today, Stunner Pass provides a high transition between the Alamosa and Conejos sides of the mountains. Views open across volcanic ridges, mining country and the headwaters draining toward Platoro.

Platoro: Silver, Gold and Another Almost-Boom

The name Platoro combines the Spanish words plata and oro—silver and gold.

That name captures the hope that created the town.

Prospecting occurred in the surrounding mountains before 1888, but that year marks Platoro’s clearer appearance in newspapers and official records. A post office opened, and the settlement grew as miners searched the upper Conejos country.

By 1890, Platoro may have held approximately 300 residents. Rich silver ore could justify the long haul out of the mountains, but lower-grade material could not overcome the district’s isolation.

The mining industry was never only about what existed underground. Profit depended on distance, road conditions and processing costs once the ore reached a mill.

The 1913 Gold Excitement

Platoro received another jolt of optimism in the spring of 1913 after exceptionally rich gold-telluride ore was discovered at the Gilmore property on Klondyke Mountain late the previous year.

“Telluride” describes the ore’s chemistry, not its connection to Colorado’s famous resort town. Tellurium is a rare element that can bond naturally with gold and silver, creating minerals such as calaverite and sylvanite. Unlike a classic chunk of visible native gold, telluride ore can look surprisingly ordinary. At the Gilmore, microscopic crystals were scattered through dark, quartz-rich rock, leaving the real value to be revealed by an assay.

That made the discovery especially exciting. Similar gold-telluride deposits had produced extraordinary wealth at Cripple Creek during the 1890s, and the resemblance gave promoters everything they needed to predict that Platoro would become Colorado’s next great gold camp.

Prospectors arrived, claims multiplied and tents spread around town. Some enthusiasts predicted that thousands of miners would reach the district before summer ended.

Then the promising ore abruptly gave out. The rich material continued through only a short section of the Gilmore workings; below it, miners encountered broken ground and barren quartz. No comparable deposit was found nearby.

By the end of the summer, much of the excitement had faded. The expected city never materialized, and Platoro’s post office closed in 1919.

The town survived by becoming something different. Rather than disappearing, it gradually developed into a seasonal base for fishing, hunting, cabins and high-country recreation. Construction of Platoro Reservoir after World War II strengthened that new identity.

Platoro today feels less like a conventional ghost town than a small mountain community living among several earlier versions of itself.

Lunch in Platoro

Platoro is the natural lunch stop, but the village operates on a mountain-season schedule.

The Gold Nugget Cafe currently posts hours of 11:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Sunday, with Monday listed as closed. Homemade brick-oven pizza makes a fitting reward after Elwood, Summitville and Stunner.

Sky Line Lodge also operates seasonally and may provide restaurant service during its summer season.

Confirm current hours before building the day around a restaurant meal. Carrying lunch remains smart even when the cafe expects to be open.

Platoro Reservoir: A Mountain Lake Built for Farms Below

Just above town, the Conejos River is held behind Platoro Dam.

The reservoir appears to be a remote recreation lake, but its primary purpose begins far downstream in the agricultural San Luis Valley.

The Bureau of Reclamation constructed Platoro Dam between 1949 and 1951 as part of the Conejos Division of the San Luis Valley Project. The earthfill structure stands approximately 165 feet high and stretches nearly 1,500 feet across its crest.

The reservoir can store roughly 59,570 acre-feet of water. Most of that capacity supports irrigation and water management, with additional space reserved for flood control.

Spring runoff from the South San Juan Mountains can be stored behind the dam and released later when crops need it. That supply supports tens of thousands of acres of agricultural land and communities far below the reservoir.

The dam also transformed the Conejos from a completely free-flowing headwater river into a regulated system. It altered the timing of downstream flows, reduced some flood peaks and created the cold-water tailwater fishery below the dam.

 

Diablo Canyon and the High Headwaters

Platoro Reservoir gathers water from a network of remote high-country drainages extending toward the Continental Divide and the South San Juan Wilderness.

Among them is Diablo Canyon, located in the wild mountain country above the reservoir. Snow accumulating around Diablo Canyon, Conejos Peak and the surrounding ridges eventually feeds creeks flowing toward Platoro.

The canyon’s name suits the landscape. These headwaters contain steep volcanic terrain, avalanche paths, deep winter snow and broad sections with no quick road access.

Nearby Diablo Ridge became the site of a fatal March 2014 avalanche involving Wolf Creek senior ski patroller and avalanche technician Colin Sutton. Sutton was working with an experienced team in the backcountry west of Conejos Peak when he was caught, buried and killed.

The location is significant to this journey because it sits in the same high watershed feeding Platoro Reservoir. Water beginning as snow around Diablo Canyon and Diablo Ridge eventually becomes part of the reservoir, the Conejos River and the agricultural supply of the San Luis Valley.

The accident also demonstrates the seriousness of the surrounding country. Sutton was highly experienced, and Wolf Creek patrollers have repeatedly assisted with backcountry rescues throughout the southern San Juans. Skill, preparation and local knowledge matter enormously here, but the mountains retain the final vote.

Recreation at Platoro Reservoir

Platoro Reservoir supports boating, camping and fishing in a broad basin near 10,000 feet.

Trout and kokanee have been caught in the lake, although populations, stocking and fishing conditions change over time. Water levels also fluctuate because the reservoir is managed for water supply rather than maintained at a fixed recreational elevation.

Wind can arrive quickly across the open lake, and cold temperatures are possible even in summer. Morning is generally the better window for paddling or fishing from a small boat.

Check current campground and boat-access conditions before visiting.

Stay Along the Upper Conejos

Platoro and the Conejos Canyon contain far more overnight options than the town’s tiny population might suggest.

Seasonal cabins have been part of the valley’s second life for generations. Once mining declined, fishing, hunting and family vacations gave people another reason to follow the long road into the upper Conejos.

Sky Line Lodge and Conejos Cabins offer riverside cabins in and near Platoro. Platoro Valley Cabins provides another collection of furnished mountain cabins close to the river and reservoir.

One of the most interesting options is Platoro Cabin No. 1. The Forest Service constructed it in 1963 as quarters for crews working in the surrounding mountains. It served that purpose until the early 1990s and is now a seasonal recreation rental.

Below Platoro, cabins, guest ranches and Forest Service campgrounds appear repeatedly along the Conejos.

Lake Fork Campground contains 18 sites among aspen and mixed conifers, with several overlooking the river. Farther downstream, Aspen Glade, Mogote, Conejos and Spectacle Lake campgrounds create additional bases for fishing and exploring.

Some families have returned to the same Conejos cabin or campground for generations. The mining booms came and went quickly; fishing cabins created a quieter tradition that lasted.

The Conejos River: Where the Drive Becomes a Fishing Trip

Below Platoro Dam, the route begins following the Conejos River downstream.

This is where many travelers realize the loop deserves another day.

The Conejos begins in the South San Juan Mountains and gathers water from high creeks, lakes and wetlands. From Platoro, it descends through forest, meadow and canyon before entering the San Luis Valley and eventually joining the Rio Grande.

The river changes character repeatedly.

Near the dam, cold regulated water moves through pools, riffles and pocket water. Farther downstream, the river bends through broad meadows where brown trout hold beneath undercut banks. Canyon sections compress the current between boulders and volcanic walls.

Rainbow and brown trout dominate many popular sections. Upper tributaries and smaller streams may also contain brook trout or native cutthroat populations.

Fishing Below Platoro

The Platoro tailwater is an obvious place to begin. Water released from the reservoir remains cold through much of the summer, producing productive trout habitat immediately downstream.

Not every visible bend beside the road is public. National Forest access is extensive, but private parcels and designated fishing easements also occur along the river.

Regulations differ by section. Certain stretches have artificial-fly or artificial-lure restrictions, minimum-size requirements or reduced limits intended to protect larger trout.

Review current Colorado fishing regulations and Conejos River information before fishing. Anglers age 16 and older need the appropriate license.

A short roadside stop can introduce the Conejos, but a dedicated fishing day allows anglers to understand the river. Browns hold beneath grassy banks and broken structure. Rainbows occupy riffles and faster seams. Evening light can transform a stretch that appeared quiet during the afternoon.

Fish With Someone Who Knows the River

The Conejos is large and varied enough that a local guide can shorten the learning curve considerably.

Conejos River Anglers operates a fly shop and guide service along Highway 17 below the upper canyon. Its guides work the Conejos and surrounding high-country waters and publish seasonal reports covering flows, hatches and water temperatures.

Local knowledge is useful because the river changes so much between Platoro Dam and the San Luis Valley. A productive tailwater approach may be less effective in the meadow reaches, while the Pinnacles and lower freestone sections present entirely different access and fishing challenges.

A guide can also help anglers understand the patchwork of National Forest land, private property and public fishing easements without spending half the day studying boundaries beside the road.

Rafting the Pinnacles

The Conejos is usually discussed as a trout stream, but during strong releases from Platoro Reservoir it also contains a short, beautiful whitewater run through the Pinnacles.

Below Platoro, the river enters a narrow volcanic gorge framed by tall rock formations. At runnable flows, the section offers continuous Class II whitewater with a more technical Class III rapid in the heart of the canyon. Depending on the put-in and takeout, boaters may call it the Pinnacles or Pinnacle Gorge.

This is a compact run with excellent scenery, cold water and remote logistics. Its season depends less on a predictable spring calendar than on snowmelt, reservoir storage and releases from Platoro Dam.

The Pinnacles is best known among experienced private boaters rather than as a regular commercial rafting trip. Wood, access, releases and road conditions should all be checked before launching.

When the water is right, the run reveals a completely different Conejos—less trout stream, more miniature wilderness gorge.

A Country That Can Swallow the Unprepared

The Conejos Valley is beautiful, but it is not gentle country.

In July 2015, 19-year-old runner Joe Keller disappeared after leaving Rainbow Trout Ranch for what should have been an ordinary run along Forest Road 250.

Hundreds of searchers, dogs, horses, aircraft and volunteers covered a vast area without finding him. His remains were discovered by a hiker in Conejos Canyon nearly a year later.

The case became the opening story in an Outside investigation into people who disappear on public lands.

The point is not to turn the Conejos into a true-crime attraction. Keller’s story demonstrates how quickly scale becomes difficult to comprehend here. A person can leave a road, pass behind one volcanic ridge and become extraordinarily difficult to locate.

Wolf Creek Ski Patrol has repeatedly assisted searches far beyond the ski-area boundary. During a 2016 operation near Duck Lake, patrollers joined the search for two overdue campers after a spring storm deposited roughly two feet of snow. One man made it out; rescuers later located the other man’s remains.

This is the authenticity behind the scenery. Roads disappear beneath snow. Temperatures fall rapidly. Forest and volcanic ridges break sightlines. Search-and-rescue coverage depends heavily on small agencies and volunteers responsible for enormous pieces of country.

Enjoy the remoteness. Just recognize that it is real.

The Last Known Colorado Grizzly

The wildest local story belongs to Ed Wiseman and the last confirmed grizzly bear in Colorado.

On September 23, 1979, Wiseman was guiding an archery elk hunt deep in the South San Juan Wilderness when a female grizzly attacked him. During the mauling, he managed to use a hunting arrow as a hand-held weapon and mortally wounded the bear.

Wiseman survived the night and was rescued the following morning. The discovery shocked wildlife officials because Colorado had gone decades without a confirmed grizzly.

The encounter occurred on the western side of the Continental Divide near the upper Navajo River—just over the mountain backbone from the Conejos headwaters.

The bear became the last verified grizzly documented in the state. The extraordinary details of Wiseman’s account inspired skepticism, but federal investigators cleared him, and he reportedly passed two polygraph examinations.

There is no verified breeding population of grizzlies in Colorado today.

Still, locals occasionally say that if one or two bears somehow remained undetected, the South San Juan country is where they would be. The upper Conejos and Navajo drainages sit on opposite sides of the same remote divide, surrounded by deep forest, roadless basins and enormous stretches of difficult country.

Treat that as mountain speculation rather than wildlife guidance. The bears visitors may encounter are Colorado black bears, which can also be brown, cinnamon or nearly blond.

The significance of the Wiseman story is what it reveals about the landscape. Within living memory, this country was remote enough to shelter an animal officially believed to have disappeared from Colorado decades earlier.

Following the Conejos Canyon

Forest Road 250 continues downstream through Conejos Canyon.

The route passes public river access, campgrounds, trailheads, cabins and historic guest-ranch country. Volcanic cliffs rise above the road while the river alternates between tight canyon and wider valley.

This corridor also connected high-country mines with the San Luis Valley. Every mine around Platoro and Stunner depended on some version of this road to move people, equipment, food and ore.

Modern travelers experience the distance from comfortable vehicles. Earlier residents experienced it behind horses, in wagons and through winters capable of closing the route for months.

Eventually the road reaches Highway 17, ending the gravel portion of the loop but not the history.

Return Across Cumbres Pass

Highway 17 climbs toward 10,022-foot Cumbres Pass and crosses a corridor famous for narrow-gauge railroading.

The Denver & Rio Grande Railway built its San Juan Extension through this country in 1880, reaching southwestern Colorado’s mining districts by crossing Cumbres Pass. The surviving line later became the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

The railroad runs approximately 64 miles between Antonito, Colorado, and Chama, New Mexico. It crosses the state line repeatedly, climbs steep grades and passes through tunnels, forest and high meadows.

Like the Elwood road, the railroad answered the central problem of the San Juans: how to move people and heavy material through rugged mountains.

Winter remained relentless. Crews used wedge plows, flangers and enormous rotary snowplows to reopen buried track. Deep cuts could fill completely, and wind rebuilt drifts behind the trains nearly as quickly as workers cleared them.

Colorado and New Mexico purchased the surviving railroad in 1970, preserving it after regular Denver & Rio Grande Western operations ended. It now carries passengers through a landscape once crossed by ore trains, livestock cars and winter work crews.

From Cumbres Pass, Highway 17 descends toward Chama. Highway 84 then returns north to Pagosa Springs.

Should You Make This a One-Day or Two-Day Trip?

One-Day Loop

A one-day trip works best for travelers primarily interested in the drive and major historical stops.

Begin near daylight. Cross Elwood Pass or use Park Creek, visit Summitville, continue over Stunner Pass, eat lunch in Platoro and return through Conejos Canyon and Chama.

There will be time for photographs and short stops but little room for Grayback Mountain, paddling, serious fishing or extended exploration.

Two-Day Loop

Two days allow the landscape to become the destination.

Day One: Elwood, Summitville and Platoro

Follow East Fork Road past the landslide and stop at Silver Falls. Explore Elwood from the public road, cross the Continental Divide and spend time at Summitville.

Add Grayback Mountain if road conditions, vehicle capability and daylight allow. Continue over Stunner Pass and stay near Platoro.

Day Two: Reservoir, River and Railroad

Begin at Platoro Reservoir. Fish or paddle during the morning, then follow the Conejos downstream with time for river stops, the Pinnacles and a relaxed lunch.

Return over Cumbres Pass and through Chama.

For anglers, paddlers and travelers interested in the history, this is easily the better version.

What Should You Bring?

Bring:

• A full tank of fuel

• Food and drinking water, even when planning lunch in Platoro

• Offline maps covering both national forests

• Warm layers and rain protection

• A tire in good condition, jack and basic tools

• First-aid supplies

• Extra time before sunset

• Fishing equipment and a valid license if fishing

• A vehicle matched to the route selected

The Elwood approach requires real four-wheel-drive capability and an experienced driver. Park Creek is the better option for a less technical approach, but it should not be mistaken for a paved scenic byway.

Check the San Juan National Forest conditions, Conejos Peak Ranger District road report and COtrip shortly before leaving.

Most high forest roads open during summer, but snow, monsoon storms, washouts and temporary closures can alter access. If conditions deteriorate, turn around while the decision remains easy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you drive from Pagosa Springs over Elwood Pass to Summitville?

Yes, when the seasonal forest road is open. The upper Elwood route is steep, rocky and narrow and requires a capable high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle and an experienced driver.

Is there an easier way to reach Summitville from Pagosa Springs?

Yes. Cross Wolf Creek Pass on Highway 160 and use Park Creek Road—Forest Road 380—to approach Summitville from the east. This avoids the technical Elwood climb, although Park Creek remains an unpaved seasonal mountain road.

How long does the complete loop take?

The loop can be completed in one very long day, but two days allow time for mining-history stops, Grayback Mountain, Platoro Reservoir, fishing along the Conejos River and an overnight near Platoro.

When is Elwood Pass generally open?

The route is seasonal and normally becomes accessible after high-country snow melts. Opening and closing dates vary with snowpack, storms, road damage and maintenance.

Can you drive to the top of Grayback Mountain?

A seasonal four-wheel-drive spur, Forest Road 330.3A, climbs from the Summitville road toward the top of approximately 12,600-foot Grayback Mountain. The short drive provides panoramic views but should only be added when road and weather conditions are favorable.

Where can you stay near Platoro and the Conejos River?

Seasonal lodging includes Sky Line Lodge, Conejos Cabins, Platoro Valley Cabins and Forest Service rental cabins. Lake Fork, Aspen Glade, Mogote, Conejos and Spectacle Lake are among the campgrounds along the upper river corridor.

Can you fish the Conejos River?

Yes. The Conejos supports productive trout fishing through tailwater, meadow and canyon sections. Public access and fishing regulations vary, so consult current Colorado Parks and Wildlife information before fishing.

Can you raft the Conejos River?

Experienced private boaters sometimes run the short Pinnacles section below Platoro when reservoir releases provide enough water. The remote gorge generally contains Class II whitewater with a Class III rapid, but runnable flows vary.

Are there grizzly bears in the South San Juan Wilderness?

The last confirmed Colorado grizzly was killed in the South San Juan Wilderness in 1979 after attacking hunting guide Ed Wiseman. The encounter occurred near the upper Navajo River, just across the Continental Divide from the Conejos headwaters. No present-day grizzly population has been verified in Colorado.

One Loop, Several Versions of Colorado

The Elwood–Summitville–Platoro loop is difficult to describe as one kind of trip.

It is a four-wheel-drive route over a road first pushed through the mountains for soldiers and wagons. It is a tour of mining camps that briefly believed they would become cities. It crosses from the San Juan watershed into the Rio Grande drainage.

It follows a mountain that slid toward the East Fork, the gauges installed to watch the river and the lingering possibility that geology could temporarily rearrange the watershed. It tells the story of a flood that helped end one road and the engineers who replaced it with Wolf Creek Pass.

The loop traces the rise of skiing from a truck-powered rope tow to an independent mountain receiving some of Colorado’s deepest snow. It connects that ski area with the resort-era development that helped create modern uptown Pagosa without confusing two separate businesses.

At Summitville, the romance of 19th-century mining collides with the environmental consequences of modern industrial extraction. From Grayback Mountain, the entire volcanic landscape begins to make sense.

Then the route reaches Platoro, where a silver-and-gold town survived by becoming a fishing and recreation community. Snow falling around Diablo Canyon and Conejos Peak collects in Platoro Reservoir, where it becomes irrigation supply, trout habitat and—when releases cooperate—a short whitewater run through the Pinnacles.

Just across the Continental Divide, the last confirmed Colorado grizzly survived unnoticed until 1979.

Downstream, cabins and campgrounds line the Conejos, while the river moves from tailwater to meadow to canyon. By the time the journey returns across Cumbres Pass, even the railroad has joined the story.

That is why this drive deserves more than a checklist and why two days can disappear so easily. Every valley contains another attempt to cross, mine, settle, monitor, dam, protect or simply understand this piece of high country.

Take the long way. Stop often. Nearly every rough road disappearing into the trees was once somebody’s plan for the future.