Want to REALLY get your boots muddy and experience the Colorado great outdoors surrounding Cripple Creek? Strap on your boots, pack some water and snacks and be sure to wear layers to be prepared for ANY type of mountain weather up near 9400 feet. Strike it RICH with some of the finest hiking, kayaking, fishing and rock climbing in the WORLD. From a relatively leisurely stroll through thousands of years of fossils to a strenuous climb up America’s Mountain, Cripple Creek is a short drive away from world class outdoor adventure.
The Cripple Creek region
has fun Colorado attractions to visit!
Crags Trail Head
This moderate trail leads to “The Crags”, a group of rock pinnacle formations. It is a good cross-country ski trail. Good for family hikes. The Crags Trail is a 4.8 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Divide, Colorado that features beautiful wildflowers and offers a number of activity options and is best used from May until October. Dogs and horses are also able to use this trail.
Divide, CO
Located just a few miles outside of Divide is Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp, a Christian youth and young adult camp, and Mueller State Park is just six minutes south of town, offering camping, hiking, fishing and other outdoor activities within its over 5,000 acres of spring-fed meadows, ponds, forested ridges, and massive rocks. Divide is a growing, planned community. Divide is planned in three areas: the town center, rural residential land parcels, and larger rural land parcels.
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
Experience the Fossil History of Colorado – beneath a grassy mountain valley in central Colorado lies one of the richest and most diverse fossil deposits in the world. Petrified redwood stumps up to 14 feet wide and thousands of detailed fossils of insects and plants reveal the story of a very different, prehistoric Colorado.
Florissant, CO
Florissant, Colorado, was named after Florissant, Missouri, the hometown of Judge James Castello, an early settler. The word florissant is the gerund of the French verb fleurir, which roughly means to flourish, to flower, or to blossom. Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is located immediately south of Florissant.
Gold Belt Scenic Byway
Settlers of the area that now encompasses Colorado’s Gold Belt Tour had written The Gold Belt Tour is a Colorado Scenic and Historic Scenic Byway. Drive the Gold Belt Tour and retrace the historic travel routs connecting the Cripple Creek and Victor Mining District, site of the world’s largest gold rush, to the communities of Florence, Canon City, and Florissant via Phantom Canyon Road, Shelf Road, and High Park Road. Each of the roads offers distinct scenery ranging from rolling mountain parklands to deep rocky canyons. Each of the communities offers its unique character and convenient services including a variety of restaurants, lodging, shops, entertainment, and events.
Guffey, CO
Guffey Colorado is a small friendly mountain town located less than one mile off of CO HWY 9 at mile marker 21. Eleven Mile reservoir is just up the road, Cripple Creek is just over the hill, and the Royal Gorge is just down the hill, we are centrally located and an easy drive to many of Colorado’s best attractions. Stop by and visit our town of Guffey.
Hartsel, CO
Founded in 1880, Hartsel is close to the geographic center of the state and is often referred to as “The Heart of Colorado”. The namesake of the community is Samuel Hartsel, a local cattle rancher who came to Park County in 1860 and left in 1908. He also raised pigs and sheep and grew oats, wheat, barley, rye, and hay on fifteen thousand acres. He developed the Hartsel hot springs and built a sawmill, blacksmith shop, and a trading post to lay the groundwork for the town.
Mueller State Park
Mueller State Park is a Colorado state park encompassing 5,112 acres (20.69 km2) of land outside Divide, Colorado, west of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The park offers many outdoor activities. There are 55 miles (89 km) of trails, biking, camping year-round, hunting, hiking, horseback riding. It is open in the winter and snowshoeing, sledding and snowtubing is allowed as well. Mueller is a diverse home to a variety of animals including elk, black bear, eagles, hawks and bighorn sheep.
Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The ultra-prominent 14,115-foot (4,302.31 m) fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, 12 miles (19 km) west of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The mountain is named in honor of American explorer Zebulon Pike (though he was unable to reach the summit). The summit is higher than any point in the United States east of its longitude.
Royal Gorge Bridge
The Royal Gorge Bridge Is located near Cañon City, Colorado within Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, a 360-acre amusement park located along the edge of the Royal Gorge around both ends of the bridge. The bridge crosses the gorge 955 feet (291 m) above the Arkansas River and held the record of highest bridge in the world from 1929 until 2001 when it was surpassed by the Liuguanghe Bridge in China. The Royal Gorge Bridge remains the highest bridge in the United States and is among the highest bridges in the world.
Skaguay Reservoir
Skaguay Reservoir is long, narrow reservoir situated just outside of Victor, Colorado on CR 861 and is large enough to bring your boats for a warm day on the lake. Easy access for hikers via vehicle, with many hiking trails nearby and great fishing from the bank as well. Camping is NOT allowed at the reservoir but there are dispersed camping options in the region.
