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Phantom Canyon
Cañon City,
Colorado
(Fremont County)
Last Updated:
03/02/2023
Trail Information
Highlights
Remember the feeling of getting of being a kid while into the log ride at the theme park slowly floating through the scenes of an old ghost town in the southwest? Recapture that feeling by taking this historic gold route through Phantom Canyon which is part of the Gold Belt Byway.
The road was initially built in 1892 to connect the nearby town Florence to the gold mines. However, a little over a year later, the road was converted into a narrow-gauge railroad that carried a myriad of items from mining supplies and up to 1300 tons of gold ore every day.
Phantom Canyon has its fair share of fatal history, and there are even claims of hauntings along the trail. In 1895, the town along Eighmile Creek, Adelaide, was wiped out during a flood and record books indicate that a train went careening off the tracks in 1901, killing the engineer and injuring another. Even modern drivers have been unable to avoid this curse as deaths have been recorded as late as 2018.
Don't miss this storied road along the beautifully scenic part of the Gold Belt Byway.
Trail Difficulty and Assessment
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Trail Reviews
4.7/5 (39 reviews)
Open
Rated
4/5
Visited: 02/05/2023
Difficulty Accuracy:
Spot On
Combined this trail with Shelf road & Skyline drive to make a loop back to Cripple Creek. While not challenging from a technical standpoint as the trail was dry for probably 80% of it and the spots that had snow/ice were minimal and not difficult as I stayed in 2wd, it makes for a nice scenic drive. This will change though as it's not spring yet but for today the road was in good condition and drivable for all vehicles. Starting from Canon City and waypoint #1 is the way to do this route in the winter especially as these patches with snow/ice are done while going slightly uphill. Lots of unoccupied spaces to camp this time of year and low traffic would have made a nice overnight trip. At the end of the trail as you enter Victor I would definitely recommend driving up Stratton's Independence Mine & Mill to see the old mining equipment.
Open
Rated
5/5
Visited: 01/28/2023
Difficulty Accuracy:
Spot On
Phantom Canyon is absolutely gorgeous. Sometimes difficult to focus on driving with the amount of views or things to look at.
Road is well maintained, restrooms were open and clean.
Spots of snow, as expected for January. Mostly dry on Saturday, but waking up Sunday morning had brought a dusting of snow.
Camped at a marked campsite on an offshoot in-between waypoint 7 and 8, which had a small rock step and required 4wd/4lo to minimize wheel spin when returning to the main road.
Open
Rated
4/5
Visited: 01/14/2023
Difficulty Accuracy:
Spot On
This is an easy trail start to finish. It's part of the Gold Belt Tour so all vehicles can run it. Most of the road had no snow on it but as we got closer to Victor we saw a little more snow on the parts of the road that didn't get much sunlight. Overall, the scenery was a 5 but the road had too many washboard sections for my liking but I understand why.
Open
Rated
5/5
Visited: 01/01/2023
Difficulty Accuracy:
Spot On
Enjoyed this drive and a bit of railroad and mining history to boot. Kind of fun to see all of the old towns that were along the road at one point of time. We did hit snow for the last third but it was well packed and didn't cause any traction issues. We ran from South to North. It was late in the day so pushed it a little harder but easily completed in a high clearance 4x4 in less than an hour, not the goal but was doable and still comfortable. It did start to snow more heavily as we were leaving so trail conditions may have changed.
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