Clear Creek County’s Gold Mining Era Sites Are a Step Back in Time

We took a long leisurely route from Denver to Keystone resort, a bunch of bloggers all wearing yellow wristbands identified as team yellow. We had photos to shoot and QR codes to scan with our next stop. Between the Denver Zoo, a restored 1875 mining town hotel, a narrow gauge steam train and a four-person shot of beer at 12,000 feet, we covered quite a bit.

The train was a highlight–it’s a restored train that once plied the rails in South America. Today the Georgetown Loop Railroad takes passengers up to the former mining town of Silver Plume in open cars plus a parlor car with snacks to enjoy on the narrow gauge track route.

Riding on the narrow track that loops over itself during the ride, we looked down at a rushing stream and in the distance the pretty mountains. In the little town of Georgetown, we donned slippers to take a tour of the perfectly restored Hotel de Paris, once owned by Frenchman Louis Dupuy, and absolutely accurate in its depiction today as an 1875 luxurious hotel.

This is Clear Creek County, where nearly one million ounces of gold were taken during the 1800s and today there are mines tourists can visit and try their luck at panning for gold. Today tourism is what brings in the biggest chunk of revenue, many come here to raft down Clear Creek.

When we reached Keystone, I was winded and felt tired from the altitude. Nobody ever stops telling you up here that you have to drink lots and lots of water since your sweat is being taken away by the sun and so every chance they get there are water bottles and coolers to sip from.