Abandoned places in Colorado are scattered across some of the most dramatic mountain terrain in North America. With 219 documented abandoned locations on the Urbex Maps atlas, a mining history that stretches from the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1858 to the silver crashes of the 1890s, and an elevation range that puts ghost towns above 10,000 feet in thin alpine air, Colorado is one of the most visually spectacular urbex states in the country. This is the state where entire mining districts were built above timberline, connected by mule trails carved into cliff faces, and abandoned the moment the ore stopped paying. The state where the U.S. Army built a secret mountain warfare training camp during World War II and left it to the elk. The state where Cold War missile silos were buried in the prairie east of Denver, armed with nuclear warheads pointed at the Soviet Union, and sealed shut when the treaties were signed.
Colorado's abandonment follows two patterns. The mountains tell the mining story: gold, silver, lead, zinc, molybdenum, and uranium all had their booms and busts between 1858 and the mid-20th century, and each bust left behind stamp mills, smelters, boarding houses, assay offices, and entire towns that were too remote and too expensive to demolish. The plains tell a different story: homesteading communities that dried up during the Dust Bowl, military installations decommissioned after the Cold War, and agricultural towns that emptied as farms consolidated and young people left for Denver and the Front Range cities.
This guide covers 10 of the most iconic abandoned places in Colorado, from the silver ghost towns of the San Juan Mountains to a sealed Titan I missile silo on the eastern plains. Every spot has free GPS coordinates on the Urbex Maps interactive atlas, a YouTube video embed, historical context, and access notes. These are real places, verified on the ground, with the kind of altitude and history that makes Colorado one of the most rewarding states in the country for serious urban exploration.
Free urbex GPS: how Urbex Maps works
Every spot in this guide has a free GPS pin on the Urbex Maps interactive atlas. No paywall for these 10, no registration wall, just coordinates dropped onto the map with access notes. The atlas works on mobile, which matters when you are navigating unpaved mountain roads at 11,000 feet looking for Animas Forks or trying to find the right trailhead for Independence Pass. The full Colorado database has 219 locations and growing, covering everything from collapsed stamp mills in the San Juan range to abandoned homesteads on the eastern plains.
1. Animas Forks
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Animas Forks is one of the highest ghost towns in the United States, sitting at 11,200 feet elevation in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, where the forks of the Animas River converge in a narrow alpine valley surrounded by peaks exceeding 13,000 feet. It is also one of the most photographed ghost towns in the American West, owing to the combination of well-preserved wooden structures and a mountain backdrop that belongs on a postcard.
The town was established in 1873 during the San Juan silver boom. At its peak in the early 1880s, Animas Forks had roughly 450 residents, a post office, a general store, saloons, boarding houses, and several operating mines in the surrounding peaks, including the Gold Prince and the Sunnyside. The town was connected to Silverton (12 miles to the south) and Lake City (to the northeast) by wagon roads that were barely passable in summer and completely impassable from October through May. Winters at 11,200 feet in the San Juans are brutal: snowfall regularly exceeds 25 feet, temperatures plunge well below zero, and avalanches are a constant threat. An 1884 blizzard reportedly dumped so much snow that residents tunneled between buildings for 23 consecutive days.
The silver crash of 1893, triggered by the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, devastated the San Juan mining economy. Animas Forks depopulated rapidly through the 1890s, though small-scale mining continued sporadically into the 1910s. The Gold Prince Mill, a massive wooden ore processing structure that was the town's largest building, operated until 1917 and then collapsed under snow loads in subsequent decades. By the 1920s, Animas Forks was effectively abandoned.
Several original structures survive in various states of decay, including the famous Duncan House (a two-story bay-windowed home that is the most photographed building in the town), a jail, cabins, and mine building foundations. The Bureau of Land Management manages the townsite and maintains a basic interpretive display. Access is via the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway, a rough 4WD road that connects Silverton, Animas Forks, Lake City, and Ouray. The road is typically passable from late June through early October, depending on snowpack. No entrance fee. No facilities. No cell service. Bring everything you need and be prepared for afternoon thunderstorms that can drop hail and lightning at this elevation with almost no warning.
2. Ashcroft
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Ashcroft sits in the Castle Creek Valley about 10 miles south of Aspen, at 9,498 feet elevation, surrounded by peaks in the Elk Mountains that rise above 14,000 feet. In 1880, at the height of the silver boom, Ashcroft was actually larger than Aspen. The town had two newspapers, a school, 20 saloons, a sawmill, and a population approaching 2,500 people. Two years later, the railroad reached Aspen instead of Ashcroft, and the town's fate was sealed. By 1885, the population had dropped below 100. By 1900, it was essentially abandoned.
The town experienced a brief and improbable second act in the early 1940s when members of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division, training at nearby Camp Hale for alpine warfare, used the Ashcroft area for ski training. The Aspen Skiing Company briefly considered Ashcroft as a ski area site in the 1970s, but the proposal was blocked on environmental grounds. Today, Ashcroft is preserved by the Aspen Historical Society, which maintains the remaining structures and operates guided tours in summer.
About a dozen original buildings survive, including the Hotel View, the Blue Mirror Saloon, a jail, and several cabins. The buildings are weathered but standing, set against a backdrop of wildflower meadows and aspen groves that turn gold in September. A self-guided walking trail with interpretive signs loops through the townsite. Ashcroft is one of the most accessible ghost towns in Colorado, reachable by paved road (Castle Creek Road) from Aspen. In winter, the road is groomed for cross-country skiing, and the ghost town takes on a haunting quality under deep snow. Access is free. The Aspen Historical Society operates a small visitor station during summer months.
3. Independence
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Independence is a ghost town perched at 10,880 feet on the road to Independence Pass, about 15 miles east of Aspen. It was founded on July 4, 1879, hence the name, when prospectors discovered gold in the creek below the future townsite. Within a year, the population had surged to roughly 1,500 people. Miners built cabins, saloons, a general store, and several stamp mills to process ore from the surrounding claims, all at an elevation where winter temperatures routinely hit 40 below zero and snowfall buries structures to their rooflines.
The gold deposits proved shallow. By 1882, the richest claims were played out, and the population had begun to decline. The devastating winter of 1899 is the event that defines Independence in local folklore: a blizzard stranded the remaining residents for weeks, and when supplies ran critically low, the miners reportedly dismantled their cabins and built crude skis from the lumber to make a desperate escape down the valley to Aspen. Whether every detail of that story is historically accurate is debated, but the town was effectively abandoned by 1900.
The remains of Independence are remarkably well preserved by the dry mountain air and short summers. Log cabin walls, a roofless general store, rusting mining equipment, and the foundations of stamp mills are scattered across a hillside meadow above the creek. The U.S. Forest Service maintains an interpretive trail through the townsite with signs explaining the buildings and history. Access is via Highway 82 over Independence Pass, which is open from late May through early November (the pass closes for winter). The ghost town is directly off the highway, with a parking pullout and a short walk to the ruins. No entrance fee. The site is above treeline and exposed to weather; afternoon thunderstorms are common in summer.
4. Gilman
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Gilman is unlike any other ghost town in Colorado. It sits on a cliff 800 feet above the Eagle River, visible from Interstate 70 between Vail and Minturn, a cluster of company houses, a mine headframe, and industrial buildings perched on a narrow bench of rock that looks like it could slide into the canyon at any moment. It is also one of the most strictly off-limits abandoned sites in the state, a Superfund site contaminated with heavy metals from over a century of zinc and lead mining.
The Gilman mining district was established in the 1880s, but the town itself was built primarily in the early 20th century as a company town for the Eagle Mine, which extracted zinc, lead, copper, silver, and gold from veins running through the cliff. The New Jersey Zinc Company operated the mine from 1912 through 1977, and the town was a classic American company town: the company owned the houses, the store, and most of the infrastructure. At its peak, Gilman had about 300 residents, a school, a company store, and a recreation hall. The houses are a mix of small frame dwellings painted in faded pastels, arranged in tight rows along the cliff edge.
In 1984, the EPA designated Gilman a Superfund site due to extensive contamination of soil and groundwater with zinc, lead, cadmium, arsenic, and other heavy metals. The remaining residents were relocated, and the town was sealed off. Remediation of the mine tailings and waste rock has been ongoing for decades, but the townsite itself remains closed. The buildings are still standing, slowly deteriorating on their cliff perch, visible from Highway 24 and from several pullouts along the road. The sight of an entire town sitting abandoned on a cliff above a highway is one of the most striking visual experiences in Colorado, and it has made Gilman one of the most photographed ghost towns in the state despite the fact that no one is allowed to set foot in it.
Access to Gilman is strictly prohibited. The site is fenced and gated, and trespassing is enforced by the EPA and local law enforcement. The contamination is real and dangerous: heavy metal dust, unstable mine workings, and deteriorating structures all pose genuine health and safety risks. The best views are from the Highway 24 pullout south of Minturn or from the bike path along the Eagle River below the town.
5. Camp Hale
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Camp Hale sits in a broad mountain valley along the Eagle River between Leadville and Red Cliff, at 9,200 feet elevation. Between 1942 and 1965, it was the U.S. Army's primary mountain and winter warfare training facility, the birthplace of the legendary 10th Mountain Division, and one of the most unusual military installations ever built in the United States. Today, the camp is gone, but the landscape it occupied remains one of the most historically significant abandoned military sites in Colorado.
The camp was built in 1942 after the Army concluded it needed troops trained for alpine combat in the European Theater. The location was chosen for its altitude, heavy snowfall, and surrounding terrain, which replicated conditions the Army expected to encounter in the mountains of Italy, Norway, and the Alps. At its peak, Camp Hale housed 15,000 soldiers in over 1,000 buildings spread across the valley floor: barracks, mess halls, hospitals, training facilities, stables (the division included mule pack units), and a network of ranges and obstacle courses. The 10th Mountain Division trained here through 1944, then deployed to Italy, where they fought in the Apennine Mountains and played a key role in the final Allied offensive in northern Italy.
After the war, Camp Hale was deactivated, reactivated during the Korean War for training, and then used by the CIA in the early 1960s for covert training of Tibetan resistance fighters who were being prepared for operations against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The camp was permanently decommissioned in 1965, and the Army demolished the buildings and attempted to restore the site to its natural condition.
Today, the valley where Camp Hale once stood is part of the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument, designated by President Biden in 2022. Concrete foundations, road traces, and the scars of the old camp layout are still visible in the meadow grass. Interpretive signs along Highway 24 explain the history. The area is open to the public year-round, with hiking, cross-country skiing, and mountain biking available on the surrounding trails. The most visible remaining features are the concrete building pads, the old water treatment structures near the river, and the T-shaped firing ranges on the north side of the valley.
6. Dearfield
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Dearfield is a ghost town on the eastern Colorado plains about 25 miles east of Greeley, and it represents a chapter of Western history that most people have never heard of. It was one of the most ambitious African American agricultural colonies in the West, founded in 1910 by Oliver Toussaint Jackson, a Black entrepreneur from Ohio who believed that land ownership was the path to economic independence for African Americans in the Jim Crow era.
Jackson filed a homestead claim on 320 acres of dry prairie and recruited Black families from Denver and other Colorado cities to join him. At its peak in the early 1920s, Dearfield had about 700 residents, a gas station, a grocery store, a dance hall, a lunch counter, a blacksmith shop, and roughly 44 homestead claims covering thousands of acres. The colony raised potatoes, sugar beets, corn, and livestock on dryland farms that depended on unpredictable rain. For a time, it worked. Jackson became a respected figure in Colorado's Black community, and Dearfield was held up as a model of Black self-sufficiency.
The Dust Bowl destroyed it. The droughts of the 1930s devastated dryland farming across the Great Plains, and Dearfield, already operating on marginal land with no irrigation, was hit especially hard. Crops failed year after year. Families left for Denver and other cities. By 1940, the population had dwindled to a handful of people. Oliver Jackson himself stayed until he died in 1948, the last full-time resident of the town he founded.
Today, three structures remain: a deteriorating service station, a concrete-block building identified as the "DL" (Dearfield Lunch counter or lodge), and the ruins of a residence. The buildings sit along a dirt road off Highway 34, surrounded by flat agricultural land. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, and a restoration effort led by the Black American West Museum in Denver has been working to stabilize the remaining buildings and create interpretive displays. The site is accessible from the road. There are no facilities, no shade, and no cell service. The plains wind is relentless.
7. Titan I Missile Silo 725-B
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Buried beneath a wheat field on the eastern Colorado plains, about 40 miles east of Denver, lies one of the Cold War's most remarkable abandoned military installations: a Titan I intercontinental ballistic missile silo complex. The site is part of a ring of nine Titan I launch complexes that surrounded Denver in the early 1960s, each capable of launching a nuclear-armed missile at the Soviet Union on short notice. The silos were operational for barely three years before they were rendered obsolete by newer missile technology and decommissioned.
The Titan I was the first generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles deployed by the United States Air Force. Unlike the later Titan II (which could launch from inside its silo), the Titan I had to be raised on an elevator to the surface before firing, a process that took about 15 minutes and made the missile vulnerable during the launch sequence. The silo complexes were engineering marvels: each one consisted of three missile silos, a command center, fuel storage tanks, and a network of underground tunnels connecting the buildings, all buried under reinforced concrete designed to withstand a near-miss nuclear strike. The entire complex sat on massive springs to absorb shock waves.
The 725th Strategic Missile Squadron operated the Lowry AFB complex from 1960 to 1965. The Titan I missiles were deactivated in 1965 when the Air Force transitioned to the more capable Minuteman ICBM. The silos were stripped of their missiles and most equipment, the surface structures were demolished, and the underground complexes were sealed. Some were sold to private owners; others were simply abandoned.
Silo 725-B, like most former Titan I sites, is on private property. The surface shows little more than concrete pads, rusted metal hatches, and fenced enclosures in otherwise unremarkable farmland. The underground complex is flooded and structurally deteriorating. Access requires the landowner's permission, which is rarely granted. Some former Titan I sites in other states have been opened for tours or converted into homes, but the Colorado sites remain largely closed. The GPS coordinates mark the surface location; the actual complex extends underground across several acres.
8. St Elmo
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St Elmo is widely considered the best-preserved ghost town in Colorado, and it sits in one of the most scenic settings of any abandoned place in the state. Located at 10,000 feet elevation in the Sawatch Range, about 20 miles southwest of Buena Vista, the town occupies a narrow valley at the foot of the old Alpine Tunnel route, surrounded by forested slopes and peaks exceeding 13,000 feet.
The town was founded in 1880 during the gold and silver mining boom in the upper Arkansas River valley. It was originally called Forest City but was renamed St Elmo (after a popular novel of the era) when the post office rejected the original name because another Colorado town already had it. At its peak around 1890, St Elmo had about 2,000 residents and served as a supply hub for the surrounding mining district. The Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad ran through town on its way to the Alpine Tunnel, which at 11,524 feet was the first railroad tunnel built through the Continental Divide. The town had hotels, saloons, a telegraph office, a schoolhouse, and the commercial infrastructure needed to support a mining district.
The mines declined through the 1890s and 1900s, and the railroad discontinued service through the Alpine Tunnel in 1910 after repeated problems with snow blockages and tunnel instability. Without the railroad, St Elmo lost its reason for existence. The population dwindled through the 1910s and 1920s, and by the 1930s, only a handful of residents remained. The most famous of them was Annabelle "Annie" Stark, who ran the general store and post office with her brother Tony until his death in 1960. Annie continued to live alone in St Elmo, reportedly chasing away visitors with a shotgun, until she was placed in a nursing home in 1958. She was the last resident.
Today, St Elmo has more surviving buildings than almost any other Colorado ghost town: the general store, the town hall, the schoolhouse, multiple cabins, the remains of the railroad depot, and other structures line the main street. Some buildings have been stabilized by the Buena Vista Heritage organization. The town is also famous for its large colony of ground squirrels (chipmunks), which are exceptionally habituated to humans and will eat out of your hand. Access is via Chaffee County Road 162, a well-maintained dirt road from Nathrop. Open year-round, though winter access may require a high-clearance vehicle. No entrance fee. A general store operates seasonally, selling basic supplies and souvenirs.
9. Nevadaville
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Nevadaville is a ghost town hiding in plain sight, tucked into a narrow gulch about one mile above Central City in Gilpin County, less than an hour's drive from downtown Denver. In the 1860s, it was one of the richest gold mining towns in Colorado Territory, with a population that rivaled Central City and Black Hawk. Today, it is a scattering of stone and wood buildings in various states of collapse along a steep, unpaved road that most tourists driving to the Central City casinos never notice.
The town was established in 1859 during the initial rush to the Gregory Diggings, one of the first major gold strikes in Colorado. It was originally called Nevada City (for the Sierra Nevada, where many miners had come from) and later renamed Nevadaville to avoid confusion with Nevada City, California. At its peak in the mid-1860s, the town had several thousand residents, a Masonic lodge, churches, saloons, hotels, and a red-light district. The Bald Mountain mining district surrounding the town produced millions of dollars in gold. The town's most notable surviving structure is a stone Masonic lodge building that still stands, roofless but with its walls largely intact.
The decline was gradual. By the 1880s, the richest placer deposits had been worked out, and hard-rock mining required capital that small operators could not afford. Central City and Black Hawk, with better transportation connections, absorbed much of Nevadaville's population and commercial activity. The town shrank through the early 20th century, and by the 1950s, it was essentially abandoned as a functioning community, though a few summer residents and caretakers continued to use some of the buildings.
Today, Nevadaville is a mix of standing ruins, stabilized structures, and a handful of properties that are privately owned and occasionally occupied. The main road through town is unpaved but passable for most vehicles in dry conditions. Several stone buildings, the Masonic lodge, and the remains of commercial structures are visible from the road. The town is not gated or fenced, and there is no formal visitor infrastructure. Some buildings are on private property, so stay on the road and respect property boundaries. The proximity to Central City and Denver makes Nevadaville one of the most accessible ghost towns in Colorado for a quick visit.
10. Caribou
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Caribou sits at just under 10,000 feet elevation in the mountains west of Boulder, about five miles northwest of Nederland. In 1869, a prospector named Sam Conger discovered a rich silver vein on Caribou Hill, and within two years, a full-blown mining town had sprung up in one of the most exposed and wind-blasted locations in the Colorado Front Range. At its peak around 1875, Caribou had a population of roughly 3,000, a hotel, multiple saloons, a newspaper called the Caribou Post, a school, and dozens of mines operating in the surrounding hills. It was the first significant silver strike in Colorado, predating the Leadville and Aspen booms by several years.
Caribou's location was its greatest liability. The town sits on a treeless, wind-swept ridge at the edge of the Continental Divide, exposed to every storm that rolls in from the west. Winter temperatures regularly drop to 30 or 40 below zero, and wind speeds can exceed 100 miles per hour during winter storms. Fires devastated the town repeatedly, in 1879 and again in 1899, because the wooden buildings were tinder-dry in the thin mountain air and there was no adequate water supply for firefighting at that elevation. Each fire destroyed much of the town, and each time fewer people rebuilt.
The silver crash of 1893 ended large-scale mining in Caribou, though small operations continued sporadically into the early 20th century. The last mines closed around 1900, and the town was abandoned. Unlike many Colorado ghost towns, Caribou has very few standing structures remaining. The fires, the wind, and 150 years of alpine weathering have reduced most buildings to foundations and scattered lumber. What survives is a townsite, mine dumps, tailing piles, rusting machinery, and the faint outlines of streets and building lots on the hillside.
Access is via a rough 4WD road (Caribou Road / Boulder County Road 128) from Nederland. The road is steep, rocky, and not suitable for passenger cars, especially after rain. The site is on a mix of Bureau of Land Management and private mining claims. There is no formal visitor infrastructure. The views from the Caribou townsite are spectacular, looking east across the plains to Denver and west toward the Indian Peaks. Be prepared for extreme wind exposure at any time of year.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about Abandoned Places in Colorado
How many abandoned places are there in Colorado?
The Urbex Maps database currently lists 219 verified abandoned locations across Colorado, including ghost towns, mining camps, military installations, homesteads, and industrial sites. The actual number of abandoned structures in the state is certainly higher, as many remote mining sites in the San Juan, Elk, and Sawatch ranges remain undocumented and inaccessible except on foot or by 4WD. Colorado's mining history alone produced hundreds of towns and camps between 1858 and 1920, many of which have left physical remains.
Is urbex legal in Colorado?
Trespassing on private property is a misdemeanor in Colorado under CRS 18-4-504. However, many of Colorado's ghost towns are on public land (Bureau of Land Management, National Forest, or state land) and are legally accessible. Sites like Animas Forks, Independence, Ashcroft, and Camp Hale are on public land and open to visitors. Gilman is a Superfund site and strictly off-limits. Titan I silos are on private property. Always check the access status of a specific location before visiting. The Urbex Maps GPS pins include access notes for each spot.
What is the best-preserved ghost town in Colorado?
St Elmo is widely considered the best-preserved ghost town in the state, with more standing original buildings than any other Colorado ghost town. Ashcroft near Aspen and Animas Forks in the San Juans are also exceptionally well preserved. St Elmo benefits from relatively easy access and active preservation efforts by the Buena Vista Heritage organization.
Can you visit ghost towns in Colorado in winter?
Most high-elevation ghost towns in Colorado are extremely difficult to reach in winter. The Alpine Loop (Animas Forks) closes to vehicles from October through June. Independence Pass closes in November. Ashcroft is accessible in winter via cross-country ski from Aspen. St Elmo can sometimes be reached by high-clearance vehicle in winter, but conditions vary. Low-elevation sites like Dearfield and Nevadaville are accessible year-round.
Why is Gilman off-limits?
Gilman was designated an EPA Superfund site in 1984 due to extensive heavy metal contamination from over a century of zinc and lead mining. The soil, groundwater, and structures are contaminated with zinc, lead, cadmium, arsenic, and other toxic metals. The town was evacuated and sealed, and remediation has been ongoing for decades. Entry is prohibited by the EPA and enforced by local law enforcement. The contamination poses genuine health risks.
What happened to Camp Hale?
Camp Hale was the U.S. Army's mountain warfare training facility from 1942 to 1965. It trained the 10th Mountain Division for World War II and later served as a CIA training site for Tibetan resistance fighters. The camp was decommissioned in 1965, and the Army demolished all buildings and attempted to restore the valley to natural conditions. In 2022, President Biden designated the area as Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument. Concrete foundations and road traces remain visible.
Conclusion: Colorado, where ghost towns touch the sky
Colorado's abandoned places exist at elevations and in landscapes that no other state can match. Ghost towns at 11,000 feet, missile silos under wheat fields, an African American homesteading colony on the dry plains, a CIA mountain training camp, and a Superfund cliff town visible from the interstate: the range is extraordinary. The mining ghost towns of the San Juans and Sawatch Range are among the most photogenic abandoned places in the United States, and the military and Cold War sites add a layer of 20th-century history that most people associate with other states.
With 219 spots on the Urbex Maps atlas and more added regularly, Colorado is one of the deepest states in the country for mountain-focused urban exploration. The 10 spots in this guide are starting points, not endpoints. Every mining district in the state has its own collection of ruins, and the eastern plains hold their own layer of abandonment from the homesteading and Dust Bowl eras. The GPS coordinates are free. The map is live. Go find what Colorado left behind.
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