The Silver Thread Scenic and Historic Byway

The Silver Thread Scenic and Historic Byway--CO 149-- was designated by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation as a National Scenic Byway in 2021. It is one of 13 America’s Byways designated in Colorado. It provides access to a diversity of scenic wonders in a vast wilderness, historical mining town landmarks, and extensive recreational opportunities for hiking, camping, and fishing.  

In prior blog posts, I showed the two historic mining towns of Creede--click here-- and Lake City--click here--as well as the magnificent North Clear Creek Waterfall --click here--that are located along the byway. Now I'd like to show some more features we saw along the drive.

One unusual geologic feature we saw was the National Natural Landmark called the Slumgullion Earthflow or Slide. 

It is a rare example of an earthflow, called mass wasting. About 700 years ago, an area of Mesa Seco, composed of partially decomposed volcanic rock, slid down the mountain and blocked the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River. This natural dam formed what is now known as Lake San Cristobal. The earthflow is about 4 miles long and covers over 1000 acres.

A second earthflow began about 300 years ago and is still active today. The United States Geologic Survey (USGS) tracks the movement of the slide, which in some places moves as much as 20 feet per year. It covers some of the original slide and can be detected by observing the trees growing on it that are tipped at odd angles.

The Slumgullion Slide was likely named by early settlers of Lake City who noted that the yellow color of the soils resembled Slumgullion Stew. “Slum” as it was also called, was generally a watery stew made from beef, potatoes, carrots, and onions, or whatever leftovers could be found. Also, miners of the 1800s referred to the leftover mud in gold sluices as slumgullion.

Please Click on Photo to Enlarge 

As this placard explains, twenty million years ago this entire region was geologically actives as massive volcanoes changed the landscape.

My husband and I marveled at the different shapes of volcanic rock and the erosion that was ongoing over the millenniums.

There were many beautiful castle-like formations of mountainous rock along the way.

Another interesting part of the drive was seeing the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River a 64.7-mile-long (104.1 km) tributary of the Gunnison River in Colorado. The river's source is Sloan Lake near Handies Peak in the San Juan Mountains of Hinsdale County.

Please Click On Photo to Enlarge

As you can read on the placard in the photo collage above the Lake Fork of the Gunnison is one of the many rivers and streams that flow into the Colorado River and travel 1,500 miles to the Sea of Cortez in the Baja of Mexico.

Most of the time as we drove along The Siver Thread Byway we were one of the very few cars on the road.  Much of the land is wilderness, except for an occasional cattle ranch.  

At another stop, we read the ill-fated expedition lead by the guide Alferd Packer in 1874, who was hired to lead five other men from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Los Pinos Agency Gunnison, Colorado.  The Utes warned them that the snow would be treacherous but they kept going.  Sadly they became lost in the San Juan Mountains and only Alfred came out of the mountains in Spring alive, and he was suspiciously well-fed. Was it cannibalism? Read the entire story and see the placard above in detail on this link.

Please Click On the Photos Above to Enlarge

One of my favorite placards on the byway told the story of the "People Of the Shining Mountains"--the Utes.  All of Colorado was once their land and they called the Rockies the Shining Mountains in their native language.

 

The Silver Thread Scenic and Historic Byway was a beautiful and interesting drive and one of many scenic byways we have driven on in Colorado. To see those other drives click on this link and keep scrolling through 38 other posts!  We hope to drive many more in the future as there are 25 byways in Colorado, and 13 of them have been designated by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation as America's Byways, which gives Colorado more national designations than any other state!

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