Castle Creek Valley Drive: 1880 Ashcroft Silver Ghost Town & Pine Creek Cookhouse

If Maroon Bells shuttle tickets are sold out, or you want a scenic alpine drive 20 minutes from Downtown Aspen requiring no shuttle reservation or timed entry permit, take the left fork at the western roundabout onto Castle Creek Road. For 19 kilometres (12 miles) this paved road winds beneath 4,348-metre (14,265-foot) Castle Peak to two historic stops.

1. Stop 1 (Mile 11): The 1880 Ashcroft Silver-Mining Ghost Town

Founded in 1880 when prospectors struck rich surface veins of silver, Ashcroft (originally Castle Forks City) boomed faster than Aspen itself. By 1883, Ashcroft had 2,000 to 3,500 residents, 20 saloons, two newspapers, a school and the grand Hotel View (visited by silver tycoon Horace Tabor and his bride Baby Doe). When the surface deposits proved shallow and the railway reached Aspen in 1887 instead of Ashcroft, residents packed up, some dragging their wooden houses on logs down to Aspen, leaving bachelor prospector Jack Leahy alone with his dog until 1935.

• Walking the Ghost Town Today (45 to 60 Minutes): set in a sub-alpine wildflower and aspen meadow at 2,895 metres (9,500 feet), a flat gravel path leads inside nine preserved 1880s log buildings, including the two-storey Blue Mirror Saloon, the Post Office & General Store, Jack Leahy's Cabin and the Collins Block Hotel (check entry details with the Aspen Historical Society).

2. Stop 2 (1.5 Miles Past Ashcroft): The Pine Creek Cookhouse

At the end of Castle Creek Road at 2,960 metres (9,725 feet), near the trailheads for Cathedral Lake and American Lake, sits the Pine Creek Cookhouse (reservations essential for lunch or dinner):

• In Summer & Autumn (June to Sept): drive right up to the car park and dine on the outdoor log deck looking straight up at the 13,500-foot spires of the Elk Range over wild-mushroom soup, rainbow trout and elk bratwurst.
• In Winter (Dec to March, Sleigh Ride or Cross-Country Ski In): because the final 1.5 miles from Ashcroft are groomed into Nordic trails at the Ashcroft Ski Touring Center, you either glide in on cross-country skis or snowshoes or board a 20-minute sleigh pulled by Percheron draught horses to a log-cabin fireplace.