We took a ride down Phantom Canyon Road the other day. It’s just south of  Mueller State Park, CO.

Head south on 67 through Cripple Creek (if gambling is your thing – this is the place). Continue on  through the cute town of Victor.  It has  number of really cool buildings, including the old assay office from the gold rush era. Unfortunately as with most small towns in the U.S. , outside of a few restaurants, bars, gift shops and the library, most buildings stand vacant.

Just outside of town the road begins. It’s a bumpy dirt road for a while which makes way to a more narrow, less rugged road with many switchbacks and unparalleled views.

We drove into the canyon about 20 miles then retraced our trail back. Our original plan was to drive straight through the canyon to Salida then head north again and circle back to Mueller State Park. The road is rather slow moving and we wanted to get back to camp before dark. The 20 mile drive took about 2 hours including several photo stops.

Retracing our steps was not a bad decision because the views are unbelievable in each direction. Mike got to experience the shear drop off of the canyon road on his side for the drive back.  We will definitely finish the trail some day when we have more time. It was exhilarating!

Every part of the Phantom Canyon Road is gorgeous.

Unfortunately this site doesn’t support video, so check out my Facebook page thespicysprinter. I’ll be posting videos to the page soon .