| Difficulty: | Number: | Miles: | Altitude: | Obstacles: | Time: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy 4 | FR 6.2 | 6.00 | 9,880 to 12,600 ft. | Rock 1 | 3-4 hours |
Dillon Ranger District
Silverthorne, CO 80498
Closure:
July - Best
August - Best
September - Best
Accessed:
From Frisco, CO. head south on Colorado Hwy 9 / Summit Blvd toward Granite Street. Continue to follow Colorado Hwy 9 for 5.6 miles. Turn left onto County Rd 6 / Tiger Road and go 6.2 miles. Continue onto Middle Fork Swan Road and go 0.8 miles. Here the road will turn east and start up the Middle Fork of the Swan 4WD road.
Carl Fulton arrived in the Breckenridge area in the mid 1890's from Ohio to try his hand at gold mining. All of the good claims had been staked by the time he arrived so he headed up the Swan River and then up the Middle Fork of the Swan River where he found gold ore at the surface. The town of Swandyke formed below these discoveries. There was stage service to Breckenridge and Jefferson over Georgia Pass. The town had the Summit House Hotel, a boarding house, general merchandise store, and a few saloons. There were a few mines and even a mill to process the ore. The area mines were run by the Swandyke Gold Mining and Milling Company. The remote location and heavy snows made shipping the ore out expensive.
The winter of 1898 to 1899 was one of the worst in Summit County. The snow piled up to the rooftops in Swandyke. Fulton continued working his mine piling the ore near his cabin waiting for spring. An avalanche carried the ore down the mountainside and destroyed one of the mills. Mining continued and a large partly oxidized gold vein was mined at the Pompeii mine with values as high as $90 per ton. One vein of gold bearing quartz had gold particles large enough to see and assayed close to $2000 per ton.
After another mile and a half there is a right turn that crosses the river. This is the road up to S.O.B. Hill road, that connects with the Glacier Ridge 4WD road, FR 258.
After another half mile you will come to the single cabin that is the ghost town of Swandyke.
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Swandyke Cabin photo by: Adam Mehlberg |
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Just past Swandyke there is an intersection. The left turn is FR 325 which climbs a short distance toward the mines behind Swandyke. The right turn continues up the gulch toward timberline becoming less traveled and rougher. As you climb above timberline you will come to the loose, steep section of road that makes up the obstacle and continues up the Middle Fork of the Swan River to its source. Bullion Mountain, 12,948 feet, and Sheep Mountain, 12,495 feet, will be on the south side of the gulch.
Once on top of the ridge you will be able to look over into Hall Valley to the northeast. The Missouri Mine and Whale Mine are in the valley below with Handcart Peak on the opposite side of Hall Valley.
From this scenic view take the left road heading north to climb to the top of the flat plain of Wise Mountain following the ridge above Hall Valley. Here you will connect with the Saints John 4WD road, FR 275.