Alpine Loop National Back Country Byway

The Alpine Loop National Back Country Byway is located northeast of Silverton, Colorado in San Juan and Hinsdale Counties. The route is circular, running from the ghost town of Animas Forks to Lake City and return. The Byway combines crossings of Engineer and Cinnamon Passes with high country scenery that features river meadows, alpine tundra, and ghost towns.

While the meadows and tundra are accessible to ordinary passenger vehicles, a high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle is required to travel the entire route.

Route description

The Alpine Loop is generally considered to begin and end at Lake City. From there the route commonly followed is west over Cinnamon Pass to Animas Forks, and then returning east over Engineer Pass back to Lake City. This clockwise circuit generally puts the vehicle on the inside "lane" of the mountainous portions (but moot because almost all is single track) with the driver on the outside, providing a better view of the relative position of the vehicle and the outer edge of the road at the top of the drop-off. ^[1]

Major intersections

Main route

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Hinsdale	Lake City	0.00	0.00	SH 149 north	Zero milepost
	​			FH 14
	​			SH 149 south	Becomes FH 30 west
	​			FH 33
	​			FH 33
	​			Camp Redcloud
	​			Castle Lakes Campground
	​			FH 36
	​			FH 35
	​			FH 12
	​			FH 5 west	Becomes FH 5 west
San Juan	​			FH 2 south	Becomes FH 2 north
	​			FH 18
	​			FH 17
	​			FH 2 west	Becomes an unmarked road
Hinsdale	​			FH 21 south	Becomes FH 21 north
	​			FH 21 north	Becomes FH 20X east
	​			FH 20 west	Becomes FH 20 east
	​			FH 24
	​			FH 23
	​			SH 149
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Sources and external links

• BLM Alpine Loop brochure

Alpine Loop gallery

• 

  Along the road to Engineer pass

• 

  Abandoned building in Animas Forks, on the Alpine Loop]]

• 

  Capitol City ghost town

• 

  California Gulch Road, near Animas Forks

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alpine Loop Scenic Byway.

References