Lake City, Colorado

Lake City began as a mining camp in 1874 after the Enos Hotchkiss road building party found gold in the nearby hills. The town flourished in the 1880's with two banks, two breweries, seven saloons, and the first church and first newspaper on Colorado's Western Slope. Then the US Congress changed the rules and the silver boom ran out.

Early in 1874 (before Enos Hotchkiss was hired to build the road), Alfred "Alferd" Packer, the Colorado Cannibal, had his most infamous meal just two miles upstream from where Lake City is now. When he was eventually caught in Wyoming in 1883 and brought back to face justice, his first trial took place in the Hinsdale County Courthouse in Lake City.

Today, Lake City is primarily a tourist attraction, surrounded as it is by numerous ghost towns and some of the most scenic countryside in America. There are 5 peaks over 14,000' nearby: Uncompahgre, Wetterhorn, Sunshine, Handies, and Redcloud, and another 26-13er's in the area. Lake San Cristobal, second largest natural lake in Colorado, is just up the road, as is the Slumgullion Earthflow.

Lake City is a very well preserved town full of turn-of-the-century Victorian architecture. It's easy to see that once upon a time, this was a bustling and very prosperous place. The location is remote and beautiful. The Alpine Loop Scenic Byway starts here, and the the Silver Thread Scenic Byway passes through on its journey between Gunnison and Creede.

In the summertime, this town must be pretty crowded with all the folks coming here to escape the cities, the modern world and the heat. I'd be hard put to find a nicer place... and as you can see from some of the photos, I passed through in the height of the fall colors (and again in the "heat" of winter). How many of the summer refugees stay long enough to enjoy this?