Minnie Gulch

Minnie Gulch trail offers wonderful views with colorful wildflowers contrasted by relics of a bygone age of hard rock mining for precious metals. Many other trails in the San Juan Mountains offer the same views and artifacts, however Minnie Gulch offers something that the more well known trails can't.... solitude! Being a dead end trail, Minnie Gulch does not share the tourist traffic the other trails in the area have. This lends to a relaxing journey that may very well not be shared with any other drivers. Another result of this is that some of the mining structures are so well preserved they look as though they were only recently abandoned. A perfect example of this is the Caledonia Mill Boarding House. Missing only its windows,the structure's stout construction has stood the test of time, making it appear that the nearly 120-year old building could almost be lived in.