Maggie and Minnie Gulches in Silverton, CO
The Trail: Quick Stats
Distance: From staging area off of County Rd. 2, covering both Maggie and Minnie Gulch will be about 16 miles.
Time to ride: If on an ATV/UTV, allow 2 hours for stop-offs and photos. If on a dirtbike, allow 1-2 hours with photo stops.
Elevation Gain: From the staging area to the top there is an approximate elevation gain of 2,900 feet.
Sites/Views: Middleton Townsite (staging area), Caledonia Mill Boarding House, Intersection Mine, Kitty Mack Mine, Kitty Mack Mill, waterfalls, wildflowers, and old cabins.
Best Time to Ride: Late June through early October.
Maggie and Minnie Gulches are enjoyable trails. They’re very easy and can be done in only an hour or two (with time included for photos). We enjoyed seeing the old mills, machinery, and waterfalls. Add this trail to your list the next time you’re near Silverton. The trail is busy and we passed a few jeeps on the way but didn’t see anyone once we got past the shelf road.
The Trail: Staging
Staging/Camping: Staging is located at Middleton Townsite. To get to the staging area, take Highway 550 from Silverton through downtown and turn right on CR 2. Continue for 6 miles on CR 2. You should see the parking lot on your right-hand side with a sign pointing you to Maggie Gulch and the Middleton Vault Toilet. While there is no camping allowed at the staging area, you can camp on the west side of CR 2.
Easy staging for both trails just off CR 2.
The Trail: Riding
Maggie Gulch is closer to the staging area. We found this to also be the more scenich of the two trails. If you’re short on time, I would recommend this trail. These trails are really simple and you are almost guaranteed to not get lost - this coming from someone directionally challenged! Let’s start with Maggie Gulch:
N37° 51.29’ W107° 34.35’ - take the trail north behind the toilet in the staging area.
At 0.2 miles you will pass a private road on the left. Continue straight.
At 0.9 miles, a road will join from the left (it’s a dead end). Continue straight.
At 1.2 miles, continue straight on the shelf road. I recommend taking a detour to the right to explore the bottom of the waterfall.
At 1.6 miles, continue straight.
At 3 miles, you can continue straight or go left to climb to a mine. Again, I recommend the detour!
At 3.7 miles you can go left or right. Left goes to the end of the trail and right takes you to old mine buildings and the bulldozer. The right side can be a little rutted out at times.
The top of the trail is 4.1 miles after the start! Time to turn around and go back to CR2 for Minnie Gulch.
Minnie Gulch:
The official Minnie Gulch trail start is at N37° 51.77’ W107° 34.13’. This road is marked CR 24. Turn right on CR 24 to begin the trail.
At 1.2 miles you will see the Caledonia Mill Boarding House on the left side of the road.
At 1.5 miles you can turn left to head to Kitty Mack Mine and Caledonia Mine. They are approximately 1 mile up from the turnoff. Once you’ve checked out the mines, return to the junction where you turned off from.
Continue up the trail. At the top of the road you can view a waterfall on the left. If you keep going past the waterfall, you will hit a dead end half mile down the road.
Recommended guide book:
History: Maggie and Minnie Gulches and the area
The staging area for these trails is at the Middleton. Middleton was a town named for Middle Mountain. Middle Mountain was named this because it was located halfway between Howardsville and Eureka (Eureka is the staging area for California Gulch and many other trails). Middleton was established in 1894.
When you’re riding up Minnie Gulch, you’ll be able to see remains of the tram towers that carried ore several miles down the mountain. The longest tram carried ore for over 2 miles from the Kitty Mack Mine (Kittimac) to the Kitti Mack Mill which was serviced by the Silverton Northern Railroad.