Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway

State: Colorado
Length: 135 miles / 216.0 km
Time to Allow: Allow a minimum of 8 hours to cover all segments of the Byway.

If you want to stay closer to Colorado Springs, try the Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway. The byway does not offer a straight drive but a circuitous route with a line intersecting the two sides. At 131 miles long, the trip can take as little as five hours to drive or much longer, depending on the time you have available. Choose this route for authentic Colorado small towns and beautiful scenery, and you can even find day tours to show you the highlights.

Start the byway in the south in Florence at the Dakota Hot Springs, also called the Well. The town offers Jeep tours, zip-lining, rafting, a petting zoo, a farm, and even a winery in a church! Do not give up on the town yet, as it offers so much more, including helicopter tours, sidecar tours, a shooting range, skydiving, biking tours, and more. After a busy day, our five trying all the activities in town, stop at the Oak Creek Grill and Tavern for a traditional American meal.

Head west to Canon City for the Royal Gorge Bridge and park. Next, travel the Skyline Drive for incredible hiking on simply drive the single-lane road up about 800 feet through local terrain but pay attention as the road is steep. Move up the tour to Phantom Canyon, filled with rough roads, rocky outcrops, and the state animal, the camouflaged bighorn sheep. You will want a four-wheel-drive car to experience the area properly.

Nearby find Red Canyon with incredible stacked rocks and dry creek beds. The area offers camping and astounding views unlike any you have ever seen. Pop up to the Shelf Rock Climbing Area and the Window rock next for unique adventures. With limestone cliffs, this is a rock climber’s dream with a variety of areas, crags, and routes for an awesome climbing experience. Window rock gives a unique view of the sky with a window in Monument Canyon, which you can access through the Window Rock trail, and it’s great for beginners.

Make sure to check out the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. With petrified redwood stumps measuring up to 14 feet wide and tons of fossils of insects and plants, this monument offers a glimpse into prehistoric Colorado. Go to Victor or Cripple Creek to look at a well-preserved gold mining town. The Garden Park Fossil Area offers fossils, mountain biking, hiking, camping, and 15 miles of trails.

The whole area offers archaeological qualities and sites with three fossil beds. It’s also part of the wild west with gold miners, saloons, and untamed land near the Rocky Mountains. While you cannot experience actual wild west life, you can glean a bit of the past by visiting where the west once was real. Every route on this byway offers historical significance, from gold mines to railroads and tons of beauty perfect for the whole family. You can even find a casino if you want a night out on the town.

More Colorado Byways

You can check out additional Byways in Colorado by clicking on the list of byways below, or by going to the Colorado Byways home section. To find even more of scenic byways in the United States, visit our scenic byways map.