Lulu City Historic Site

Lulu City is a former silver-mining townsite in the meadowed Kawuneeche Valley, reached from Colorado River Trailhead. It is Rocky Mountain National Park’s only platted ghost town. I’d choose it for a longer river-and-meadow hike with a real mining story, especially if you’re happy with scattered remains. The outing is a poor fit if you want intact streets or a broad summit panorama.

Plan for about a 7½-mile out-and-back. Published one-way distances vary from 3.1 to 3.7 miles, so leave room for the longer figure. The route starts with a short climb, then follows forest, river edge and open meadow. The final spur drops toward the townsite, which means a climb back out. Parking, six picnic tables and a vault toilet are at the trailhead. There’s no confirmed drinking-water source along the route, so bring what you’ll need. Trail Ridge Road east toward Many Parks Curve usually closes from mid-October to Memorial Day; check road status if you’re approaching from the Estes Park side.

The Colorado River parallels much of the walk, and the forest opens into meadows with views toward the Never Summer Mountains. Visitors repeatedly value the quiet river valley and meadow scenery. The walk is the main reward here; the destination itself has only a small number of surviving structures.

Silver was found here in 1879. Fort Collins entrepreneurs Benjamin F. Burnett and William Baker organized a company to lay out the town, which Burnett named for his daughter Lulu. By 1881, the settlement had about 40 cabins, a hotel and a post office. Low-grade ore and the cost of hauling it out helped the boom fade within a few years. Part of the old Grand Lake-to-Lulu City wagon road lies along the modern route. The townsite later became part of the park in 1949.

Three cabin ruins are still recognizable, with smaller traces from six other buildings. Shipler Mine tailings appear about two miles into the hike; look for the old ore car and cabin remains around Crater Creek, where the cabin can be easy to miss. Some visitors find the ruins slight for the distance, so come for the whole valley walk as much as the town. For a photo, a wide view of the meadow, shallow pool and forested ridge shows the setting better than a tight frame of a single ruin.