Difficulty Rating: 2. It is an easy graded road up to the Ghost Town, and a passenger car can easily make it to that point. After the Ghost Town there are a few minor areas that require a little more clearance giving it the rating of 2. Once you are at the lakes, there are a network of roads going around the lakes that are fun. We went on one and it was a rating of 4.
Location: South of Telluride on highway 145
Trailhead: The trail starts 5.3 miles south on highway 145 from the roundabout just outside of Telluride. It is 1.9 miles north of the turn off for Ophir Road. GPS coordinates are 37.883931, -107.888300 (37°53'02.1"N 107°53'17.9"W). The road ends at Alta Lakes and you come out the way you go in.
This is an easy graded road to the ghost town of Alta. There are some buildings that are still in decent condition. This town was here for the Gold King Mine, where they mined gold, silver, copper, and lead. This mine stayed operation longer than most mines in the area.
After the ghost town, the road get slightly more rough and that is why I gave it a rating of 2. When you reach the lakes there is a nice little campground. I was surprised to see the number of people camping up there. Our plan was to eat lunch at Alta Lakes, but I didn't expect that many people. We had to drive part way around one of the lakes to find a spot to eat. Lucky for me, the roads around the lakes are rough and I had to put it in 4-wheel drive. Some parts have a rating of 4 where I went because they were pretty torn up, but these are optional so I didn't make the over-all rating higher than 2.
On the way back down we took a detour up Gold King Basin. It was a short drive, maybe only a mile or so. The basin was gorgeous, typical for the San Juan Mountains and worth the slight detour.
We sure find great spots for lunch
Wouldn't it be nice if my daughter would smile normally?
I had to tickle her (my daughter, not my wife) to get this smile...
This and the next 3 pictures are Gold King Basin
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