Entry No. 28 — the Grand Junction file — filed under: history
Ashcroft Ghost Town
Eleven miles up Castle Creek Road from Aspen, Ashcroft once outpaced its neighbor. Silver was struck in 1880, and within three years the town held roughly 2,000 residents, two newspapers, a school, and 20 saloons. The Tam O'Shanter Mine pulled ore so rich — up to 14,000 ounces of silver per ton — that silver baron Horace "Haw" Tabor bought in and threw a party. When the railroads stopped at Aspen in 1887–88 and the shallow veins ran out, the town emptied fast. Today the Aspen Historical Society maintains the preserved townsite on behalf of the Forest Service: a hotel shell, a saloon, a post office, interpretive signs, and almost nothing else — just wind, willows, and the Elk Mountains rising straight up behind it.
The move: Pack a picnic and walk the short loop through the preserved buildings with a docent narrating the boom-and-bust arc. The surrounding meadow and the Cathedral-Hayden peaks looming overhead make the ghost town feel genuinely remote, even though pavement runs the whole way.
📍 Before you go Admission is $5 for adults; children 18 and under are free. Docents are on site June through September; the rest of the year it is self-guided and free-roam. No dogs are allowed inside the townsite. Castle Creek Road is paved and drivable to the site in summer, but the gate closes just above Ashcroft in winter — access then requires skis or snowshoes. The road typically reopens around May 15. From Grand Junction, budget roughly 2.5 hours each way via CO-82 through Glenwood Canyon.
- 📍 Aspen
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 11000 Castle Creek Road, Ashcroft, CO 81611 — approximately 11 miles south of Aspen on Castle Creek Road
Hours: Added 2026-06-11 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4
last checked: 2026-06-11