Colorado’s Scenic and Historic Byways: Guanella Pass

Our series travelling Colorado’s Scenic and Historic Byways continues over Guanella Pass! The Guanella Pass Scenic and Historic Byway climbs through lush forests before popping travelers out above treeline, providing views of nearby fourteeners and alpine landscapes.

Guanella Pass is a former wagon trail that is now a 22-mile, paved one-way route that begins in either Georgetown or Grant. It was designated as a Colorado Scenic and History Byway in 1990 and as a U.S. Forest Service National Scenic Byway the next year. The hour-long drive offers an overview of mountain landscapes from forest to tundra and provides access to recreational activities like hiking and camping along the way.

Along with the landscape, Guanella Pass showcases Colorado’s industrial history. A 2013 Department of Transportation wayfinding report lists the many historical and cultural sites that are located along the byway. This route connects old mining and logging towns and features two of the best-preserved mining towns in Colorado: Georgetown and Silver Plume. These two towns boomed in the late 1800s when silver was discovered in the mountains nearby. People from around the world flocked to the region and their international presence was clear in establishments like the Hotel de Paris, a French-style inn opened by the eccentric immigrant Louis DuPuy in 1875. While it was open, the hotel was famous for its luxurious interiors and the French cuisine DuPuy served – tough to find elsewhere in the rural mountains! Hotel de Paris is currently operated as a museum and the fascinating story of this “fragment of old France in the depths of the Rocky Mountains” is told in a book published by History Colorado, which is available to read online in our digital collection.

For more information about the history preserved along the Guanella Pass Byway, check out the following items in our library:

• The Georgetown Loop (1986)
• The once and future Silver Queen of the Rockies : Georgetown, Colorado and the fight for survival into the twentieth century (2019)
• The rise of the Silver Queen : Georgetown, Colorado, 1859-1896 (2005)