Of all my adventures in 2020, the hike to Skagway Powerplant was by far the most intriguing. From navigating a river for over 11 miles and crossing it 16 times to stepping back in time as I gazed at a 1900s brick façade that houses the remnants of electricity generators, there is no other hike as unique as the Skagway Powerplant trek.
This rather impromptu trip started with an overnight stay under the stars in Colorado’s blissful San Isabelle National Forest. COVID had all but closed everything down in Colorado Springs, so Ciara and I took to camping almost immediately. One evening, I had stumbled across an article online about an abandoned powerplant that was about an hour away from Colorado Springs. I asked Ciara if she’d like to turn exploring this spot it into a weekend camping trip and she happily said yes. It would be our first camping trip together!
We spent the first half of the evening collecting firewood to build a fire and the second half roasting smores over it–this girl knew how to camp! We crawled into my rooftop tent around 11:00pm or so and got a good night’s sleep for the next day’s adventures.
Waking to the sounds of birds singing, scavengers on the ground rustling up leaves, and a gentle morning breeze through the mountain pines is tranquility personified. Climbing out of the tent, Ciara stoked the coals from the fire to heat some delicious breakfast burritos she had prepped the night before, and I made coffee. With no idea of how long this fabled trip to an abandoned powerplant could last, we prepared our stomachs for what could be the last big meal for a while.
We did a little Jeeping to get back across the small stream we camped near, then it was off to Skagway Reservoir to find the trailhead!
Winding through the forest roads in the Rockies, we passed through a series of tunnels that appeared to be created decades ago. As we pressed our way through these massive holes in the mountainside, we eventually came across a sign that outlined the history of the road we were on–Gold Camp Road.
Gold Camp Road (as it’s now known) was originally an established war trail created by the Utes (a Native American tribe) pre-1900. Beginning near Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, this war trail crossed along the south slope of Pikes Peak, or Tava, as the Utes called it. In 1890, gold was discovered in Cripple Creek and as such, a railroad was needed to haul the precious metal into Colorado Springs in an efficient way. The war trail quickly became the Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek District Railroad, reaching completion in 1901.
Post WWI, the railroad company went out of business due to competition from another railroad operation. A wealthy man bought the failed railroad for pennies on the dollar, removed all the tracks, put toll booths in place, and opened a highway for transportation between Cripple Creek and Colorado Springs–the Corley Mountain Highway. From 1926 to 1939, the highway made Corley a good deal of money as an awe-inspiring tourist attraction before the permit for the highway expired, forcing the road to be turned over to the federal government. The government dubbed the road Gold Camp Road in 1939 and allowed visitors to use the road free of charge.
Ok, history lesson over, back to the exploring lol
We parked at Skagway Reservoir and made our way south along the West Beaver Creek for what was the beginning of an 11.4-mile round trip. The initial few miles of the hike are along pristine grassland in the mountains where the spillway would be for the Skagway Reservoir. We made good time here, making the mistake of thinking this is how it would be the whole time–definitely not the case.
After a few miles, the trail quickly turned to rugged hiking ad scrambling up and down steep grades and boulders, forcing you to cross the river a total of 8 times on the way to the powerplant. Ciara quickly realized that Nikes were not the best shoe for gripping the narrow logs that were placed to help hikers cross the river, but she did her best lol.
Successfully across the river all 8 times and in sill in one piece, we paused at a clearing in the canyon and spotted an industrial brick building on top of a hill–we had made it!
The immediate sensation was one of eeriness and wonder at the same time. How had this place stood the test of time? How old was this place? Did people live here or commute by foot or horseback? What happened and where did everyone go? Did they leave or are they buried in these hills? We pressed on into the small village, hoping to find any clues to answer our many, many questions.
All the glass had been broken and every floorboard had a distinct creakiness that caused you to tread lightly. The ceilings were so low that at 6’0″, I had to wonder if I was going to hit my head as I crossed through each doorway. The foundations in each of the buildings had all but given way to the shifting rock beneath them and each structure leaned towards the creek about a hundred feet below us in the canyon. Some roofs remained intact, but others had been destroyed by the elements or by things simply falling on them
Most interesting was the sense of urgency you could feel with regards to everyone leaving. This begged the question: did people leave or did something terrible happen? Children’s toys were still lying about, fences were still upright around the gardening areas, and all the heavy machinery needed to generate power was still in its original place. Ciara and I wandered through what was likely the main generation building and touched the rusted metal once used to generate power with no idea how the power was generated or where it was ultimately sent to. Questions flooded our minds.
After thoroughly exploring each of the still-standing buildings, Ciara and I climbed a nearby rock for a well-deserved rest. We opened the backpack, pulled out our sandwiches, and rested in the grandness of history and determination. 5.5-ish miles in, we didn’t want to acknowledge that we still had 5.5-ish more to go lol. As we concocted stories about what we thought might have happened here, we decided that once we got out of the canyon and back to the Jeep, we would research the history of this ghost town to satisfy our curiosity.
With one final gaze at the mysterious Skagway Powerplant, we tightened our laces and started back to the Jeep.
Just over 5 and 1/2 miles and 8 more river crossings later, we had made it back to the Jeep where the shoes came off, and the fresh socks were put on. Our feet were exhausted! We pulled out of the Skagway Reservoir parking lot and made our way towards the town of Divide before ultimately heading back to Colorado Springs. Along the drive, Ciara pulled up an article that went into excruciating detail of the powerplant that was originally posted in the Colorado Springs Gazette years ago.
The short of it is that the Skagway Powerplant was commissioned in 1901 to serve electricity to the nearby town of Victor. in 1899, 500 men worked tirelessly to build a dam in the canyon and laid 5 miles of pipe to carry water from the reservoir with enough pressure to move 5 massive turbines at the powerplant. Power flowed into Victor for over 60 years until one day in 1965 when rain started to fall and continued to fall for 15 straight days. The ensuing rain culminated in a 5-foot-high wall of water that crashed over the Skagway dam, flooding the canyon, and obliterating the pipeline laid all those years ago. Mentions of restoring the plant were made, but the sheer difficulty proved to be too much, leaving the powerplant was completely abandoned and all but forgotten.
If you’re planning on making this hike, be sure you are an experienced hiker and you have the appropriate gear. The 11.4 miles are not a walk in the park, rather they are across rivers, up and down large boulders, and stalked by mountain lions constantly. Take care if you decide to endure this journey, and always remember to leave places like this a little better than you find them.
For a full read of all the grandness that is Skagway Powerplant, I recommend reading this article here.