The colorful old mining camps of the Silver Thread offer

history, scenic beauty, and a heavy dose of authenticity. The

heights around Creede and Lake City remain strewn with abandoned

mining structures, most of them accessible via rugged backcountry

roads. Between the two towns, Highway 149 shadows the upper reaches

of the Rio Grande, serving up a bounty of natural wonders -

sparkling North Clear Creek Falls, the Slumgullion earth slide, and

the shark-like fin of Uncompahgre Peak. These mountains can be

unforgiving: In 1848 explorer John C. Fremont lost a third of his

men - and a quarter of a century later the infamous Alfred Packer

cannibalized his companions - in two ill-fated winter

expeditions.