Uranium Mine Trail

This hike follows Uranium Mine Road #322 up from the Fish Creek trailhead. There are beautiful views across the valley of Fish Creek Falls that you don't get from any other vantage point. It is wide open with no tree coverage for the first half of the trail, which means it can get hot in the summer. The top has wide open views of the Yampa Valley. Once the trail reaches a rocky outcrop, it bends to the right and romantically meanders through some pine and aspen forests, with little elevation gain, until it reaches Uranium Mine. There is a little path that leads to the mouth of the mine, but the opening has been gated to keep people from entering.

The mine was originally dug in the early 1950s, when uranium was needed to help develop the country's stockpile of nuclear weapons. Deposits here were found not to be economically viable for mining, and it was abandoned. Now, it's a great little day hike close to downtown Steamboat.