Weehawken Trail #206 to Alpine Mine and Overlook

To gain access to the Alpine Mine, first follow the Weehawken Trail #206 from Thistledown Campground. After a mile of steep switchbacks, you'll gain about 1,200 feet on a broad mountainside rife with panoramic views of the Amphitheater, Yankee Boy Basin, and a waterfall draining from Fall Creek in the lowest flanks of Hayden Mountain North and Hayden Mountain South. From here, a trail marker offers you a choice between continuing on to the Weehawken Creek Overlook, or turning right for the Alpine Mine and overlook. Turning right, the trail rises with the forest to a bald outcrop and a lofty vantage over Yankee Boy Basin and the surrounding peaks. Folding back to the west, the scree-covered slopes of a steep seasonal drainage heralds hikers into another quick burst of switchbacks to meet with the remains of the mine at the head of the gully. Wrapping to the east side of the drainage to scale the last 700 feet, the terrain levels just shy of 11,000 feet on a moderately exposed ledge near the mine, then gains the overlook's ridge, some 3,000 feet above Ouray.

Mining remains of the area's glory days litter Ouray, and nearly every trail features them in one way or another. Sitting at about 10,800 feet, 2.5-miles from the trailhead, the Alpine Mine once tried to strike it rich in gold and lead. Today, you can still find the old ore cart left as it was on a section of track, and parts of what look to be an engine.