Trail Overview
This through route traverses across the Golden Horseshoe, connecting the Lincoln Park area with the top of Humbug Hill and providing connections to several other routes within the trail network. The road is mostly two vehicles wide and travels through dense high-elevation forest dominated by spruce, fir, and pine. Several larger openings and previously thinned areas break up the forest and provide more open views of the surrounding terrain. The surface is primarily dirt and gravel with scattered rock, while wetter depressions may hold standing water. Fallen timber, low shrubs, grasses, and younger evergreens line much of the route. Dispersed camping can also be found in portions of the surrounding National Forest. The Golden Horseshoe road network is seasonally open May 21 through November 22 the general open season, although snow can remain well into the early summer.
Difficulty
The route has no major technical obstacles but includes whoops, dips, potholes, shallow ruts, and scattered loose rock. Some depressions may hold standing water and become muddy following rain or snowmelt.
History
The Breckenridge area was heavily shaped by the Colorado Gold Rush beginning in 1859, when gold discoveries brought prospectors into the Blue River and surrounding gulches. French Gulch, Georgia Gulch, the Swan River, and nearby mountains became important mining areas containing placer operations, hard-rock mines, settlements, and eventually large dredging operations. Several settlements once existed throughout this backcountry. Lincoln City developed in French Gulch, where placer claims and later hard-rock mines operated, while Parkville developed near Georgia Gulch and briefly served as the first county seat of Summit County. Hydraulic mining later buried the remains of Parkville beneath mining debris. Many of the roads traveled through the area today follow corridors originally used to reach mines, settlements, and other operations that supported Summit County's mining industry.
