Entry No. 13 — the Fort Collins file — filed under: ghost-town
Teller City Ghost Town
“You will probably have the whole town to yourselves.”
In 1879 silver pulled 1,500 people into this lodgepole forest below the Never Summers — 27 saloons, a newspaper, and the 40-room Yates Hotel. Then the ore played out in 1884 and they bolted so fast that, legend says, plates and silverware were left set for supper. Now a 3/4-mile Forest Service loop wanders past sagging log cabins and foundations, with broken crockery and bottle glass still scattered in the duff. You will probably have the whole town to yourselves.
The story
In 1879, silver strikes dragged fifteen hundred prospectors into a dense stand of lodgepoles below the Never Summer Mountains. Almost overnight, Teller City materialized out of raw timber, complete with twenty-seven saloons, its own newspaper, and the sprawling, 40-room Yates Hotel. For five years, it stood as North Park's loudest boomtown—a place where miners poured high-altitude silver down barroom drains faster than they could haul it out of the ground.
The bust hit like a mountain freeze. By 1884 the ore ran thin, and the exit was so hasty it turned into regional myth—legend says families fled so fast they left dinner plates set on table linens and silverware sitting half-cleaned in basins. The forest reclaimed the clearing almost immediately. The grand hotel collapsed, the saloons rotted into compost, and the entire city retreated into a quiet three-quarter-mile Forest Service loop off Forest Road 740.
What you find today isn't a preserved historic village with velvet ropes—it's real decay. The loop winds past roofless log cabins folding under decades of heavy snow, dry-stacked stone foundations filled with saplings, and carpets of purple bottle glass, iron nails, and Victorian stoneware half-buried in the pine duff.
What it's like
Turn east off CO-125 onto Jackson County Road 21 about two miles south of Rand, then take the left fork onto Forest Road 740 for roughly 3.5 miles. Park in the dirt pullout on the right and cross the road to the trail. The walk itself is an easy, flat loop through high-elevation timber, but the stillness is absolute—you will almost certainly have the ruins to yourselves. Don't touch or collect a thing; every rusted hinge and blue glass shard is federal property, protected right where it landed when the town panicked in 1884.
The move: Walk the loop slowly at golden hour, pick which collapsing cabin you two would have claimed in 1883, and leave every shard of crockery exactly where it lies.
📍 Before you go From CO-125 about two miles south of Rand, turn east on Jackson County Road 21, then take the left fork onto Forest Road 740 for roughly 3.5 miles; parking is a pullout on the right with the trailhead across the road. The dirt roads are fine for most cars when dry, but snow closes access outside summer, and the alternate route over Skeleton Pass from Gould needs 4WD and high clearance. The loop itself is an easy walk at high elevation; artifacts are protected, so look but do not pocket. Pair it with the moose-watching deck at State Forest State Park on the drive back through Gould.
- 📍 Walden
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: Teller City Interpretive Trail, Forest Rd 740 (via Jackson County Rd 21 off CO-125, ~2 miles south of Rand), Walden, CO 80480
Hours: Added 2026-06-11 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- North Park Pioneer Museum — Follow up the abandoned logs of Teller City by seeing where many of North Park's surviving 1880s pioneer artifacts actually ended up.
- Manhattan Ghost Town & Cemetery — Double down on 1880s mining busts with another forgotten Northern Colorado boom camp buried high above the canyon.
- Crown Point B-17 Crash Site — Trade nineteenth-century silver rush ruins for a remote, high-altitude military aircraft wreck hidden deep in the same forest range.
Good to know
How do I reach the trailhead?
Drive CO-125 about two miles south of Rand, turn east onto Jackson County Road 21, take the left fork onto Forest Road 740, and follow it 3.5 miles to a dirt parking pullout on the right.
Can standard passenger cars handle the roads?
When dry in summer, standard passenger cars can easily handle Jackson County Road 21 and Forest Road 740. Snow closes access in winter, and the rough alternate route over Calamity Pass strictly requires high clearance and 4WD.
Can I take pieces of glass or rusted iron as souvenirs?
No. All artifacts, crockery shards, and cabin logs are federally protected archeological materials. Look and photograph, but leave every item exactly where you find it.
How long does it take to walk the trail?
The interpretive loop is an easy 3/4-mile walk that takes 30 to 45 minutes to explore at a slow pace, though keep in mind the high elevation.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: fs.usda.gov · uncovercolorado.com · visitnorthparkco.com · 4x4explore.com
last checked: 2026-06-11