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craftyfox's avatar
craftyfox
Explorer
Mar 05, 2015

Colorado County Rod 9

Has anyone been on County Road 9 from Cannon City to Cripple Creek?
  • craftyfox wrote:
    Thanks for the info on Old Phantom Road..we will check it out!


    We call it Phantom Canyon. Beautiful drive, all dirt, narrow and winding. Well worth the trip, but definitely not in an RV. There are some folks boondocking along the way, quite often, but usually with truck campers or tents. We used to go down there on weekends and collect fallen rocks for the garden. :)

    One of my favourite weekend drives.
  • Can't tell what rig you have but (IMHO) do NOT take an RV (unless a small C or B) on the Phantom Canyon road. very narrow in spots ( 1 car wide!) and tough switch backs!! Great, scenic, drive in car or pickup!
    On the other hand CO 9 is a good road all the way north to Kremmling - thru' Leadville, Breckenridge Frisco, Silverthorne (our old home).
  • The road from Cripple Creek that goes through Victor, Co down to Cannon City is called the Old Phantom Road. It used to be a railroad track at one time hauling mining ore. Our family has enjoyed the trip a couple of times.
  • Thanks to everyone! We got the info we needed and will probably take a drive up that way this summer when staying in Howard....looking forward to enjoying the day trip.
  • Google Maps suggests CO 9 NW and then Teller Co 11 NE, about 50 miles a little over an hour.

    There is also a county 9 (Keller?) also labeled a Garden Market (I think). From Streetview this looks like a good 2 lane road serving farms. Then 9 takes a turn and becomes Shelf Rd. Streetview ends, but Sat view looks like gravel. In Teller Co this becomes county 88. It is 26 miles (by GM) but more time than the other - so the estimated speed must be less than 30mph.

    So for pickup, car, suv it should be fine if a little slow. For big RV questionable. But you can always ask locally.

    Photo tour of 'shelf road' with video
    http://www.takemytrip.com/10utco/08n_30a.htm
  • craftyfox wrote:
    Has anyone been on County Road 9 from Cannon City to Cripple Creek?


    Which County? You're talking about 2 different counties, Fremont and Teller and I'm not familiar with a County Rd 9 in either one. There's CO 9 (Colorado State Highway) that runs out of Canon City to Hartsel (which is not a difficult drive), but it doesn't go to Cripple Creek. There's also CO 67 that does run from Canon City to Cripple Creek.
  • The road isn't bad. We drove it last year. Pulled our rig on Hwy 9 all the way to Breckenridge. Going to Cripple Creek you will be getting off on Hwy 11/1 which is a good road too. When you get closer to Cripple Creek there are some switch backs and a little climb, just take your time and enjoy the ride. Message if you need to know more.
  • Is this a county in Colorado, or a county named Colorado in some other state? Or is this thread none of my business?