The Colorado Canyon That Bet on Silver and Lost and the Town Below It That Shouldn’t Exist

In 1765, a Spanish explorer named Juan Rivera rode into southwest Colorado chasing a rumor stories of silver, backed by a silver ingot a Ute trader had shown him. He was so sure of it he named the mountains for the payoff: Sierra de la Plata. The Silver Mountains.

The name was a promise. The mountains never kept it.

I’ve run the famous Colorado trails Imogene, Black Bear. For this episode of Recon America, I wanted the one history forgot: up La Plata Canyon, over Kennebec Pass at more than two miles above sea level, and down into Durango a town that, by all the boom-and-bust logic of the Old West, shouldn’t still exist.

The Loser’s Canyon

La Plata Canyon got its rush about a century after Rivera placer gold turned up in 1873, and a camp called Parrott City sprang up the next year. It did well enough to become the county seat in 1876. Then Durango came along, took the county seat in 1881, and Parrott City faded until there was next to nothing left. Today the canyon is quiet: a waterfall, a $22-a-night campground, old cabin chimneys, and mining ruins scattered up toward timberline.

The climb tops out past the Cumberland Mine ruins sitting above 11,000 feet, then over Kennebec Pass and if you’re not a fan of shelf roads, the stretch near the top will get your attention. There’s an overlook up there with a drop of a couple thousand feet, and on this trip, a wildfire visible in the distance to remind you how big this country is.

The Town That Shouldn’t Exist

Here’s the part I love. The canyon that had all the mineral promise went bust. The town at the bottom of the hill is still booming and mining had nothing to do with it.

In 1880, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad wanted to build through Animas City. The town said no. So the railroad did what railroads did back then: it founded its own town just down the valley and named it Durango. By the end of that first year, 2,000 people lived there. Animas City eventually got absorbed into the city it snubbed, and the railroad Durango was built for — the Durango–Silverton line, completed in 1882 is still running today. You can stand at the train museum and watch the same route operate 140-plus years later.

Parrott City bet on silver. Durango bet on the railroad. One of them is a chimney in a meadow. The other one served me the best breakfast burrito of the trip.

Watch the Full Episode

The full episode La Plata Canyon, Kennebec Pass, and the town that shouldn’t exist — is live now:

▶ Watch: This Colorado Trail Leads to a Town That Shouldn’t Exist —

Planning your own run? The La Plata Canyon–Kennebec Pass route is a slower-paced trail day the payoff is history and high-country views, not rock crawling. Air down before the climb, give the shelf road respect near the top, and plan your night around Junction Creek — dispersed spots fill up, and the campground just outside Durango is a solid fallback. Then go eat in town. Durango’s earned it.

Until next time, safe travels.

Brad