| | Scenic Drives Gold Belt National Scenic Byway Situated on the Gold Belt National Scenic Byway, Victor is at the junction of railroad routes which serve as today's highways. Nearby Florence offers a full day of antique shopping, the Royal Gorge is a short drive away and 6 miles west, Cripple Creek casinos offer the chance to strike it rich. Victor shops house antiques, art, Victorian tea, a restored 4-story hotel and a soda fountain that serves up the best chocolate shakes anywhere. The Road to Skagway Skaguay Reservoir is a pristine mountain fishing spot and hiking opportunity. Arequa Gulch Bridge Just to Victor’s west on Highway 67 you will cross the highest bridge on the Colorado State Highway system. The bridge across Arequa Gulch was built in 2000-2001 as part of a highway realignment project to accommodate the expansion of the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold M ining Company’s (CC&V) valley fill facility. CC&V financed the design and construction.
Completed in just 11 months, the $18 million realignment project is one of the largest highway projects in the state to be financed completely with private dollars.
The new roadway is 1.9 miles long, replacing a 1.8-mile segment. The most spectacular part of the project is a 1,218-foot long bridge over Arequa Gulch. The bridge, which is 250 feet tall at its highest point, is the tallest bridge of Colorado's 8,479 bridges on the state highway system. The bridge provides travelers with unparalleled views of the Sangre De Cristo Mountain Range.
A portion of the project also involved building a scenic pullout area that enables travelers to view the mountain range and the valley far below. These are views which have never before available from the highway. At the pullout is the trailhead for the Little Grouse Mountain Tail, a project of CC&V, interpreted by the Southern Teller County Focus Group as part of its Trails of Gold project. The trail winds up the mountain to a summit with a 360-degree view of the western and southern mountains as well as nearby mountaintops. |
