Ashcroft: A Restored Silver-Mining Ghost Town Near Aspen

Ashcroft boomed after silver was discovered in the spring of 1880 by prospectors Charles B. Culver and W.F. Coxhead. For a few years it was a busy transportation junction and mining town that rivaled nearby Aspen, but its ore veins proved to be shallow surface deposits. By 1883 residents were already moving to Aspen, sometimes hauling their own cabins with them, and by 1912 fewer than 50 people remained.

Today Ashcroft sits within the White River National Forest, where the Aspen Historical Society operates and stewards the townsite under a U.S. Forest Service permit. The Nationally Registered historic site preserves several restored and relocated buildings set in alpine meadows at the headwaters of Castle Creek, with trails and interpretive signage explaining the town's brief silver-rush story.

For RV travelers, Ashcroft is a short, rewarding detour from Aspen, roughly 11 miles up Castle Creek Road. Self-guided visits run year-round on an honor system, with docents on-site in summer, so a rented motorhome based in the Roaring Fork Valley puts the ghost town and surrounding peaks within easy reach.