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Attention Porsche Enthusiasts and Foodies- Registration is now open!

This scenic driving tour will depart from Porsche Colorado Springs after a light breakfast. We will head to Buena Vista for Lunch followed by a breath-taking drive over Independence Pass arriving in Snowmass early in the afternoon. There will be plenty of time to enjoy the Crestwood Condominium’s amenities before their Welcome Wine reception. Friday dinner will also be included at a local restaurant. On Saturday morning, join us for a half day tour up to Paonia with lunch included. We will be back early afternoon, so everyone has time to relax before heading across the street to the Heritage Fire Event (participants have option of purchasing Heritage Fire Tickets or Dining on their own). This wonderful multiple hour dining event will conclude the amazing weekend.

For those who have not heard of the Heritage Fire Snowmass Event – here is a short description: Presented by Cochon555, Heritage Fire is a premiere, whole-animal, nationwide food and wine tour celebrating heritage breed livestock and heirloom produce. The afternoon feast offers an endless array of sustainably sourced food from the region’s top family farms and local purveyors, prepared by some of the region’s best chefs.

Registration will offer the base tour (all meals on Friday, Breakfast & Lunch on Saturday) and lodging on Friday and Saturday night in beautiful one bedroom condominiums.

If you would like to share a Condo with another registrant, just contact us and we can verify pricing and availability of larger units. We are also happy to modify registrations for anyone coming from an area other than Colorado Springs that would like to meet up with us in Snowmass (such as our Western Slope Friends).

Looking forward to those who can join us!

Join us in your Porsche or other off-road vehicle on the Gold-Belt Byway Off Road Tour.

We will meet at Porsche Colorado Springs at 8 a.m.  Please park next door at Colorado Springs Powersports (945 Motor City Drive).

Please complete the PCA Off-Road Driving Tour Self-Inspection Safety Checklist.pdf before arriving and bring to check-in (required to participate in this off-road tour)

The tour will take you through Phantom Canyon, lunch in Victor and continue along Shelf Road, ending in Cañon City.

This could be considered a group training drive, for club members to go out on their own later in the year for leaf peeping season.

(Leaf peeping is an informal term in the United States and Canada for the activity in which people travel to view and photograph the fall foliage in areas where leaves change colors in autumn. An organized excursion for leaf peeping is known as a foliage tour or color tour.)

Phantom Canyon Road

This road is one of the most scenic and historic drives in Colorado. The route increases in elevation from 5,500 to 9,500 feet and offers the chance to see a wide range of plants and wildlife in their natural setting. The gravel road follows the route of the Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad built in 1894 as a connection from Florence to the goldfields of Cripple Creek and Victor.

The unique bridges and tunnels offer a visual link to the area’s historic past. The road condition and narrow bridges encourage people to slow down and view the scenery. Twelve stations were established along the F&CC Railroad grade to service the trains hauling coal and supplies upgrade and gold ore downgrade to Florence’s smelters. As you drive the route, interpretive displays and signs designate the historic sites along the Gold Belt Line.

EARLY LUNCH STOP Gold Camp Bakery

They offer a wide selection of German and American items. Their German menu selection is not as sweet as the typical American pastries. For lunch they offer sandwiches on their freshly baked breads, salads, soups, chicken pot pies, miner’s pasties. They have a wide selection of cakes, pies and cookies, etc. We can call ahead to order pies and desserts for take home (Address: 112 S 3rd St, Victor, CO 80860).

Shelf Road

Shelf Road transformed an untraveled wilderness into a major route for the stagecoaches and freight wagons traveling between the Arkansas Valley and the Cripple Creek Gold Mining District. The rugged route’s name is ‘THE SHELF’, a five-mile stretch of road that hugs the sheer rock walls of above Fourmile Creek.

Originally called the Cañon City and Cripple Creek Toll Road, Cañon City’s business leaders financed the road. The toll collectors lived in small cabins nestled at either end of the Shelf and collected tolls every time a horse, wagon or stagecoach passed.

The toll varied from 30 cents to $1.75 for single riders, wagons, and stagecoaches. Ranchers driving cattle along the road paid for each head. Eventually, competition from railroads put the toll road out of business. Fremont County purchased the road and opened it as a free road. This road has made for a memorable trip since its construction in 1892 so be prepared for a driving adventure.