Aside from the gaming, food, and fun we have right here in our three casinos, the area is full of great things to do! Call 877-858-4653 for more information.
Enhance your visit to Cripple Creek, Colorado Springs, or Cañon City areas with a wide variety of local attractions that let you relive our nation’s past or simply breathe in the fresh mountain air of the Colorado Rockies. Blaze a trail on horseback, take a scenic bike ride, pan for gold, and much more.
Local attractions, including museums, theater, and tours, are described below.
Tours
Pikes Peak Heritage Center at Cripple Creek
In the late 1800s, thousands of fortune-seekers made their way to Pikes Peak. Gold had been discovered, and that discovery started the country’s last great gold rush.
Now, more than a century later, visitors to the region can make their own discoveries at the newest member of Pikes Peak Country Attractions Association, the Pikes Peak Heritage Center at Cripple Creek. This new state-of-the-art interpretive center that overlooks the town of Cripple Creek.
Visitors to the Pikes Peak Heritage Center can learn about gold mining yesterday and today, geologic and human history, view displays that showcase the unique mountain environment, and learn about regional recreational activities and attractions.
This 11,600-square-foot facility is built in a style that is reminiscent of historic Cripple Creek and features interactive displays that allow visitors to immerse themselves in the past glory days of this world-famous gold mining camp, when it was a rambunctious community of miners, ministers and madams. Other displays will showcase captivating historic photography, flora and fauna, the area’s world-class dinosaur discoveries, and Pikes Peak – America’s Mountain.
Prices: Free
9283 S. Highway 67
Cripple Creek, CO 80813
877-858-4653
VisitCrippleCreek.com
Historic Rail Tour
At the height of the Pikes Peak gold rush activity, the narrow gauge Cripple Creek Railroad, called the “Gold Belt Line,” had trains running three times a day until 1912. Today, the Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad features a steam locomotive that takes visitors on a winding loop of four miles through the historic gold mining district from mid-May to mid-October. The tour includes a stop at a ghost mining town and many special photo opportunities.
Mollie Kathleen Mine Tour
One of the most enduring of Cripple Creek’s attractions is a tour of one of the nation’s only remaining working gold mines. Located just a few miles out of Cripple Creek, on the southwest slope of Pikes Peak, the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine is 10,000 feet above sea level and a true example of Pikes Peak gold rush mining. Reminiscent of the local gold rush history, visitors are invited to don their miner’s helmets and ride a skip 100 stories down a vertical shaft into the heart of the mine. From there, they are led by an experienced miner on a guided educational tour that demonstrates the equipment, methods, and transportation of the gold miners, and gold, of yore. Mined ore samples are offered at the end of the tour as free souvenirs. It’s guaranteed fun for the entire family.
Museums
Cripple Creek District Museum
The Cripple Creek District Museum is the perfect setting in which to learn about the area’s history. A three-building complex, the museum offers visitors a complete look at mining paraphernalia and mineral samples, along with photos, paintings, furniture, and more collected from the region.
Cripple Creek Outlaws and Lawmen Jail Museum
With a long history of claim jumping, robbery, and other criminal activity, the Cripple Creek Outlaws and Lawmen Jail Museum celebrates the outlaws and lawmen of the wild west. Like every other gold rush town, Cripple Creek had its share of fortune hunters and troublemakers attempting to skirt the law and a legendary group of men sworn to keep the peace.
Old Homestead Museum
The Homestead House, now the Old Homestead Museum, was once the most notorious brothel in Cripple Creek, Colorado. Owned by Pearl DeVere and renowned for impeccable service, famous customers, and glamorous madams, the Old Homestead House is now a museum fully restored with handmade, turn-of-the-century furnishings.
