Red Cliff, CO

Red Cliff is an Eagle County statutory town in the upper Eagle River canyon, just off U.S. 24 north of Tennessee Pass. Miners from Leadville founded it in 1879 during Colorado’s silver boom, and the red quartzite cliffs around the site supplied the name. The town sits below the highway, reached by a side road toward Shrine Pass, with the Red Cliff Truss Bridge marking the entrance over the river. Its history also includes the 1879 Meeker Incident, after which local men built a stone fort near the junction of Turkey Creek and the Eagle River. The local shorthand is silver camp, red cliffs, river canyon, and Shrine Pass road.