Jefferson, Colorado

The Hungry Moose Caboose serves up burgers and shakes seasonally to satisfy the summer passer-byers. There’s also a historic railroad depot and one-room schoolhouse in Jefferson.

The town is about twenty minutes east of Fairplay on Highway 285, at the western start of Kenosha Pass. The elevation is 9,501 feet.

Recreation

Camping – If you want to camp off the grid, Lost Park has the campsites. There are numerous free, dispersed campsites once you get several miles back on Lost Park Road (1 miles east of town, take right (going south). This deadends at a Lost Park Campground, which has 12 sites and is first-come, first-serve. It’s 20 miles back, but the drive can take well over an hour. The primitive campsites before hand are easier to reach. The South Fork Lost Creek meanders by them.

Background

Jefferson is an unincorporated community and a U.S. Post Office in Park County, Colorado, United States. It is located the northern end of South Park, along U.S. Route 285, approximately 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Fairplay, at the western foot of Kenosha Pass. It lies 6 miles (10 km) from Como, 23 miles (37 km) from Bailey, and 37 miles (60 km) from Breckenridge. The town consists largely of a strip of retail businesses along U.S. Route 285, as well as a small unpaved grid of houses and trailers on the south side of the highway. The most notable landmarks in town are a historic one-room schoolhouse and the Historic Jefferson Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad (DSP&P RR)Depot (c. 1880), highly visible in the surrounding grasslands of South Park. The Jefferson Post Office has the ZIP Code 80456.^[2]