Clear Creek County is a steep Rocky Mountain county where I-70 and Clear Creek form the easiest geographic line to follow. Starting near Idaho Springs in the east, the main corridor passes Downieville, Lawson, Dumont, Empire, Georgetown, and Silver Plume as it climbs west through narrow valleys. The supplied reference, city-connections, water, and elevation maps show how settlements, roads, streams, lakes, and high terrain fit together, and high-resolution JPG originals are available for download in one ZIP archive.
The official Clear Creek County municipality list includes Empire, Georgetown, Idaho Springs, and Silver Plume. The main map also labels places such as St. Mary’s, Central, Floyd Hill, Blue Valley, Pine Valley, Echo Hills, and Upper Bear Creek. That makes the reference map useful when smaller communities matter, while the city-connections view is better for a quick comparison of the four incorporated municipalities.
Terrain is the defining feature of the county. The supplied elevation map shows an actual range of about 2,103 to 4,339 meters and a mean near 3,172 meters. Lower valleys follow Clear Creek and the I-70 corridor, while high mountain terrain rises sharply to the west, south, and north. The water map reinforces the same pattern with Clear Creek, West Fork Clear Creek, Fall River, Chicago Creek, Bear Creek, and several alpine lakes.
Table of Contents
The I-70 mountain corridor from Idaho Springs to Silver Plume
I-70 is the strongest transportation reference on the county map. It enters from the east near Idaho Springs and continues west through the Dumont–Lawson–Downieville area before reaching the Georgetown and Silver Plume corridor. Empire sits farther north near US 40, so the municipality is close to the main east-west route without occupying the same narrow valley segment as Georgetown and Silver Plume.
Additional numbered routes help explain the mountain road network. US 6 appears east of the central corridor, CO 103 turns south from the Idaho Springs area, and CO 5 extends into the southern high country. In a county with steep ridges and deep valleys, roads cannot simply cross the landscape in a grid. They tend to follow stream valleys, climb passes, and curve around mountain terrain.
Clear Creek County’s official maps page offers more specialized products for roads, public lands, recreation, historic areas, and trails. The reference map on this page is intentionally broader. It works best for seeing the major communities and their relationship to I-70, US 40, streams, and the county boundary rather than for checking live road conditions or detailed access.
Communities, roads, and streams on the county reference map
Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Silver Plume, and Empire are the clearest municipality labels on the main map. Idaho Springs forms the eastern anchor, Georgetown lies farther west in the central mountain corridor, and Silver Plume is positioned beyond Georgetown toward the western side. Empire is separated to the north near US 40.
The map includes many smaller place names beyond the four municipalities. St. Mary’s appears in the north, Central and Floyd Hill are labeled on the eastern side, and Blue Valley, Pine Valley, Echo Hills, Upper Witter Gulch, and Upper Bear Creek appear in the southeast. These labels are useful for understanding how settlement extends into side valleys away from the main I-70 corridor.
This is not a parcel, property, or live navigation map. Small private roads, current closures, winter restrictions, and exact ownership boundaries are outside its purpose. Readers who need more detailed road, public-land, zoning, or recreation information can use Clear Creek County’s official mapping resources.
Idaho Springs as the hub for Georgetown, Empire, and Silver Plume
The city-connections map simplifies the county by using Idaho Springs as the hub and showing Georgetown, Empire, and Silver Plume as the major connected municipalities. With most road detail removed, it becomes much easier to compare their position inside the county and to see how far the western communities sit from the eastern hub.
The CITY CONNECTIONS box gives direct distances from Idaho Springs: roughly 12 miles to Georgetown, 11 miles to Empire, and 14 miles to Silver Plume. These are straight-line distances, not driving mileage. Mountain highways follow valleys and passes, so actual road distance and travel time can differ substantially from the simple direct measurement.
Grand, Gilpin, Jefferson, Summit, and Park counties are labeled around the outside of the map, providing regional context without adding more local detail. The view does not include every unincorporated community, so readers looking for St. Mary’s, Floyd Hill, or smaller neighborhood names should return to the main reference map.
Clear Creek, Fall River, Chicago Creek, and alpine lakes
The terrain-and-water map gives the clearest picture of how drainage cuts through the mountains. Clear Creek runs across the central part of the county, with West Fork Clear Creek joining from the west. Fall River descends through the northern half, Mill Creek appears nearby, and Chicago Creek reaches north through the central-eastern mountain valleys. Bear Creek and Vance Creek are labeled farther south and southeast.
Several small lakes and reservoirs are labeled away from the main river. Clear Lake sits near Lower Cabin Creek Reservoir and Upper Cabin Creek Reservoir in the south-central area, while Echo Lake appears farther east. Summit Lake, Naylor Lake, and Duck Lake are marked in the southern high country, making it easy to compare valley streams with high-elevation water bodies.
Clear Creek County’s official mapping pages also include a specialized Clear Creek rapids map with access information. The map on this page is broader and should not be used for whitewater difficulty, live stream flow, flood risk, water quality, or water-rights decisions. Those uses require current information from USGS and the relevant local or state agencies.
Elevation from the Clear Creek valley to terrain above 4,300 meters
The elevation map explains why settlement and transportation are concentrated in narrow valleys. Its printed summary gives an actual county range of about 2,103 to 4,339 meters with a mean near 3,172 meters. Lower green terrain follows the eastern and central valleys, while tan and brown high country dominates much of the west, southwest, and north.
The central Clear Creek and I-70 corridor is visibly lower than the ridges on both sides. High terrain expands toward the western boundary and across the southwest, while the St. Mary’s area in the north also rises well above the main corridor. Toward Idaho Springs in the east, the valley becomes one of the lower parts of the county, which helps explain the concentration of roads and communities there.
The colored surface is useful for county-wide comparison, but it is not survey-grade elevation information. It should not be used to assign an exact elevation to a home, mine site, road project, trail facility, or parcel. Detailed engineering and site work should use source data from the USGS 3D Elevation Program or professional surveying.
Choosing a Clear Creek County map and downloading the JPG originals
Use the main county map when you need Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Silver Plume, Empire, I-70, US 40, smaller communities, and streams in one view. The city-connections map is cleaner when the goal is to compare the four municipalities and their direct distances from Idaho Springs.
The terrain-and-water map is the best choice for Clear Creek, Fall River, Chicago Creek, Echo Lake, Summit Lake, and the smaller mountain reservoirs. The elevation map is more useful when the subject is the deep central valley or the rapid rise into surrounding high country. Matching the map to the question keeps the county easier to understand.
The WebP images in the article are reduced previews for faster page loading. The download archive contains the corresponding original JPG files at 3638 × 2572 pixels each, making them better suited to printing, classroom use, reports, presentations, and personal annotation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which map is best for comparing Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Empire, and Silver Plume?
Use the main reference map when roads, streams, and smaller communities matter. Use the city-connections map for the simplest comparison of the four municipalities. The mileage values on the city map are straight-line distances rather than driving distances.
Where can I see Clear Creek, Echo Lake, and Summit Lake most clearly?
The terrain-and-water map is the best choice. It labels Clear Creek, West Fork Clear Creek, Fall River, Chicago Creek, Echo Lake, Summit Lake, and several smaller lakes and reservoirs. It is a location reference rather than a flood or real-time water map.
Can the 2,103–4,339 meter elevation range be used for survey work?
No. The range is useful for comparing broad terrain across Clear Creek County, but the map is not survey-grade. Exact elevation work for construction, roads, mines, parcels, or engineering should use source USGS elevation data or professional surveying.
Map File Information
The ZIP archive contains high-resolution JPG originals of the Clear Creek County reference, city-connections, terrain-and-water, and elevation maps.
- Printable Size: 3638 × 2572 pixels each
- File Type: ZIP archive containing 4 JPG files
Related Maps
Sources and references
Municipality information is available from the official Clear Creek County Municipalities page. Additional road, public-land, recreation, and county maps are listed on the Clear Creek County official Maps page.
Additional map-data references include U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line Shapefiles for administrative boundaries, USGS National Hydrography for water features, and the USGS 3D Elevation Program for elevation data.
Green Map creates custom-edited map images using open geographic data sources such as geoBoundaries, Natural Earth, OpenStreetMap, and government open data.
These maps are edited visual materials, not raw data files, and are provided for education, documents, presentations, and graphic reference.
