From the Town of Silverton, drive east on the main road through town to where the paved road splits one block past the courthouse and veer right onto the blue-signed County Road 2 (set odometer here) for 4.2 miles of nicely graded dirt road to Howardsville. (On Trails Illustrated map #141, this road is labeled #110. Pavement ends after 2 miles.) From the Howardsville intersection, continue north another 4.3 miles to the old site of Eureka. The road will cross to the west side of the Animas River and continue up a steeper shelf section. It begins to get rockier here. After a short climb, take the road sharply left that heads up into Eureka Gulch. This is BLM4508. ON Google Earth, this is labelled CR25. The turnoff is about a half mile after crossing to the west side of the Animas River. Drive up this road as it heads SW, then west up Eureka Gulch about 3.5 miles to something of an old switchback. One section of road now avoids the switchback, but turn off left onto the older road and park at the switchback curve. This will serve as the trailhead. See coordinates provided.
There are no official Forest Service campgrounds in the upper Animas River valley and summer weekends can see a swarm of campers in this overall area. Something of an "RV" village tends to build up at a large flat area along the river opposite the Maggie Gulch turnoff and then at the ghost town of Eureka, there's a number of campsites east of the river. This area is now a pay-campground. There is a store here called, "The Miner & Prospector Store." Campsites as of 2021 were $20 or $40 with electric. It is best to make a reservation by going to www.eurekacampground.com or contacting [email protected]. Cabins are also available at $75 per night and hot showers may be obtained for $10.
The best campsites we have found are along the spur road that leads to the trailhead for the South Fork of the Animas, aka: The"Boulder Gulch" trailhead. The road that heads into there has several primitive sites. Lastly, you could just camp at the switchback for the trailhead to Bonita. This location is open with no trees for shelter. None of these locations have facilities of any kind.