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 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 2.1 miles to the intersection for Maggie Gulch at these coordinates: N 37° 51' 17.52" W 107° 34' 21.72". Elevation 9,780 ft. Passenger type vehicles will want to park on the east side of the main county Road 2. Head on up Maggie Gulch. On Google Earth, this is CR23. On Trails Illustrated this is #588. The road first heads north, then switchbacks and begins the generally SE climb into Maggie Gulch. At about 1.5 miles, there's a road that veers down to the right for the Ruby Mine. Do not take. Overall, from the beginning of the Maggie Gulch Road, drive about 3.4 miles to where a road turns off sharply to the right and goes up to the Little Maud Mine. A little past that turnoff, still on the main road, there's a place where an alternate track allows one to park off the main road and begin the hike. The trailhead coordinates provided are for that spot.
On the west side of CR2 and across from the start of the Maggie Gulch Road, there is a large flat area that has become popular with trailer and pop-up type campers over the years. At times, it's almost a small town. There are no trees here and no facilities - just a place to park for the night. There's a similar area a couple more miles north at Eureka on the east side of the Animas before CR2 crosses over to the west. Overall, there are no designated campgrounds in the Animas Valley area above Silverton and numerous private claims. Be careful where you try to camp. Going up Maggie Gulch, there are really no useful sites. Best you can do is to drive well up into the tundra and see if there's a pull-off spot to vehicle camp. There are a few primitive sites up the Cunningham Gulch Road. These will usually be occupied on a weekend as well.