Cortez, Co to Colorado Springs, CO (CO 160 to Walsenburg, I-25 to Colorado Springs) This is the stretch where we finally cross the last ranges of the Rockies and emerge onto the western edge of the Great Plains. Leaving Cortez Sunday morning in brilliant sunshine (!), the road twists and turns through the foothills of the Rockies until Pagosa Springs, where those snow-clad behemoths that have been lurking in the background suddenly are in our face and we hit the last, great pass. It’s a stunning climb up switchbacks carved into the granite peaks with small waterfalls splashing onto the highway until we eventually reach the crest and start heading down. The view opens up to the San Luis Valley, a geographic anomaly in the middle of the Rockies. The valley was created as the floor of a prehistoric lake and is virtually flat, approximately 50 miles across, bounded on the west, north and east by numerous 10,000’ peaks. This is the northern extension of the high desert around Taos, New Mexico (to the south) and is drained by the Rio Grande River (which I learned takes 1,800 miles to reach the Gulf of Mexico in south Texas after rising high in the Rockies). This is hard working country with Alamosa the largest town. It’s not a tourist destination, but rather a stop along the way. The exception to this is the somewhat bizarre Great Sand Dunes National Park. Because of a combination of geography and weather, a huge ridge of sand dunes has built along the northeast edge of the valley, hard up against the massive peaks of the Rockies. It was hard to get a picture that does then justice, but here are two attempts. The first was taken from about 15 miles away, while the second was taken standing at the base of the eastern edge of the dunes.
But here’s the most interesting thing: the dunes “sing”. I have read about this phenomenon before, but never experienced. Apparently as the wind blows over the dunes and they move sound is created. It kind of sounded like a herd of “mooing” cows, low but ever-changing in tone. Really interesting…
The road then travels through a rather low pass onto the edge of the Great Plains and hits the interstate at Walsenburg. It’s dry and hot as we turn north to Colorado Springs. The plan is to stay at Cheyenne Mountain State Park on the southern edge of the city. Colorado Springs sits right at the bottom of the Rockies, which rise abruptly from the plains on the Front Range. Just before the city at the base of Cheyenne Mountain is Fort Carson, a large army base (which delivered reveille – 6:30am and taps – 10:00pm every day), and about half way up the side of the mountain is the state park. It’s a great place to stay. The day was hot and sunny, but up on the mountainside there was a breeze and it was at least 10 degrees cooler. The views are amazing. Here’s the view from our campsite, first looking up at Cheyenne Mountain to the west, and then looking out over the plains to the east (if the picture was bigger and you looked REAL hard, I’ll bet you could see the top of the Statue of Liberty!!!!)
Colorado Springs is a great area to visit with quite a variety of things to experience, even for the sedentary traveler like myself! Within 10 miles of the city center are a ghost town, restored mining towns of Old Colorado and Manitou Springs, and the Garden of the Gods. The Garden of the Gods is immediately on the west edge of the city (kind of like Portland’s Forest Park, except instead of Beaverton to the west it’s Pike’s Peak). Jagged shards of colored rock erupt from the ground.
The weather has not cooperated in the sense that the mornings are beautiful but by noon the thunderstorms start to build and it rained off and on every afternoon. That was OK because both Augie and I were a bit under the weather as well, so we didn’t get as much “adventuring” done but sure enjoyed the view!
Colorado Springs, CO to Billings, MT (I-25 to Denver, US 85 to Cheyenne, I-25 to Buffalo, WY, I-90 to Billings, MT) Going from Colorado Springs to Billings it’s hard to stick to my guideline to stay off the interstate because for huge stretches of road there are no other options. This isn’t the Willamette Valley I’m traveling through! I had hoped to avoid traffic problems by getting through Denver by around 11:00am, but there was a lot of construction and traffic was bad. The silver lining is that I did have a great view of Mile-High Stadium where the beloved Broncos play, and it is a very interesting structure. The top of the stadium on each side rolls like waves against the sky, with the Rockies in the background. Very cool! Once through downtown Denver, I was able to leave the freeway and head northeast on US 85 through Greeley to Cheyenne. This road heads from the city into cowboy country on the eastern edge of the Great Plains. Cheyenne, capital of Wyoming, is a neat little town of about 60,000, which makes it by far the largest city in Wyoming. Frontier Days, the annual rodeo, has been a VERY big deal for over a hundred years, and the downtown area reflects it. This is not a site for “cutesy” western refurbishing. Most of the buildings are original structures as Cheyenne’s heritage as a major way station on the trails west (and then on the transcontinental railroad) is very evident. The downtown area is compact and consists of bars, hotels, bars, western shops, bars and more bars. In the 6 blocks centered on the historic Union Train Depot I counted 17 bars (and all looked relatively prosperous!) The Train Depot anchors the south end of Capitol Street and the state capital building is at the north end.
Scattered throughout the downtown area in front of the train depot are 7’ tall cowboy boots!
As has been the pattern the last couple of weeks, the big box stores and chain restaurants are clustered at the edge of town (in this case, the northern edge). The downtown area is obviously carefully maintained with even new development holding faithful to historic design. Here is one of the things that struck me the most, and I didn’t even realize it until I walked around. This entire structure covers a complete block of downtown two blocks away from the train depot, and it is a PARKING GARAGE! Clearly, someone is thinking about the historical character of this downtown!
Heading north from Cheyenne the landscape changes dramatically as the Rockies recede on the left and the Great Plains begin on the right. I-25 flirts with the mountains all the way up to Buffalo, WY, where it ends as it joins I-90. I-90 comes from the east (Chicago, etc.) and just after entering Montana turns to the northwest and stretches to Seattle. Think of the landscape like a table cloth that has just been thrown on a table. It’s not flat, but a series of rolling hills and valleys, none too high or too low. This is spring, so the prevalent color for most of the way is sage green. It’s not the rocky high country of Utah or Colorado, but everything is covered with prairie grass and sagebrush. Any trees, which are rare, cluster along the few streams that cross the land. Of course, by late August, this will be burnt brown. The drive is haunting, with little traffic and big views. The thin, dark line of the mountains lurks to the left as I head north until getting closer to Buffalo and Sheridan, where the Big Horn range of the Rockies rears up close to the road. Sheridan, WY, is a great little town of 17,000 where you can really see that working downtowns can still exist without sacrificing history on the altar of tourism (thought they clearly want the tourists!)
This is definitely cowboy country. The main street of town is the old highway as the interstate skirts the eastern edge of the valley. The only big box store in evidence is a new Home Depot, and the downtown area stretches for at least 20 blocks. This is the real west that works and plays in a community they are obviously proud of. The JC Penney’s is still in the same downtown building that it’s been in for years, and there are very few empty store fronts in evidence. On virtually every street corner in the central historical district that is the core of downtown there are various works of art. It’s really impressive.
But here is my favorite memory of Sheridan. I went into the High Mountain Mercantile to browse at about 1:30pm in the afternoon, and was the only person in the store. Millie came up and introduced herself and talked a bit as I wandered around. Then Millie asked if I would mind watching the store while she ran next door to get lunch. It had been busy and she was starving! Of course I said yes, and she just left! About 10 minutes later Millie returned with a sack lunch. Fortunately, only a couple of people had come in and the woman who wanted to purchase something was willing to wait for Millie, so my period of “guard duty” was successful. Here’s Millie and her store!
My father drove truck for Burlington between Billings and Sheridan (135 miles one way) daily for years before he got ill, and it turns out that Millie’s husband also drove truck and has just retired (at 80 years old). He didn’t know my father, but certainly remembers the old truck docks down by the train tracks.
Billings and the family are up next! Excited to see them as it’s been years. Happy Trails!
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