Imagine it’s 1893. You live in Massachusetts and you’re invited to teach at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado for the summer. After being settled in for a couple weeks your colleagues ask you to join them on an exciting jaunt to the Pikes Peak summit.
You step into a horse-drawn carriage. A hand-painted blue and white sign on the back says “Pikes Peak or Bust.” As the horses pull the wagons higher, you hear the clip-clop of their hooves on the soil. You smell the fresh mountain pine scent from the towering fir trees. Reds, greens, blues and yellows pop out from every direction. You’ve never seen anything like it and you sigh to yourself, “Wow, this is America!”.
In the remaining six miles to the summit you ride a burro because the horses and wagons can go no further. As you climb higher you notice there are fewer trees. You look down and see lakes, hills and other mountain ranges. It’s as quiet as an old library. You finally arrive at the summit and the skies open up like a fresh flower in Spring. It was that moment captured on paper that became the first line in the song known as America The Beautiful – “O beautiful for spacious skies”.
That was the experience of Katherine Lee Bates, author of America The Beautiful. After several hours of arduous terrain, she and her group spent less than an hour on the summit admiring a view few had seen at the time. The height caused altitude sickness for some and forced them to leave early. Yet Bates was so moved by what she saw that America The Beautiful would not have been written had she not risked a trip to the summit. Pikes Peak is called America’s mountain in large part thanks to Bates.
As wondrous as Pikes Peak is, other areas have their own allure. For instance, Cuchara almost looks like parts of Hawaii was inserted in the mountains minus the palm trees and ocean. It’s lush green with rolling hills, high mountains, lakes and bears.
Northwest of Cuchara is The Royal Gorge. It boasts towering red granite walls and a walk bridge spanning the canyon that’s 1,000 feet above the canyon floor where the Arkansas river flows next to train tracks built for sightseeing.
Or consider Westcliffe, a charming mountain town in the Wet Mountain Valley whose Sangre de Cristo mountains are so tall, you must tilt your head back to see their beautiful jagged peaks. About 30 miles southeast of Westcliffe is Bishop’s castle. Hand built and started in 1969, it rises to the sky complete with a dragon’s head protruding in the front, ornamental iron walkways and handrails, real glass windows and towers. It’s an enormously popular tourist attraction that is actually free.
Or if you’re in Denver this summer, see a concert at the Red Rocks open-air amphitheater while sitting surrounded by the world’s only naturally-occurring, acoustically perfect ampitheater that seats 9,525 folks while behind you is a classic Colorado mountain view filling the sky. You’ll park at the base of a hill inside Red Rock Park and walk up to the concert. Its sheer size and beauty will take your breath away if the walk up to the ampitheater didn’t.
Yet, Colorado isn’t all about mountains. The plains ooze with hidden gems. 35 miles south of the town Springfield is Picture Canyon with a hiking trail, camping, wildlife and prehistoric Indian rock art on canyon walls and 1,000 year old carvings. Stroll south down the canyon and discover old rock homesteads with no roofs built against the canyon wall. Interestingly, when driving to see Picture Canyon you’ll notice how flat the land is. Then suddenly, there’s the gigantic opening in the earth where native Americans once made their home.
Another gem is the Purgatoire river south of La Junta that holds 1300+ fossilized dinosaur foot prints over 150 million years old. Slip your foot into one of the giant 3-toed fossilized foot prints. While keeping it there, try stepping into the next foot step the dinosaur took. Unless you’re Gumby, it will be difficult if not impossible to keep each foot in different foot prints at the same time. That should give you a sense of how large the animal was and the size of its stride.
While visiting the plains this July or August, stop at one the many farmer’s markets for fresh corn, watermelon, honey dew, cucumbers and much more. In fact, the town of Rocky Ford is world-famous for its melons but is especially well-known for cantaloupe. The unique temperature changes during the days and nights are the melon’s secret for their remarkably juicy, sweet taste.
Colorado has so many more places than just these. It’s worth a trip to experience first-hand what you’re missing. A picture may be worth a thousand words but seeing it first hand is priceless.
Author: Andy Curry is a life-long Colorado native and entrepreneur who visited the summit two years ago and just wanted to take home some rocks and dirt as a momento for his trip. The rules and regulations are so strict that it’s not legally possible and if caught, you will be fined $5,000.00 and/or 6 months in jail. Yet, people love to touch and feel history because it’s exciting and it is a great conversation piece. Andy Curry has made it possible for people to own history after two years of research and finding a loophole. See more at: www.PikesPeakForSale.com