Jun 11

Written by: chris
6/11/2010 

Colorado Rocky Mountain High

I am still on a Rocky Mountain high after my spectacular trip through Southern Colorado in the entertaining company of Colorado Tourism’s Michael Driver.

We started the trip in Denver and drove south to Colorado Springs. Then via the Old West mining towns of Gunnison and Crested Butte we carried on to Great Sand Dune National Park and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Next by steam train from Silverton to Durango - before ending the trip at America’s most celebrated archeological site: magnificent Mesa Verde where we broadcast the Travel Show looking out over spectacular scenery.

To find out more about Colorado, and for great vacation planning tools – visit www.colorado.com or the Colorado page at www.ChrisRobinsonTravelShow.com. Full details of all the attractions, hotels and restaurants mentioned in this blog can be found in the Destinations section of my Travel Show website at www.chrisrobinsontravelshow.ca/images/upload/Colorado Research 2010.pdf.

Denver – Mile High City

Denver will leave you breathless…Partly because it is over 5,000 feet above sea level where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains, and partly because it is such a vibrant city with so much to see and do. Arriving at Denver International Airport is a rare treat: a major airport (6th busiest in the US) which is user-friendly and efficient. Plus it has a tempting view of the Rocky Mountains just to the west.

This was my second visit to Denver (for my previous visit go to http://christalkstravel.blogspot.com/2009/06/denver-colorado.html. First stop: lunch at Marlowe’s which spills out onto bustling 16th Street Mall. It was really buzzing with a street art festival, full of Colorado creative energy.

Next: a trip to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre on the western edge of the city at 6,400 feet. This is the only naturally-occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheatre in the world and it has hosted everyone from The Beatles to stars of the Opera in a spectacular setting overlooking the city below. Then from towering red rocks to a symphony of colour - Denver Botanic Gardens is 23 acres of soothing urban oasis, which this year is playing host to an impressive array of 20 Henry Moore monumental sculptures.

Exploring the diverse neighbourhoods of Denver was delightful and wandering around Downtown Denver was also a treat: old meets new seamlessly in this eclectic and wonderful city. For more info go to: www.visitdenver.com.

Colorado Springs – Garden of the Gods

An hour long drive south along a scenic route paralleling the Front Ranges to Colorado Springs - the second city of Colorado and even higher than Denver at over 6,000 feet. Star of the show here is The Garden of the Gods, one of the most awe-inspiring geological wonders of the American West. Colossal red sandstone formations tower over converging ecosystems and a maze of trails which I explored in a unique way on a Segway tour, courtesy of Adventures Out West (www.advoutwest.com).

Other highlights included the U.S. Olympic Training Complex for a fascinating insight into the on-going total commitment of Olympic-potential athletes; the pretty spa town of Manitou Springs from where the world’s highest cog railway departs to Pike’s Peak (next time....!); and the world-famous Broadmoor, an historic, pink, Mediterranean-style resort set in 3,000 acres that has hosted all the great and the good since opening in 1918.

Colorado National Parks

Colorado boasts no less than four National Parks. I visited the magnificent Rocky Mountains NP on my last trip (see http://christalkstravel.blogspot.com/2009/06/rocky-mountain-national-park.html ) and this trip I got to see the other three. First up was the newest US Park, Great Sand Dunes National Park. Here at over 8,000 feet in the Rockies, a curious juxtaposition occurs: winds have piled up desert sands into dunes 750 feet high against snow-capped Sangre de Cristo Mountains. And they are bounded by rushing ice-cold mountain melt-water torrents. Bordering the park is the Zapata Ranch, and I had lunch at this idyllic dude ranch of over 100,000 acres – that raises cattle, buffalo and wannabe cowboys and girls.

Nothing prepares you for when the earth gives way to a 2,700 foot deep chasm that is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Ranger Kevin Sweeney introduced me to this almighty half-mile deep gash in the landscape where the canyon walls are as little as 40 feet wide and the turbulent Gunnison River sounds like a murmur. The final National Park, Mesa Verde, is covered in a following section.

Colorado Mountain Towns – Gold in the Mountains

The Wild West meets the Gold Rush meets the Rockies: scattered throughout Southern Colorado are communities that began their lives as raucous gold mining towns and now have morphed into historic mountain towns that are centres for all kinds of outdoor adventures. I spent time in four: Gunnison, Crested Butte, Silverton and Durango.

Gunnison’s rich history is on display at the Pioneer Museum, including a Denver & Rio Grande steam train. Crested Butte nestles in an Alpine valley below a host of 14,000 foot peaks: a ski resort in winter and a hiking and mountain biking mecca in summer. I explored the nooks and crannies of this Shangri-La by bike.
Silverton is an old silver-mining boom town nearly 10,000 feet above sea level where the Old West seemed very much still alive, complete with a stage coach on the dirt streets.

And Durango, the main town of SW Colorado, where I discovered the delights of the dining, shopping and adventure options in this feel-good, funky town. I was sure that John Wayne was just around the corner as this has been the location for many famous movies including “How the West was Won”, “Around the World in 80 Days” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway

Riding aboard the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway was one of the most enjoyable of my many railway experiences around the world. In the 1800’s gold and silver were hauled on this authentically restored narrow-gauge train. It sweeps past abandoned gold mines, wild forests and the untamed Rio de las Animas Perdidas (River of Lost Souls) on its journey between Silverton and Durango in the heart of the San Juan Mountains.

I interviewed Conductor Dan Stangby as we rattled beside the unbroken river rapids, and he told me of the 200,000 passengers who ride the rails each year on this amazing steam train. It went straight to the top of my Top Ten Train Journeys which you can see at: http://www.chrisrobinsontravelshow.ca/images/upload/ChrisFavouriteTrainJourneys.pdf

Mesa Verde – Sandstone & Spirits

All wonderful journeys end on a high note. My last stop - and the location for the live radio Travel Show broadcasts – was Mesa Verde National Park. Situated close to where Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico meet, this is the only National Park in the US devoted to the works of Man. But it is the fusion of huge canyon desert-land scenery and abandoned 700 year old Ancestral Puebloan dwellings that make this place so unique in time and space. I visited Cliff Palace, tucked under overhanging sandstone cliff faces. It was the largest community, four storeys high, accessed by narrow wooden ladders – and it’s just one of over 600 cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde. Wandering around Spruce Tree House, another atmospheric, cliff-sheltered home, I felt the spirit of this mystical place and its long forgotten people…

The Inside Track on Colorado Restaurants and Hotels

One of the privileges of broadcasting my Travel Show on location is that I get to experience some of the very best accommodations and restaurants that the destination has to offer – and Colorado offers some of the very best! Here are personal recommendations from this trip…

First of all the restaurants, where I enjoyed the rich Western cuisine from succulent elk to ‘angry’ trout: TAG and Marlowe’s in Denver; Cliff House in Manitou Springs; Summit at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs; Timberline at Crested Butte; Seasons at Durango; and Metate at Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde.

And memorable accommodations from city centre hotels to wilderness: Residence Inn by Marriott Denver City Center; Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs; The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs; Elk Mountain Lodge in Crested Butte; Rochester Hotel in Durango; and the incomparably situated Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde National Park.

Colorado Travel Show Guests

I would like to express my grateful thanks to the many hospitable and friendly folk of the Colorado tourism industry who combined to make this trip and my radio broadcasts such a success. My especial thanks to interviewees John Branciforte at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort, Chelsy Murphy at Colorado Springs CVB, Conductor Stangby, Judi Swain at Aramark Parks and Destinations, and the remarkable Michael Driver from the Colorado Office of Tourism: guide, tourism professional and new friend.