2017-12-14 03:52:46
Colorado’s diversity of landscapes and ecosystems tuck often-mysterious sights in nooks and crannies from corner to corner. Here are a few ways to gobble up a couple at a time on a Colorado road trip. SOUTHWEST: 204 MILES After taking in the views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from the top of Cuchara Pass, a journey west affords glances of the Spanish Peaks. Emanating from the peaks like spokes from a wheel, the Great Dikes are igneous intrusions (lava that filled the cracks and hardened before being exposed by erosion) that number more than 400, towering above your drive. On your way west, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve can’t be overstated in terms of “marvel.” If you’re visiting in the summer, cool off in Medano Creek. Every spring, the wide, shallow and gently flowing creek emerges from the Sangre de Cristos behind the dunes. Just as quickly, come late August, the creek disappears for another year. Westward still, past Pagosa Springs, rises Chimney Rock National Monument. These two skyward-reaching pinnacles were revered by the land’s ancient people, the Ancestral Puebloans, who built ceremonial structures around them. Every 18.6 years, when the winter solstice moonrise reaches its northernmost point, people gather to photograph the full moon as it rises perfectly between the monument’s rocks. CENTRAL: 117 MILES Skyline Drive near Cañon City is a precipitous road built by prison inmates in 1906 as a scenic byway for tourists in horse-drawn carriages. Today, the route has been paved, but it still traces an extremely narrow 800-foot-high ridge, which can be a bit of an adventure for passengers’ stomachs. Pullouts are provided for those who want to savor the foothill views. Meandering northward, you’ll see groves of petrified redwood forests and thousands of fossilized insects at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Although the area is lush and green today, roughly 35 millions years ago volcanic eruptions covered it in ash and lava, encasing plants and animals in stone, and creating one of the world’s most diverse insect fossil sites. Routing toward Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods is one of Colorado’s most popular attractions. Its gravity-defying whimsical rock formations inspire imaginations of all ages. A National Natural Landmark since 1971, the park dazzles hikers, bikers, photographers, horseback riders, picnickers, wildlife watchers, scenic drivers and others with its spectacular red-rock formations and views of Pikes Peak. An hour west of Colorado Springs, the Paint Mines Interpretive Center delights with bright stripes of color that sweep across stone outcroppings, so named because their colorful clays were used by American Indians as paint. The bright ochre and gold are formed by iron compounds in the rock that become exposed to oxygen. As the rocks erode, a hard top layer protects the softer clays beneath, forming columns and bulging spires called hoodoos. WEST: 176 MILES Start at Colorado National Monument just west of Grand Junction. Check off a list of wind- and water-sculpted rock formations with shape-inspired names like Window Rock, Pipe Organ, Kissing Couple, Praying Hands and Sentinel Spire. Head southeast toward Montrose and the Curecanti National Recreation Area, where the Dillon Pinnacles stand sentinel over Blue Mesa Reservoir, the state’s largest body of water. Hike the pinnacles’ trail to see the odd volcanic formations and panoramic views of Blue Mesa. Now point yourself southward to Lake City to see the decidedly unlovely sounding Slumgullion Earthflow, an 800-year-old, epically slow landslide, which continues to shift the ground up to 21 feet a year and results in fir trees that grow at bizarre angles. FOOTHILLS: 50 MILES South of Denver, Roxborough State Park’s trails wrap around red-rock formations that seem to rip unexpectedly through fields of prairie greenery. The contrast between the red of the rocks and a bright-blue cloudless sky sets up a Technicolor scene worthy of “The Wizard of Oz.” Skirting along the foothills as you head north, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre’s massive, slanting red-rock outcroppings rise from the earth to create an acoustically ideal natural amphitheater in Morrison. Continue northward to Boulder’s famed Flatirons, five reddish-grey monuments — named by pioneers for their shape — jutting up from the grassy foothills to stand guard over the city of Boulder below.
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