After a wonderful stay at the bnb in Durango, we headed off to Colorado Springs. The first part of the trip was to Canon City. The second part continues on to CS via a dirt road called Phantom Gorge Road and will be in a separate blog entry.
Tree outside the window of the bnb.
The road was fairly quiet as we headed east.
This south west part of Colorado is quite green.
We passed by the rock and then took a road that headed back to the rock.
The vegetation is quite lush in this area. There are also plenty of gophers that come out and stand in front of your car as you drive along.
We were intrigued by the fence design.
More fence. It is quite simple.
The deserted roads were now crowded. It was a Saturday after all.
We passed through some very high passes with twisty roads leading up and down. The highest was Wolf Creek Pass at over 10,000 feet.
There must have been a fire at some stage that burned most of the trees. Some must have survived.
The Rio Grande. A lot of people were riding rafts down the river.
Marianne was intrigued by the sign.
Eventually we turned north near Del Norte and headed north. The land here was noticeably drier since it was in the rain shadow of the mountains to the west.
There are some wild life refuges in the area.
Curious shop with old jeeps parked outside.
This sign is for Robin. Someday Marianne and Robin will drive south on 285 to Roswell.
We stopped for lunch in Saguache which is a fascinating little town. Like most old picture theaters, this one is closed and is used for something else. Oddly enough there is a newer smaller theater a few doors down the street.
We were amazed that on a Saturday morning about 11 am such a pretty little town appeared to be deserted.
We don't know why they were practicing the Honor Guard routine, but they fired off some shots.
We ate lunch here, a couple of pieces of tasty quiche.
Empty street. This town should be bustling with tourists. Marianne read an article in a magazine that said that the town was really trying to make the place attractive, but it wasn't working.
Another long road with the Rocky mountains in the distance.
The Arkansas River. Plenty of rafters on this river too.
An plenty of bikers on the roads.
We stopped at Royal Gorge Bridge that crosses the Arkansas River. At 955 feet above the water, it used to be the highest bridge in the world, It is a major tourist attraction and it was difficult to get a park,
We did not linger because there were so many people and we knew that the Phantom Gorge drive would take quite some time.
For some reason or other, there is an old steam engine by the parking lot.
Now on to Phantom Gorge.
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