Colorado - Nature and Scientific Wonders
- By Smithsonian.com
- Smithsonian.com, November 06, 2007, Subscribe
Dotted across the state’s 25 scenic and historic byways, Colorado’s natural beauty and range of scientific wonders—ranging from the world’s highest suspension bridge to the tallest sand dune in America—make it the ideal destination for those who long for a good old fashioned road trip.
Perhaps one of Colorado’s most impressive sights is Mesa Verde National Park, the largest archaeological preserve in the Unites Sates. It features more than 4,000 identified structures carved into the cliffs by the Ancestral Pueblo people sometime between A.D. 600 and 1300. Park rangers offer guided tours of the awe-inspiring cliff dwellings, which were mysteriously abandoned in approximately A.D. 1300.
Nearby, guided tours are available of the 125,000-acre Ute Mountain Tribal Park, which features wall paintings, ancient petroglyphs and cliff dwellings. Likewise, the Chimney Rock Archaeological Area is a preserved settlement of the Ancestral Puebloans. Guided hikes lead visitors to the 91 permanent structures located by archaeologists, including the Great Kiva, Ridge House and Great Pueblo.
Colorado has more nationally designated scenic byways than any other state. Tracing 25 timeless routes of historic and cultural significance, the byways include the Santa Fe Trail, which resonates with the storied past of this legendary route west. Stops along the way include Bent’s Old Fort in La Junta, a replica of the fort that flourished as a trading post in the 1880s and the Santa Fe Trail Museum in Trinidad. The highest paved road in America, the 49-mile Mount Evans Byway affords a glimpse into mining history, with stops including the Argo Gold Mill and Mining Museum and the Idaho Springs Heritage Museum in Idaho Springs.
Other wonders of Colorado include the world’s largest natural hot springs, a two-block long pool in Glenwood Springs that sits across the street from the historic Hotel Colorado, a favorite of President Teddy Roosevelt.
The Cave of the Winds in Manitou Springs affords a glimpse of a historic underground cavern featuring 20 chambers filled with stalagmites, stalactites and crystal. At Glenwood Caverns and Fairy Cave spelunkers have access to a range of wonderful cave formations.
Fans of fossils need look no farther than Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, a 6,000-acre site featuring fossils preserved in the rocks of the prehistoric Lake Florissant.
Amid the surrounding Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve features America’s tallest sand dunes, 750-foot-high wind-sculpted formations.
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Comments (2)
I think you person should just write a list of points of interest. I have to do a colorado map and of all the websites I have lloked at none of them have industries, so JUST WRITE A LIST (in alphabetical order of course) -anonomous
Posted by anounomous on April 9,2012 | 09:47 PM
Hello Smithsonian Mag: I am a subscriber and we LOVE the magazine. I am hoping perhaps someone who knows Teddy Roosevelt can help us perhaps verify a rumor that he stayed at the Pitkin Hotel in Pitkin, Colorado. We have rumors but no established verification. Pitkin is downvalley from the western Portal of the Alpine Tunnel, which operated from 1880 to 1910. The Pitkin Hotel was originally named the BonTon Hotel after the BonTon Mine upvalley.
JoAn Bannister has owned the hotel 29 years and is attempting to retire. She recalls a lady in her 80s asking about 15 years ago if the hotel still had Teddy Roosevelt's bathtub. There are two clawfooted huge tubs upstairs. Other details seem to confirm, because JoAn also mentioned Mexican maids hauling water from the basement up steep stairs to the second floor to fill his tub.
Ed Quillen, a Denver Post columnist in Salida, is a history buff currently occupied with other work who also wishes to nose around about it.
Have you any resources to detail where Teddy Roosevelt slept? In Colorado, I mean.
BTW, the hotel was built in 1904, and is on the state historic registry and the Gunnison County Historic Registry.
I am attempting to get federal stimulus money to acquire the hotel and create camps teaching science to elementary students and teachers on hydrogeneration to take tiny towns "off the grid." And also provide expert coping strategies to teens with parents disabled by Traumatic Brain INjury.
We would appreciate any help you can give us. Thanks.
Paula Rhoads
BTW, Pitkin had 250 inches of snow last winter, but its record is closer to 280 inches. And 85 residents yearround. Besides all the wildlife.
Posted by Paula Rhoads on October 4,2010 | 05:37 PM