Driving Glenwood Canyon

Colorado Travelog #4
Glenwood Springs, CO - Saturday, 2 Jul 2022, 1pm

In my previous blog I wrote about crossing the Rubicon at the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 west of Denver. The tunnel at over 11,000' elevation was not the only scenic part of the trip... nor even the only conceptual Rubicon to cross. The other Rubicon on our drive today was Glenwood Canyon. Our hotel for the night in Glenwood Springs is just on the far side of it.



Glenwood Canyon is an awe-inspiring stretch along the Colorado River where the river carves down through 1,300' of sandstone. No, it's not the Grand Canyon but it's... a pretty nice canyon. 😅 And it's got a road through it— Interstate 70, no less— so you can drive it end to end!



The designers of this modern highway were careful to create a passage that blends with the surrounding beauty. The road feels almost like a part of the canyon, gracefully echoing its curves with two slender viaducts. It's considered one of the most scenic stretches on the US Interstate Highway system.

In beauty I walk... and sometimes get to drive.

Hiking Rifle Arch

Colorado Travelog #5
Rifle, CO - Saturday, 2 Jul 2022, 4:30pm

When we arrived in Glenwood Springs around midday today we found some bad news. Actually, the day would be full of bad news. One piece of bad news pertained to our planned hike at Hanging Lake. It's gone to a permit system, and permits are sold out for today and tomorrow.

I've written before about the importance of being prepared to "call an audible". While we don't plan our trips, per se, with specific Plans B, C, etc., we usually have an awareness of other things we can do if Plan A gets blocked for whatever reason. Today our Plan B started with Rifle Arch, about an hour west of Glenwood Springs.



The 3 mile roundtrip trail starts by traversing high desert landscape. Hard-scrabble dirt is studded with scrub and the occasional stand of small trees. We know the arch is somewhere in those distant mountains, but which one? It's too far off to see yet.



After cresting and crossing one plateau the trail drops through a small gorge and climbing the foot of one of the mountains. Here the arch comes into view. It's in approximately the center of the photo above.



We hiked to the end of the formal trail where there's a nice view of the arch from just below it. From here it's a rock scramble up underneath the arch. Many hikers do it, but we didn't quite have the energy today. ...And we also had a Plan C and Plan D in mind. To replace Plan A we'd need Plan B + (Plan C and/or Plan D).

On the Lookout for Sheep in Glenwood Canyon

Colorado Travelog #6
Glenwood Springs, CO - Saturday, 2 Jul 2022, 8pm

As part of calling an audible earlier today when we were blocked out of our preferred hike, to Hanging Lake, we decided to do a twofer: hiking Rifle Arch (previous entry) and taking a stroll up through Glenwood Canyon from the edge of town. The latter would be late in the afternoon, on into evening, but that was actually good. A, the days are long so strolling until almost 8pm is no problem; and B, strolling near dusk would make it much more likely we'd sight wild bighorn sheep.



Yes, there are bighorns in the canyon. Wildlife info says one of the places they congregate is at Horseshoe Bend, about a mile and a half east from the edge of town. We parked near road's end and went off in search of some sheep. Bighorns, BTW, are Colorado's official state animal. Sheep signs, like the one above, are all over the place in the mountains.



The first mile of the riverwalk wasn't too interesting. The walk isn't even on the river. There's a 4-lane superhighway (I-70) coursing between the footpath and the water! But after that first mile things start to get more scenic. A pedestrian bridge crosses over the busy highway. Right below this pedestrian bridge (which you can see in the photo above) the highway goes into a tunnel. This makes the horseshoe bend area much quieter that other parts of the canyon where the highway flows right alongside the river.



Horseshoe Bend is actually two horseshoe bends. In the lower one, shown in these photos, the river arcs back around (flowing left to right) from a remote part of the canyon to where the highway in routed. Upstream of this point is a quiet half mile or so where the highway becomes just a distant sound.



This area is where we hoped to find sheep. Dawn and dusk are the times wild animals (diurnal herbivores, anyway) are most active. They come down to watering areas like this. The natural greenery also gives them extra cover... and extra food.

Alas, we spotted no sheep on this stroll. But it was still a beautiful walk along the river.