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canyonwalkerColorado 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.
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.
