Highway of Legends, Trinidad, Colorado

We extended a day at Cedar Rail Campground waiting to see what was going to happen to the fire situation in Colorado Springs.  Turns out the fire is the most destructive fire in Colorado history.  We decided to stay local and follow the 80 mile Trail of Legends loop that starts in Trinidad, Co. (once called the Devil's Playpen by activist Carrie Nation due to sinful places in the city).  Trinidad was visited by the Conquistadors in 1500's.  One strip of the highway is lined with abandoned adobe homesteads. left by sheep farmers and ranchers who came about 100 years later.

Everything was going well until coal was discovered and mining companies ran everyone away in the 1800's.  A general miner's strike occurred in 1913-14 and State Militia massacred about 25 men, women and children.  As a result of that massacre, laws were passed establishing the 40 hour work week and banning child labor.

We visited a virtual ghost town that had 1500 coke ovens operating in the late 1800's.

The trail leads from the arid valley floor up into the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

A geologic formation shoots up from the valley floor.  The lava wall is a couple of hundred feet tall and about 6 feet wide, and is called the Dakota Wall.  This formation can be found throughout the Rocky Mountains.

 

 

 

 

We continued up the mountain and reached the 10,000 foot summit.  Temperature had dropped from mid 80's to 59 degrees.  A rain squall passed through near noon and covered us with slush.

The road passed through Aspen and Spruce forests back down to the valley floor.  Along the way, we saw mule deer, a beaver lodge, and beautiful scenery.

We stopped at a rancher's market in La Veta

 

and then back to Trinidad, which is full of Victorian architecture.

So much to see and do, we took 132 pictures.  Good thing photography is digital now.  80 miles took 8 hours, and we were really tired when we got back to the coach. 

The wild fire is turning us due west to a resort town in the mountains - South Fork, Co.  Brochures say it is an outdoorsman's paradise.  It is close to Pagosa Springs, Creede, and Gunnison, Co.   My brother-inlaw, Joe often speaks of visiting the Black Canyon of Gunnison.