Colorado Cruiser: Chimney Rock

Friday June 6th, 2014

This morning John and Angela are headed home. They're not enthused about the 110 degree temperatures they're returning to, but John needs to head home for some family issues.

They left by 8:00, then Nan went to sleep a bit more and I wrote some more on my blogs.

At 10:00, Nan and I left to go see Chimney Rock. I've seen the turnoff for years, but I've never gone to see what it was actually all about. The turnoff to highway 151 is just a few miles west of Pagosa Springs, and the turnoff to Chimney Rock is just a couple miles South on 151.

The road to Chimney Rock is gravel, so I won't be coming here on the motorcycle. Just 1/2 mile up the gravel road is a parking lot and a small cabin/store. We stopped and talked to the volunteers. They said there was a guided tour leaving in just a few minutes. It was $12 per person. You drive your own car 3 miles up to the top of the hill, then you climb 1/4 mile and 200 foot elevation to the very crest where the buildings were located.

We paid our money and I bought a baseball cap to wear. When the time came, we followed our guide's car up to the upper parking lot along with another lady that was also coming.

As we climbed, our guide told us he was a retired college professor. He was a political science instructor, but since retiring he has become very interested in history and volunteers to lead tours a couple times a week.

The whole of Chimney Rock is run by volunteers. Even though it is a "National Monument", congress hasn't voted any money to operate it, so volunteers from Pagosa Springs take turns doing everything.

We slowly climbed the trail and took allot of breaks. The first half of the trail is very easy, then you reach a very rocky step that almost looks like stairs that wind up and around. The views became more and more spectacular until we finally topped out and had nearly a 360 degree view all around us.

The guide told us the buildings on the top seem to be related to similar ruins at Choco canyon in New Mexico. They think they were there to view the moon and stars because of some special alignment of the chimney rocks.

I'd go back any time. It was that beautiful up there.

By the time we got back down the temperature had risen to 85 degrees and we were hot. There is a whole other area you can walk around, but we were pooped and ready to go. I looked on the map and saw that highway 151 meandered through the area and eventually led back to Durango, so we decided to follow it. It was a nice road and very scenic. I'll have to come ride it some time.

We stopped for lunch in Ignacio. I got a Navajo taco, but Nan was afraid it wouldn't be very good, so she got a club sandwich. The taco wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. I'll just have to keep looking for a good place to get a Navajo taco in the area.

We went to the local casino and bowled a few games in their bowling alley, then headed back to the timeshare.

John and Angela packing to go