Adventures of Tin Can Lulu

Silt is a little town (about 20 miles west of Glenwood Springs) began as George Ferguson’s Ranch after the Ute Indians’ land was opened up to homesteading in 1881. The area was named Ferguson until 1889, when the Denver and Rio Grande Junction Railway named their depot “Silt” after the powdery soil in the area, the town then took that name. Silt was the last town incorporated in Garfield County in 1915. Silt had very little growth until the oil shale boom and later bust in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Interestingly, Silt got its streets paved for the first time in 1982.

We found a great bike ride that took us along the Colorado River from Silt to New Castle and then a big climb up along a ridge that took us to Harvey Gap (a large reservoir and state park). We had seven miles of climbing to get to Harvey Gap, but the scenery was beautiful. The last downhill to Silt was a screaming descent. We enjoyed this ride so much we did it twice! Crazy we are.

We had a rainy day and went to Rifle Falls State Park near Rifle, Colorado. What a spectacular find. This was a small park that had camping and the amazing triple falls.

Glenwood Springs for centuries was populated by Indigenous people before the colonization of the Americas. For a short time in the 19th century, Glenwood Springs was known as “Defiance”. Defiance was established in 1883, as a camp of tents, saloons, and brothels. Isaac Cooper was the founder of the town. His wife Sarah had a hard time adjusting to the frontier life and, in an attempt to make her environment somewhat more comfortable, persuaded the founders to change the name to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, after her hometown of Glenwood, Iowa.

The town is famous for its hot springs and well known visitors (President Teddy Roosevelt, Doc Holliday, and Kid Curry to name a few). The location of Glenwood Springs, and its railroad stop, established a center of commerce in the area. Today Amtrak’s California Zephyr operates daily and and is the second busiest station in Colorado.

We did half of the Rio Grande Trail from Glenwood Springs to Basalt. The trail is 42 miles long and goes to Aspen. It is a typical rail trail with long 3 to 4 percent grades and wonderful descents. The recommended way to do the trail is to take the bus from Glenwood Springs to Aspen and have a wonderful descent back to Glenwood Springs. We chose to do the harder way and started in Glenwood Springs. All good as the scenery was spectacular.

Aspen was a day trip via car. We enjoyed walking around town and found a great local sandwich shop for lunch. Loads of expensive shops to spend your hard earned money in!

Founded as a mining camp during the silver boom and named Aspen for the abundance of aspen trees in the area. In the mid- 20th century Aspen Mountain was developed into a ski resort and the town followed. Aspen is the second-highest rated ski resort in the world in terms of “the quality and reliability of their conditions and their capacity to withstand climate change.”

Next stop Central City.