May | June 2006 Volume 80 Issue 3 |
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Mini Tour Pueblo's Frontier Pathways The big stallion is showing his age. Although the black eyes still have a touch of wildness, he's lost part of an ear and most of his tail, and the dapple-gray body wears more than a few scars. Not bad, for the only horse in Colorado to have spent several days up a cottonwood tree. “Lucky” is 100 years old—a life-sized papier mache display horse born in the days when Pueblo was world-famous as a producer of Western saddles. When the Arkansas River flood of 1921 devastated the town, he was found high in a tree days later and went straight back into service. In 1989, when a fire swept through Mack's Saddlery, the first cry of owners and local residents alike was “Save the horse!” In Pueblo, a town built at various times on silver, saddlery, coal and steel, they know the value of the survival instinct. Whole industries have come and gone here over the years, but Pueblo and its population of 104,000 remain as tenacious as a horse in a cottonwood tree. Located about three hours south of Denver , the city's revitalized downtown and numerous attractions make it a worthwhile visit. For this Mini Tour, it's possible for Front Range residents to choose a couple of Pueblo attractions, drive the Frontier Pathways Scenic Byway and return home all in one long day, but it's a much better idea to take a relaxed weekend. Explore Pueblo on Saturday when most attractions are open, stay overnight and then enjoy the scenic byway unhurriedly on Sunday. From Interstate 25, take exit 98B and head west. The first stop on the tour, El Pueblo History Museum, appears almost immediately on your left. Park here or beside the nearby riverwalk—all the morning's stops are within easy walking distance. Built beside the excavated site of Pueblo 's original 1842 trading post, the small but professional museum includes excellent permanent exhibits and a reconstruction of the trading post. A new special exhibit, “Explorer or Spy?” examines Zebulon Pike's travels in southern Colorado. After wandering through Pueblo history from arrowheads to steel mills, take a short walk back up First Street to modern times at the outstanding Sangre de Cristo Arts Center. There's a lot here to suit those looking for culture, from the visual to the performing arts—and if that sounds a bit challenging for your group's attention span, the more hands-on Buell Children's Museum at the same location should do the trick. Child magazine rated this as the nation's number two children's art museum. When you're done, head to the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk for a waterside picnic lunch. Here you can take an idyllic boat ride, people-watch or just stroll around this landscaped 26-acre project that's becoming the new heart of the downtown area. The weekend of June 9–10 brings the annual Boats, Blues & BBQ event, which last year drew 20,000 people to enjoy warm evenings on the water rocked by free blues concerts and the best ribs in town. BBQ contests aside, Pueblo is known among food fans for its green chile. If you can take the heat, hunt down the city's signature dish: the fabled “slopper.” What is a slopper? It's a huge cheeseburger, served in a bowl and covered in a lake of green chile. Some may ask whether this is a concept to be embraced or feared, but hey—live a little. Sloppers can be engulfed at numerous locations around the city; traditional types favor those found at the Star Bar on Spring Street or Coors Tavern on West Fourth Street. For the next stop, take a stroll down Union Avenue with its antique shops, galleries, eateries and boutiques to West B Street. Here beside the railway, in the old Denver & Rio Grande freight depot, is the Southeastern Colorado Heritage Center. If the previously mentioned El Pueblo is an elegant and polished little museum, this is surely its cheerful, slouching, exuberant cousin from the wrong side of the tracks. A real delight for both adults and children, the Heritage Center doesn't present history so much as pile it up and invite you to rummage through. The big brick depot—originally built in just four weeks—is a wonderful attic full of unexpected treasures. Did you know an ancient bison was 25% larger than the current version? Ever wanted to see a roomful of antique telephones, a wall of assorted musical instruments, a polished stump of red Beulah marble or a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball uniform from 1950? There's little rhyme or reason to this seemingly unending sequence of exhibits, which makes it all the more intriguing and vibrant. This is also where you can meet “Lucky” the horse, standing guard over a roomful of beautiful Western saddles and other leatherwork from the artisans who made Pueblo famous in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Unlike the normal museum experience, you can tug on every buckle, run a finger over every embossed leather flower. At our next stop, however, touching is definitely a no-no. Collect your car and head north on West Grand Avenue as far as West 14th Street. These few blocks will take you as far from working-class leather goods and railroad tracks as life can get. This is Rosemount Mansion —an almost unbelievable palace of the Gilded Age with its 37 rooms that once were home to a family of only five. The 1893 mansion has been called the “Crown Jewel of Colorado,” and few sites in the West can compare to it for sheer jaw-dropping opulence. It has a private elevator, hand-painted ceiling frescos, Tiffany chandeliers and a two-story stained glass window—a colossal, incandescent monument to hubris that portrays “man's mastery over the plant, animal and mineral kingdoms.” It even has its own genuine Egyptian mummy. Really. Mummy notwithstanding, young children probably won't appreciate the guided tour of Rosemount's velvet-roped and spotless halls. As an alternative, finish your day at City Park with its old-fashioned rides, or the excellent Pueblo Zoo—both surefire kid-pleasers. The second day of the Mini Tour will take you around the 103-mile Frontier Pathways Scenic & Historic Byway. While this is mainly a scenic drive, there are a few great stops along the way. Head west out of Pueblo on Highway 96 (if you're leaving from the Historic Downtown area, follow West 4th Street until it becomes Hwy. 96). After leaving the city behind, you're soon passing Pueblo Reservoir amid its strange humped and rounded rocky bluffs, and the wide vista of the Wet Mountains opens before your eyes. Through the small town of Wetmore , the road continues into the San Isabel National Forest . There is a wildlife viewing area to the right as you enter Hardscrabble Canyon, so try your luck: there are often bighorn sheep around. Staying on Hwy. 96 will take you all the way to Silver Cliff and Westcliffe, a pair of former mining towns as close together as Siamese twins—joined at the highway. On your way, stop at mile marker 5.5 for a breathtaking view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Twenty-two “thirteener” peaks are visible from here. Westcliffe is a pleasant little town full of galleries, restaurants and cafés—an ideal place to stop for lunch and to stretch your legs. Once rowdy with saloons, its business district burned to the ground twice, maybe due to the popular “game” of shooting out the saloon lights from horseback. Check out its historic jail—on one memorable occasion these two microscopic stone cells held nine men. Retrace your route and turn onto Highway 165 to Rye to continue the loop tour. From here it's all scenery—meadows on fire with wildflowers in spring, tree-covered hills hiding a constant scattering of trailheads, red-rutted side roads and ruined old homesteads. Around mile marker 12.6, stop at one of the most admirably lunatic roadside attractions in Colorado (and probably in the world): Bishop's Castle. One day in 1969, Jim Bishop felt called to build a castle. He's still building it, alone and by hand, and it's grown to staggering proportions under Jim's combination of iron determination, surreal creativity and complete disregard for both vertigo and building codes. Exploring the castle is free and at your own risk. For a more detailed look at Bishop's Castle, see the next issue of EnCompass. The beautiful and placid Lake Isabel is the final stop. This was a model destination for auto tourism and camping as long ago as 1919. From here it's a relatively short trip past the town of Rye (pull into T.R.'s Country Store if you need refreshment) and back onto I-25. This Mini Tour has just touched the surface of what's available in Pueblo and the surrounding area—but there's always another weekend coming up. Like “Lucky,” you might get the feeling that it's worth coming back for another round. Carrie Patrick is managing editor of EnCompass.
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