HIGHWAY OF LEGENDS
Take an Odyssey Through Local Lore
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If time is on your side and you’re driving south on I-25 to New Mexico, skip the interstate stretch from Walsenburg to Trinidad. This is a route less traveled that Robert Frost would have loved — the Highway of Legends. The lore of this area is vivid, swirling in the spiritual myths of the Native Americans and in the history of their violent clashes with Spanish explorers. Like much of Colorado, where the promises of fortune lay, trouble followed. Tales of outlaws “settling their differences” are common.
Start by taking U.S. Highway 160 west from Walsenburg and branch off on Colorado Highway 12 to La Veta. All along this stretch of two-lane highway, you can view the unusual volcanic dike formations that radiate outward from the Spanish Peaks. Squint your eyes just right and one of these curious wonders may look like the Great Wall of China, dipping and rising over the contours of the hills, and fortifying a mysterious land.
The highway rises to Cuchara Pass, on the shoulder of the Spanish Peaks. The Tarahumare Indians held these summits as sacred and believed that all life on earth originated from the area. Below the pass is the glorious Cuchara Valley, a hidden wonderland that even most Coloradoans have failed to notice.
Meandering through ranchland and forest, the highway eventually leads to Cokedale, a National Historic District. Here you’ll find the surreal sight of what appear to be ruins from the Roman Empire. These arching alcoves are actually the remnants of what used to be “coke ovens” for smelting coal from the nearby mine.
Back on the highway, you’ll have just a short distance to Trinidad, where the town’s Victorian architecture preserves a civilized slice of Southern Colorado’s rough and tumble past.
Total distance: 82 miles
Suggested time: 2 hours
Scenic & Historic Byways Overview
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