Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(Gallery in the Park;
www.spanishpeaksarts.org
;
132 W Ryus St; hr vary)
More than two-dozen artists
display paintings, pottery, glasswork and weavings at this cooperative gallery built in
1983 by the origins of what has become the Spanish Peaks Arts Council. It's a two-minute
walk east of Railroad Park.
Spanish Peaks Wilderness
(
www.spanishpeakscountry.com
;
Jun-Oct)
Long before you make it into town the twin Spanish
Peaks, named for their past life as part of Old Mexico, loom majestically over this valley.
The East Spanish Peak is 12,708ft, while West Spanish Peak is nearly 1000ft higher at
13,625ft.
With incredible vertical stone dikes erupting from the earth and down their shoulders
like some kind of primordial fence line, these are mountains begging to be explored.
If you drive up Hwy 12, you'll arrive at Cuchara Pass (9994ft), from where you can fol-
low a forest service road 6.5 miles east to the
Cordova Pass Trailhead
($5 parking fee; there
are also three campsites here). From the trailhead it's a steep 2.5-mile climb to the summit
of the West Peak over scree and stones; this is the most popular route up. Figure on 2½
hours up and make sure you're off the summit by noon.
The Wahatoya Trail (12 miles one-way) traverses the saddle between the peaks. As you
approach the peaks, you may see the remnants of the 2013 wildfire that burned the north
side of the East Peak.
All told there are 65 miles of trails in the area: all three campgrounds offer hiking in the
Sangre de Cristos to the west. Stop by the ranger offices in Cañon City (
Click here
),
Pueblo (
Click here
)
or (if you're lucky) La Veta for maps and trail info.
HIKING
GREAT DIKES OF THE SPANISH PEAKS
Some of the Kapota band of the Ute tribe aptly referred to the volcanic Spanish Peaks as
wahatoya
- 'breasts of
the earth.' Spanish and American travelers relied on these twin sentinels to guide their approach to the Front
Range across the eastern Great Plains.
On closer inspection, you'll find hundreds of magnificent rock walls radiating like fins from the peaks. Called
'dikes,' they were formed from fissures, surrounding the volcanic core, being filled up with magma, later turning
into solid rock as it cooled. Subsequent erosion has exposed the dikes, leaving a peculiar landscape of abrupt per-
pendicular rock walls protruding from the earth. This is the largest collection of such dikes in the world.
For an opportunity to see wildlife and wildflowers, you can explore the great dikes on foot by following the
Wahatoya Trail
along the saddle between the East and West Spanish Peaks, or from the road along scenic Hwy
12, which intersects the dikes at severa l different points.
