The Lariat Loop: Rocky Mountain High

Jeff got to pick today's adventure, and he did a fabulous job.  We drove the Lariat Loop National Scenic Byway, which is a 40-mile road trip west of Colorado that began back in the early 1900's when people were looking for places to drive in their new cars.  To learn more about the Lariat Loop, click here.

The Loop starts in Golden, Colorado, and as soon as we arrived there, I wished we had come here sooner.  Yesterday, to be exact, because on the first Friday of the month, they have stagecoach rides and other special events in the historic district.  Good to know for next time, I guess.

We went to the Visitor Center to get the route map, but it wasn't open for another 30 minutes.  So we walked down the street to a cafe and got bagels for breakfast.  In classic fashion, when the Visitor Center opened, we found out they were out of the Lariat Loop maps.  The man working there drew an outline of the map for Jeff on a map of Golden and sent us on our way.

You can drive either way on the loop, and we started with Lookout Mountain.  You drive switchbacks up to the top of the mountain for great views of Golden and Denver.  There are guard rails for almost all of the road, but it's easy to see that there's not much after the guard rail.  The road itself isn't that difficult, but since Lookout Mountain is also a mecca for cyclists, it becomes challenging trying to navigate a winding, 2 lane road hugging a mountain while also trying to get around the cyclists and avoid hitting oncoming cars.  But the views were worth it.  We also got to watch some people hand gliding off the mountain as we were driving up.  We had the top off the Jeep, and one flew over us.

Near the top of Lookout Mountain is where Buffalo Bill Cody is buried.  The people in Cody, Wyoming aren't too happy about that, we heard when we visited Wyoming in 2009.  It's a beautiful place to

be buried.  Down the path from the gravesite is a museum and gift shop that claims to be the biggest gift shop in Colorado.  I picked up a Christmas tree ornament, Henry got a couple post cards, and Ruth got sunglasses.

We didn't mind this stop in the gift shop, because, as I forgot to mention yesterday, the kids didn't ask to buy souvenirs at the Rockies game, the zoo or the Science Center in Denver.  Pretty amazing. 

We drove through the town of Evergreen, which sits on a lake.  Gorgeous.  We didn't stop, but if I were in the area again, I would definitely spend a day or even a night there.  There's a little main street area, and people were boating on the lake.

We found a park near a creek to have our picnic lunch.  I think the park was called "Lair of the Bear."  We ate at the Jeep, and then took a walk down to the creek, which was running hard from down the mountain.  Between the birds chirping and the water rushing, it was a treat for the ears and the eyes.

Our next stop was at the Red Rocks Amphitheater.  When the Rocky Mountains were pushed up millions of years ago, the Red Rocks were formed as well.  They don't look like any other rocks in the area - they are really red, and they even look different in shape than the surrounding mountains.  Back in the 1930's, the Civilian Conservation Corps built an amphitheater among the rocks, and it's still in use for concerts today.  We hoped to take a tour today, but the band that's playing tonight was practicing and the Visitor Center was closed.  I had checked to see who was playing months ago, but it didn't seem like something we'd all like.  Just from what we could see, this has to be a fabulous place to see (and hear) a concert.  Our tour guide at Dinosaur Ridge later in the drive said Native Americans also used the Red Rocks site for celebrations and gatherings. 

From the pathway to the parking lot at Red Rocks, you can also see Denver in the distance.  It wasn't as clear today as yesterday, but still, the view was great.

 The Loop next took us to the town of Morrison.  It's also a quaint little town with a museum of natural history, but we were museumed out at this point and kept on going.  But neither Henry nor I were going to miss Dinosaur Ridge, our next stop on the trip.

Dinosaur Ridge is a mountain full of dinosaur bones and footprints.  And not just the big dinosaurs like the inguandon.  Because this area was once under the sea, they've also found sharks teeth there.



You can either get a map at the visitor's center and walk the half-mile uphill route to check out the ridge, or pay $4 a person to ride it in a bus with a tour guide.  It was late in the trip and we knew Ruth was probably not going to make the trip on foot, so we took the bus.  We're glad we did, because the tour guide was really good and gave additional insights into the area. 



Brontosaurus footprint



Hundreds of millions of years ago, this area was flat and underwater.  When the ridge pushed up along with the rest of the Rockies, it also pushed up fossils and imprints of what once was the bottom of a sea.  The tour guide showed wavy patterns in the rock that were once the bottom of the sea.  Then, she showed us dinosaur bones stuck in rocks on the side of the ridge and in the ridge itself.  She said the dinosaurs probably didn't die here, but as the earth was shifting and water was flowing around, the bones ended up here. 



She also showed us the effects of brontosaurus footprints in the rock.  Looking at the layers of rock, you can see where the huge dinosaur's foot imprinted in what was once softer ground and hardened over time.  She showed how they walk on their toes by showing how the formation of the rocks are shaped.

The last stop on the tour was to see actual footprints on the ridge.  There were prehistoric crocodile footprints, iguanadon footprints and one other type of prints.  The museum had darkened them to make them more visible.  From the way they appear, you would think the dinosaurs were walking uphill, but it's just that way because of the way the ridge was pushed up.  They allow you to climb on one area of the rock to touch a footprint, so Henry took advantage and put his hand next to one of the iguanadon footprints.

It was a fascinating tour and well worth the $16.  It was also great to purchase a bottle of soda for just $1 at their snack bar.  And yet again, no requests for souvenirs.