Part 3 - The Road to Aspen and Glenwood Canyon

Heading to Aspen from Leadville

The drive west and south on Route 24 was very tame compared to what lied ahead on the ascent and descent to Aspen on Route 82. I am glad my son was driving--although he wound me up a couple of times!

Route 24

At Twin Lakes...

The Wild Climb and Descent to Aspen

This was a bit of a wild ride and, as mentioned, I am glad our son was driving! The switchback ascents were really steep and narrow and the sharp curve near the top made me cringe...

Switchbacks and a crazy ascent

The diagonal swath across the cliff ahead is the road we ascended!

This is it!

It's a narrow road and a huge drop on the left - yikes!

Once through the second switchback you reach the summit where there is parking for an overlook. I  experienced first hand the effects of high elevation as my son bounded quickly up the walkway to the overlook and I suddenly was gasping for breath just trying to keep up! Wow - I now realized we were at around 12,000 ft and even walking fast is harder!

Wise guy Greg told me he'd take a nice closeup on just the edge of my face with a sweeping vista / panorama of the valley below! NOT!

So I reciprocated :-)

But it's a spectacular spot..

See that sharp curve down below? I thought I was going to die when my son drove through it at a seemingly high speed.

It was windy and cool at the high height and next ahead was the endless but spectacular descent...

Heading North out of Aspen

Finally we arrived in Aspen: a cute little town for the wealthy. We stopped in for coffee at a coffee/snack bar and headed out on Main Street to head home via the Glenwood Canyon.

Glenwood Canyon

Wow this was really amazing - even more so that its an Interstate highway that shares the canyon with the Colorado River AND the Union Pacific railroad.

The Glenwood Canyon is a rugged scenic 12.5 mile canyon on the Colorado River in western Colorado in the United States. Its walls climb as high as 1,300 feet above the Colorado River. It is the largest such canyon on the Upper Colorado.

Glenwood Canyon was one of the iconic scenic views along the famous Union Pacific California Zephyr  dome car passenger train route and is widely considered one of the most scenic natural features of the entire U.S. Interstate Highway System. - Wikipedia

The Storm

After stopping in Silverthorne for dinner, we headed on back to Boulder via I-70 (skipping the Creek Creek option). 

We encountered a mammoth rainstorm where you couldn't see more than a few feet in front of you. The driving was slow and treacherous but once again Gregory did a great job staying cool calm and collected to get us home safely.

 What a fabulous day and a great time to spend with your son!

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 Further Info

• Glenwood Canyon