Day 1 / Arrive in Golden
Welcome Party and Registration Noon - 4:00 pm
Tour Mathews Collection and Shop

Day 2 / First Day of Driving
Golden to Manitou Springs
The first noteworthy place on the rallye after leaving the Marriott is Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater. Worth a look, perhaps after the rallye if you’re not familiar with it. Built during the depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a make work project. Through Morrison and up Turkey Creek Canyon. Most of the towns along Highway 285 are quickly becoming suburbias of Denver just at a higher altitude.
Once you’ve turned off 285 down to Pine and Buffalo Creek, you’re on some good driving roads. Pine is home to the annual Rhubarb Festival. The few hundred souls living there obviously have too much time on their hands. Fortunately the festival is in June so you will miss it . . . Oh Darn! Buffalo Creek still shows signs of a massive fire a few years ago. You can see how much a careless campfire can change the landscape.

A nice drive from Buffalo Creek to Woodland Park. The next highlight would be the drive to Cripple Creek and then the town itself. Cripple Creek was a rather down-at-the-heel mining town until legalized gambling was supposed to revive it. It’s safe to say the results have been mixed. See it for yourself and walk down the main drag and peek in the museum. Nice drive out of town back to US 24. Keep an eye out for large, slow tour buses.

Garden of the Gods is definitely worth a look if you have time after the lunch stop. You can drive most of it on the roads through the park if you’re short of time. Manitou Springs can easily be walked through from the hotel if you want to take an evening stroll and check out the various shops. Some are over the top tourist traps, others are better. Much to do in the Manitou Springs area . . . How about a drive up Pikes Peak? You can pretend you’re Bobby Unser, but try to stay on the road because it’s a REALLY LONG, LONG way to the bottom.

Day 3 / Second Day of Driving
Manitou Springs to Pagosa Springs
Once you’ve struggled out of the Colorado Springs area and onto 115 the country opens up and you’re driving along the western side of Fort Carson. It’s a huge army base, but not much is visible from the road. The area around Penrose and Florence is not terribly scenic. A little past Florence to the left of the highway is the Feds Big House, otherwise known as “SuperMax”. Currently home to such “charm school graduates” as the “UnaBomer” and many other truly nasty bad guys who won’t be getting out anytime soon.

Between Wetmore and McKenzie Junction you enter the San Isabel National Forest and the driving and the scenery improve dramatically, especially on Route 165. Take a look at Bishop Castle along the way if you are so inclined. This Nutball is trying to build his own medieval castle by himself out of local rocks. It takes all kinds.
Through Walsenberg and toward La Veta Pass you can see the Spanish Peaks in the distance to the southwest. Over La Veta Pass through the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, so named because under certain light the mountains appear to be blood red as in the blood of Christ.

The old cavalry fort at Fort Garland is worth a quick look. It’s not hard to imagine the fort out in the middle of nowhere a hundred and fifty years ago. San Luis is not too far down the road from Fort Garland and is the oldest town in Colorado (1851). The town doesn’t look like it’s grown much since then. Lunch stop in San Luis. You are also in the San Luis Valley where the original settlers received their land grants from the Spanish crown. Heading west to Manassa, home of the prize fighter, Jack Dempsey. Nice town if a little isolated.

Not too far out of Antonito you head up La Manga Pass. Great driving as you enter the South San Juan Wilderness Area. It’s also open range so watch for livestock and wildlife on the road. In addition, there are no crossing gates where the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad tracks cross the road in two locations between La Manga and Cumbres Pass. T-boning an old steam locomotive could make for a really bad day.
Crossing into New Mexico and to the town of Chama. If you are the least bit an old train buff, the railyard at Chama is the starting point for the scenic railroad and repair shops and is an interesting stop. Continuing on from Chama and back to Colorado on US?84 there are many opportunities for photos along the way and the San Juan mountains loom large on the horizon. If there’s time, check out the hot springs in Pagosa.

Day 4 / Third Day of Driving
Pagosa Springs to Aspen
Heading west from Pagosa Springs and southwest on 151 is a great driving road. Relatively flat, but with some nice sweeping curves and usually very little traffic. You are really out in the boonies here. Near Arboles is the Navajo reservoir and some interesting rock formation along the road to Allison and Ignacio. The next big town is Durango and is certainly worth a look if you need a coffee break and to stretch your legs.

After Dolores heading to Stoner and Rico, two towns that have seen better days, although Rico is now a bedroom community for hired help working in Telluride. Over Lizard Head Pass at 10,222 feet and into Telluride for our lunch stop. Beware of Telluride’s absurd 15 mph speed limit in town. Can you say “Revenue Generator”?
On to Placerville after lunch and over to the Dallas Divide at 8,970 feet and to Ridgway. Carroll Shelby has a spread outside Ridgway.

Paid for no doubt by flogging his own replica Cobras. Good roads to Montrose and Delta, not terribly scenic but you can make good time if the County Mounties have fetched up at the local donut shop. Montrose, Delta and Hotchkiss are all good places to gas up if needed, or even if you don’t need to, just to avoid the gas prices in Aspen . . . the highest in the state. About a dozen miles past Hotchkiss is the town of Paonia, somewhat off the beaten path if you have time to stop. Next is McClure Pass, not very high at 8,755 feet, but a pleasant drive below timberline which could provide shade on a hot day.

Past Redstone and to Carbondale and into the home stretch for the night’s stopover at the Hotel Jerome in Aspen. The road from Carbondale to Aspen can have heavy traffic at times as most people can’t afford to live or stay in Aspen so they need to head home to outlying towns at the end of the day. Also, keep in mind if you plan to buy anything more than a cup of coffee in Aspen, be sure to bring your irrevocable “Letter of Credit” from CreditSuisse in Zurich.

Day 5 / Final Day of Driving
Aspen to Golden
Now that you’ve bumped up against the limit on all your credit cards it’s time to leave Aspen behind and head over the infamous Independence Pass at 12,093 feet. The road can be steep in places and very narrow near the summit. And guardrails are not always there to “play catch” with you. It could be a long climb back up the road to reach the Medi-vac helicopter. Past Twin Lakes and to Leadville, famous for the “Unsinkable Molly Brown” and the highest airport in the country at 10,000 feet.
Tennessee Pass is 10,404 feet and leads to the Pandow Valley, home to the former Camp Hale, the training camp for the 10th Mountain Division during WWII. Some of the veterans of the fighting in the mountains of Italy came home to start many of the ski resorts in the US, such as Vail and Aspen. If you have time it’s worth a look at the monument at the north end of camp. Unfortunately there isn’t much left of the camp itself except for the foundations, but you can get a rough idea of what it looked like.

Through Redcliffe and Minturn and back to I-70 heading east to Denver. Dillon Reservoir is on your right as you head up Loveland Pass. At 11,990 feet, it’s one of the higher passes in the state and always worth stopping at the summit for a look around and to throw some snowballs, weather permitting, of course. It could be blizzard conditions up there . . . you never know. On the way back to Denver, there is funky Silver Plume, historic Georgetown and Idaho Springs if you want to make one last stop before arriving at the hotel. End of Rallye . . . hope you had a good time!