the southern figure-8 tour
Looking back at the trips I've taken, I noticed something. I have gone north, west, and east of Colorado Springs, but I haven't headed south. I decided I needed to fix that. One eight-hour car trip later, I came back with a fistful of pictures. Here they are!
S3x changes, anyone?
Now that we've clinched the Business 25 route through Walsenburg, it's time to rejoin the interstate and continue to head south towards Trinidad and Raton Pass.
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Hanging a right to get onto the interstate again.
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This is one of the rare times in Colorado where a US route is co-signed with the interstate route. Usually (minus some random signs) the US route just disappears for the time it is on the interstate.
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A distance sign greets us.
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That frontage road that the sign from the last page was guarding doesn't last too long.
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A random exit. What makes this one interesting is the road gets a railway underpass. Follow the exit ramp and let your eyes drift to the right a bit. That's pretty rare out here. I'm betting at one time this used to be where the old 85/87 highway turned off.
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When Wind Attacks. FOX'll love this.
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My thoughts about the previous 85/87 alignment are verified with the sighting of some old cement lanes doubling as a frontage road now. These are open, and I wish I would have known about this. I would have been traveling on them instead of the I. Oh, well, next time.
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Approaching Ludlow, CO. Home of the infamous Ludlow Massacre. As said in the article, Ludlow is now nothing but a ghost town.
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Hoehne Road doesn't get an exit number? There's not one when you're headed northbound, either. It's actually Exit 23.
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ANother spot where the signs didn't hold up well to the wind.
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Approaching another rest area that's located off of an exit. The next rest area is in New Mexico.
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A helpful sign in the winter. Between Trinidad and Raton lies Raton Pass, and it gets closed often in the winter.
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Approaching the turnoff for EB US 160.
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Welcome to Trinidad, the Sex Change Capital of the World. At least, it used to be. The doctor who performed the operations passed away in January 2006.
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This is also the way you get to US 350. US 350 is a US highway that only lives in the state of Colorado.
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An open Icy Bridge warning sign. Doesn't seem necessary today, but there's still a good possibility of a snowstorm this season.
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Exiting 25 for a quick route east to the western end of 350.
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This bridge needs a new coat of paint.
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I'm glad that we aren't intersecting a 3di interstate. The sign would probably fall over.
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Tons of museums are to the right. 160 heads to the left, FYI.
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A few miles out of town, we approach the intersection of US 160 and 350.
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Just before the intersection.
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A shot of the BEGIN!ning of US 350. To stay on US 160 you have to hang a right.
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Coming back to the intersection on WB 160. 160 goes through such remote country the US Postal Service won't even deliver past here. And the road can be closed here, too.
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Looking down US 350. 350 follows the Santa Fe Trail right into La Junta.
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The first reassuarance shield for 350. Since 350 is located within the state, there's talks about lowering its status from US route to State Route.
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Turning around, we get to see the western END! of US 350.
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Coming back into Trinidad. This is the same turn from before when there was an advertisement for the museums. The second right sign has curved edges.
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Getting back onto I-25. Looks like crews had to improvise with the arrow again.
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Trinidad has a business loop, too. It's signed differently than any other business loop I've seen in Colorado, though.
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Approaching SH 12's exit. Note the 13B-13A exit designation.
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I-25 lives on an aging viaduct over the heart of Trinidad. There's plans to redo the interstate through here.
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Looks like trouble happened on the northbound lanes!
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This is the former exit 14. It used to be a tight loop ramp down to the intersection we're going over right now. (I have a pic of the intersection coming up). Trouble is, there's also railroad tracks that cross the intersection. This was just waaaaay too tight and crowded to safely keep this exit open.
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A closer shot of the former exit. This exit has been closed for quite some time, but the paint and streetlights remain to this day.
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Just after the former merge lies the sign that tells you how the 13B-13A exit works.
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A shot of the 13B-A exit. We're eventually going to exit here and take SH 12, so I'll have some more pics coming up.
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Now we see why the 13A exit is at the same exit point as 13B. Can you imagine trying to deal with this weave if it was marked any other way?
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The merge for exit 13A is off of the frontage road. That's an old guardrail right there, too.
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Just outside Trinidad we encounter a Weigh Station.
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Starting to ascend Raton Pass. Raton is 17 miles away.
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There's a few minor interchanges while traveling up Raton Pass.
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Here's another one!
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Have a probelm with rockslides? Cement it! But let that tree grow, still!
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The pass starts to narrow up a bit.
- Where to next?
- Page 3
- This trip's Index
- Page 5
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with any of the orginizations listed within this site. I'm just a bored roadgeek with way too much time on his hands. All of the picts in this page are mine and mine alone unless otherwise noted. Remember, kids: stealing is bad, mmmm-k? I get quite pissy if things are taken without telling me. I don't like to be pissy. You won't like it either. If you want to link to this page, that's fine. Please shoot me an email beforehand so I can link to your page as well. K? Thanks. --Ryan
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