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!
Playing on Raton Pass
And now we're heading up Raton Pass. I wasn't planning on going much past Raton Pass, so we'll double back to Trinidad and then head west on SH 12. Sound like a plan?
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A dancing arrow sign says Hi! on the way up Raton Pass.
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Since I hang out at woot.com often trying to score good woots on toys (or bags of crap--don't ask), I thought this exit humorous.
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The same sign truck from a few pages back. This will be the third time I've passed him. At least he's not so white-knuckled this time.
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Approaching yet another weigh station.
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It's a straight grade to the top of the pass now.
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Approaching the summit.
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Since the summit of the pass is right at the state line, the plows need somewhere to turn around. It's in 1500 feet.
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This weigh station is a little more specific than most Colorado stations as to what needs to pull off.
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No fancy Open/Closed signs here: just a piece of wood.
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There's no prepass option at this scale.
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The bridge is right on the state line. This weigh station and the one 11 miles back work in tandem: only one of the two will be open.
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Shot directly into the sun, unfortunately. There's a great old New Mexico-labeled interstate shield on the left and a "Welcome to New Mexico" sign on the right.
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A shot of the weigh station. Those portals the trucks have to go through are interesting.
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Starting our downward descent to Raton. Once past Raton, I-25 resumes its rural highway characteristics.
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Watch for elk, y'all.
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Our first New Mexico distance sign.
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Note to where the welcome center is. That thing on the right is the guardrail. It gets twisted and lies flat on the ground when it ends. I've seen this style before, but not recently.
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A large paved area on the way down the pass. My guess is this is where all the snow ends up.
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A menu of amenities. Back in the day (read: about 10 years ago) I took a trip through here. This sign was completely different. It told you how much the fine was for speeding. Something like 1-5mph over: $50. 6-10mph over: $100... We used to joke it was like reading a menu: how much can I afford today? We'd set the cruise at that speed over and go!
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I know the font change is so that drivers would notice it, but damn, that's an ugly sign.
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More elk goodness. Also note that New Mexico paints the median cement barrier.
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Approaching Bus 25 in Raton. The obvious greenout was for NM 555, which goes west from Raton for a few miles. US 87, which used to exit here and head through Raton before heading east to Texas. (Thanks, Steve Reiner for setting me straight.)
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Exiting to double back, we're greeted with this ... uhmmm... colorful bridge.
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A close-up at the paint job. It even continues on the girders.
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A shot of the NB bridge from under the SB lanes.
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Now this is an old sign. Cracked, rotting, and fading. Nice find! Are we not supposed to turn right?
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New Mexico uses cattle gates to close off interstate traffic, apparently.
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It's been a while since I've seen the restrictions spelled out. I'm used to seeing the graphical signs.
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Back heading north on I-25. This speed limit sign just looks off to me.
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Just in case the graphical image of a boulder crashing down on your car isn't enough, NMDOT was nice enough to add the Rocks banner. Heh.
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A distance marker seeing how far we've come. Colorado Springs is rarely on these signs, probably because of the length of the city's name. (We've traveled about 165 miles, BTW)
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A nice distance shot of a saddle in the pass.
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This scenic area isn't actually at the summit of the pass. It's about one mile into Colorado.
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The weigh station for the SB lanes used to be for the NB lanes, too. I guess the backups and the troubles of making trucks turn around were too much. Now trucks continue to the Exit 11 weigh station. That greenout isn't going to last much longer, and I don't know what happened to part of the H.
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Another sign that was changed. This sign has seen better days.
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Approaching the last New Mexico exit, Exit 460.
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Approaching the state line, which is still right at the bridge.
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A little closer to the state line. That sign bridge on the offramp still has a sign directing trucks to the correct lane to get to the weigh station.
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Now in Colorado. The first sign we get says to watch for snowplows. Welcome to Colorado! :D
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Our welcome signs.
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A Sign Convention™ greets us just ahead. Interesting thing here: the I-25 shield behind the merge sign actually has New Mexico for the state name, not Colorado.
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I-25 is called the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway right up until its border with El Paso County (the county that Colorado Springs is in). El Paso County, being the Republican stronghold that it is, changes the interstate from JFK to the Ronald Reagan Highway.
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Scenic shot. That's clouds and blowing snow we're seeing on the peaks in the distance.
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Great shot of an I shield with the state name in it.
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Approaching the scenic area last advertised in New Mexico. Interesting things: first, CDOT didn't make this sign blue, second, the scenic area looks at the rock formations to the east of the interstate, not those views we've been soaking up ever since crossing into Colorado.
- Where to next?
- Page 4
- This trip's Index
- Page 6
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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