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!
Finishing the lower part of the 8
Alright. We're through Cuchara and heading towards La Veta. After that, we take US 160 back into Walsenberg, completing the lower part of our figure 8, then head east.
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And then in a snap we're out of the mountainous driving and in a wide valley. That's Mount Greenhorn dead ahead...
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...and Mount Lindsay (I think) to the left.
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Entering La Veta. Apparently there was an incident with curved lines attacking a man at this point. They've commerated it with a sign.
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12 takes a quick turn to the east here. That advance warning sign is well hidden behind the stop ahead sign.
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Even if you don't see the advance warning sign, you're ok. This sign is directly across the intersection you need to turn at.
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One block later, 12 turns back north again.
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There's quite a bit of hispanic influence in the architecture in La Veta.
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What our next major highway intersection will be.
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Walsenburg is our next stop, but we could also go west over La Veta pass and into the San Luis Valley. Don't know why there's not a distance to Alamosa here, too.
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Clever use of white rocks just outside La Veta.
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Approaching 160 with a junction sign in the wrong spot. I'm not sure what that guy is watching.
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Stringing new wires across 12.
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Here's the northern (western?) END! of SH 12. No end sign in sight.
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Traveling along US 160 headed towards Walsenburg now. I looked to my right, pulled over, and took this shot of the Spanish Peaks. How do I know the name of these mountains, you might ask? Well...
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...I'm glad you asked. And CDOT is, too. Leave it to us Americans to muck the name, huh? The spanish version is pronounced the same way as the indian name, just with a little more of a "huah" sound in the beginning.
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Another warning about a prison in the area.
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Just down the road from the prison warning sign lies the Veteran's Nursing Home. I'll let you draw your own parallels between prisons and nursing homes...
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A directional banner in the wrong place.
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For sale. One abandoned power plant. Cheep!
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An interesting sign for I-25 here. Since there's not a whole lot north or south of Walsenberg (as we've seen on this trip), there's times where US 160 essentially dead-ends here in Walsenberg.
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Interesting sign here. I think it's worded this way because the turn lanes continue over two blocks.
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And we've now completed the lower loop of our figure-eight. This is at the intersection of WB 160 and BR 25 in Walsenberg. We're going to turn left and head north...
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...for two blocks. We're now going to continue on EB 160 and SH 10.
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Not used to seeing standing allowed no parking signs.
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Sh 10 is erroneously signed along this whole stretch. It doesn't actually begin until we hit I-25 and US 160 turns south. These should all be marked with a To banner. That's also a old East banner on this assembly.
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Now at the I-25/US 160/SH 10 interchange. There's also railroad tracks to our left. That's why the interstate bridges are so long.
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The first official reassuarance shield. We now have yet another BEGIN!ning to add to our collection. Also, there's no End shield to be seen for WB 10.
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Hmmm. Methinks there won't be any mountain driving on 10.
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Aahhh, scenery. Enjoy it while it lasts.
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Approaching the crest of the hill we saw in the distance of the previous pic.
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Wow. A whole lotta nothing for as far as the eye can see. Sit back and relax. We'll be in La Junta in about 45 minutes or so.
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10 is used heavily by truck traffic headed west into the San Luis Valley from WB US 50.
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I haven't seen Wildlife Areas 1-19 yet. And also, does the wildlife know or care what number area they're in?
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Approaching the truck we've seen in the distance in a few of the pictures. I though I'd pass him my next chance.
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Heh, whoops. There's an explanation for this. I went to pass the truck while we were both headed down the hill we were cresting in the previous pic. He sped up, so did I. Then, I was running out of time before the next rise I couldn't see over. Third there's nobody on this damn road! Not that this is going to get me out of any ticket if I were to get pulled over. Hmmm... could I get a ticket for showing this on my site?
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The sun's starting to get quite low, so the colors are about to get really rich in all my shots.
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10 is pretty well marked along its entire length. Wow. We just passed a ranch entrance. The sign said "Main Headquarters 8 miles ahead". I can't even imagine owning that kind of acreage.
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A nicely advertised narrow wooden railing bridge.
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Hey look! Something is happening! There's a sign ahead! Oh, wait. It's just a county line marker. Go back to sleep. I'll wake you when we get to anything interesting.
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Now that we're in Otero County, there's a few opportunities to jump over to US 50. This is one of them. No, 10 doesn't turn north, there's a crossroad after the curve. This is highly reminiscent of how SH 86 interacts with US 24.
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Going over the Apishapa River, which is nothing more than a dry creekbed right now.
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A very remote radio transmission tower. Anyone remember that episode of WKRP in Cincinatti where Dr. Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap were sent to the transmitter for a broadcast, but there was a bomb there? Everyone thought they were killed when the bomb went off, but they were actually running from the "phone police"? They don't make television like that anymore.
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Another chance to head north.
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Since there's no distance signs along the majority of SH 10, I had to look to a cross street for guidance.
- Where to next?
- Page 7
- This trip's Index
- Page 9
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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