Glenwood Springs, Colorado

At the confluence of the Roaring Fork River and Colorado River, Glenwood Springs is located in a beautiful valley cut through the surrounding mountains. The location is probably most famous for its’ mineral hot springs. A second major attraction to Glenwood Springs is the Hotel Colorado. The Hotel was built by Walter Devereux in 1893. Mr. Devereux spared no expense in his efforts to create the Hotel as a place “to serve the wealthy, to house the ailing, to offer a playground to society’s elite.”

Glenwood Springs is also famous as the town where the infamous Doc Holliday came for therapy in the mineral hot springs in May, 1887. The therapy might have eased his pain but he finally died of his tuberculosis on November 8, 1887. He was 35 years old. The owners of the gambling halls where Doc usually played took up a collection to pay for his funeral and he's buried in Glenwood Springs' original cemetery above Bennett Avenue. Another famous visitor was President Teddy Roosevelt, who spent an entire summer vacation here living in the historic Hotel Colorado.

Glenwood Springs is located in the heart of some of America's finest downhill skiing (Aspen, Snowmass, Vail, Beaver Creek, Avon, Sunlight), rafting, kayaking, fishing, and mountain biking countryside. If you'd like a nice bike ride through some gorgeous scenery but aren't up for heavy-duty up-and-down, try the 16-mile-long recreation trail that winds through Glenwood Canyon beside the Colorado and beneath the Interstate. Several outfitters in Glenwood offer bike rentals and shuttles. There's also a paved loop from one end of Glenwood to the other, and back again, along the Roaring Fork River.

Aspen is about 40 minutes south, Vail about 45 minutes east and Grand Junction about 90 minutes west, of Glenwood Springs.