Five Magical Places to Visit in Colorado

© Copyright 2024 Fran Carey, All Rights Reserved.

There are places around the country and around the world with magical legends about their meaning, origin, and purpose. If you visit, and listen quietly, you can feel their magic for yourself. Here are five found in our state of Colorado.

San Luis Valley
At 122 miles long and 74 miles wide, this area in the south central part of the state (extending into New Mexico) is the world's largest alpine valley. It is part of the Oligocene volcanic field, and the underlying rock is a still-shifting jigsaw puzzle, resulting in multiple hot springs as the moving rock heats the groundwater. Surrounded by the Sangre de Christo mountains to the east, which turn crimson at sunrise and sunset, and the San Juans to the west, this former lake bed is so flat you can watch your dog run away for three days. It is also such a hotbed of paranormal activity that Christopher O'Brien has made a cottage industry of investigating and writing about the occurrences.

Among the Valley's claims to fame are the first recorded animal mutilation, of Lady AKA Snippy the Horse, uncountable UFO sightings, spook lights, and black helicopters. Some of the spook lights and UFOs can be attributed to the geological unrest under the valley floor, and the cattle mutilations to politics and land grab tactics, but not all.

The center of the valley floor features in the origin stories of the local native nations, and Mount Blanca, a 14,000 foot peak in the Sangres, is one of the four sacred mountains of the Navajo.

On the western side of the valley is Penitente Canyon, home to a group of very dedicated Catholic practitioners who practiced self-flagellation and who painted a picture of the Virgin Mary 20 feet up a sheer rock wall. Also on this side of the Valley is La Garita, an extinct supervolcano.

Great Sand Dunes National Park
Created by the sand from the lake bed that forms the San Luis Valley blowing against the Sangres under the influence of the prevailing south southwest wind, this is the largest inland dune field in North America. Star Dune, the tallest, is over 800 feet tall, and the dune sheet encompasses over 30 square miles. When snow begins to melt in the surrounding mountains, or after storms there in the summer, Medano Creek forms. This transient waterway can be thirty feet wide and a foot deep, and then it disappears. You know people who didn't understand hydrology thought this was magical.

Camping is allowed on the dunes, or the National Park Service maintains a campground from which you can watch for UFOs, and, since this is a Dark Sky Park, watch the Milky Way, seen by some as the road souls take to the afterlife. The sky is so full of stars, I don't understand how the ancients were ever able to differentiate the constellations.

Zapata Falls
Practically across the street from the Dunes is Zapata Falls. A winding road leads to a small stream. Hike through the stream for a chance to see spook lights at the waterfall itself. Camping is available just down the road in a federal campground that has a view all the way across the valley. It was too windy to camp there when we went, but this would be a great vantage point from which to watch the supernatural goings on below.

UFO Watchtower
Also within easy reach of the Dunes is the UFO Watchtower. This offers camping, as well as an actual watch platform from which to scan the skies for visitors. There is a peace garden which contains donations from guests from around the world, and possibly even beyond.

Stanley Hotel
Practically on the other end of the state, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park inspired Stephen King to write The Shining. Although it has been sold since that time, the ghosts undoubtedly stayed. Management capitalizes on the shadow staff, offering programs discussing the haunted history, and a Shining Tour.

There are many, many more haunted or otherwise magical places in this state. Road trip season is upon us. Go west, east, north, or south and explore our state and/or yours. Magic is all around.

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