Guffy, Colorado and Royal Gorge Bridge & Park

Today we venture off to some nearby points, the small town of Guffy, Colorado and Royal Gorge Bridge & Park. Only about 1 to 1.5 hours away, this will be a short drive down that we’ll turn into a long drive back. Our return will take us through the towns of Florence, Wetmore, Westcliffe, Howard, Nathrup and back to beautiful Fairplay. The whole enchilada is about 225 miles, or 4.5 hours driving time. But first, Guffy, Colorado.

Guffy, Colorado was just a spur-of-the-moment stop on our adventure but well worth it. Plenty of antiques and odd artwork scattered about the five or six buildings that make up the heart of the town. Not much going on in town today. The school had the most activity with the entire 8^th grade class taking up a bench at the local café for their morning break. Otherwise, we were pretty much alone wondering the streets. We did come across a doe with her two twin fawns cruising through town, and a lone tourist (we’re not tourists in our own state) from California, probably got lost on the way to Central City and the casinos.

But Guffy wasn’t always a sleepy town. Back in 1895 the town had a population of roughly 500 residents and some 40 businesses that supported a small but growing mining industry. There was also cattle ranching and lumber operations that contributed to the towns livelihood. But that dwindled down around 1902 and the town began a steady decline. The census of 2010 showed 98 residents in this little town.

The major story here was back in 2001 when the bodies of three family members of the Dutcher family were found murdered near the town. Three teenagers were found guilty of the crime claiming the murders were part of a plan to fight insurrection in Guyana. That’s right, Guyana, that little country in South America. Not sure if their actions worked.

One other well known activity in Guffy was the annual “chicken fly”. No, not fry, fly! Seems the town people would gather each year and erect a velvet-lined mailbox on a ten-foot pole filled with chickens. The chickens would eventually have to fly to get back to the ground so the townspeople would bet on who’s chicken would fly the furthest. I’m sure no animals were harmed in this event but in any case, the practice was discontinued in 2016.

Before leaving we strolled along the center of town and snapped a few pictures of the surroundings and the local artwork.

Cornered the market of cast iron tubs

Where did they get the bones to make this?

Antiques??????

Guffy City Hall – 1896

Guffy City Hall

Back on the road, we headed for our primary destination, Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. We went to this park when we first moved to Colorado back in 1995. Didn’t remember much from our visit so this was just like a new adventure for us.

Known as the “Grand Canyon” of Colorado, Royal Gorge was formed millions of years ago by seismic and volcanic actions. The Arkansas River runs along the bottom of the canyon cutting through the granite and creating an unusual formation. The canyon shape is that of a ‘V’ with the top of the canyon being some 300’ wide and only 50’ wide at the base, and 1,000’ deep. The north rim of the canyon is below Fremont Peak and south end is below YMCA Mountain, which is just behind Broke Back Mountain.

The area was used by the Ute tribe during winter to shelter over from winds and snow. Other tribes used the area during buffalo hunts (not really buffalo, bison is indigenous to the US).

The real use for the area, other than a tourist trap, came around 1877 when silver and lead was found in Leadville, guess Silverville was already taken. Two railroad companies, the Santa Fe and the Denver & Rio Grand, began to joust for rights to build their railroad through Royal Gorge canyon to move the ore from Leadville.  Joust may be a misnomer, they actually began shooting each other to win the territory.

Things were getting out of hand so enter the law. Both railroad companies went to the courts to settle their dispute, but that was taking too long. Meanwhile, back at the canyon, a posse showed up to enforce Santa Fe railroad’s right to the rails. Just a small band of gunslingers led by Bat Masterson, sheriff of Ford County, Kansas on leave of absence to help Santa Fe, and a couple of helpers, “Dirty” Dave Rudabaugh, Josh Webb, “Mysterious” Dave Mather and one other, Doc Holliday. Guess if your name is Dave you needed to add a prefix.  This was the beginning of the “Royal Gorge War” which is pretty good reading, but not here. Short story, D&RG won the right to finish their tracks, Santa Fe won the right to lease (use) the D&RG tracks to complete their passage, and a marriage was made. Wasn’t long before Santa Fe was charged with violating the lease and the deal went south. There’s lots more drama, Bat Masterson returns with 60 men, steals a cannon, fights break out, people run, etc. Gotta read about it.

Today, Royal Gorge has developed a new way to make money from people, it’s called “admission fees”.  For those who don’t check the internet before vacationing at Royal Gorge, make sure you have a co-signer with you. Entrance fee for the gorge, which includes walking across the bridge and one ride on the gondola, is a mere $29.00, U.S., each. If you and your family of four want to try the Skycoaster, that will be an additional $30.00, U.S., each! And if you want to zip line, unzip your wallet and dish out another $45.00, U.S., each. So, for a family of four with teenage children, the cost could be around $416.00, U.S.! But hey, you’re here at America’s Bridge, what else are you going to do?

We looked at the bridge and the canyon, watched the gondola and Skycoaster go back and forth, then decided to have our picnic lunch.  Once lunch was finished, we were off on our exploration drive back to Fairplay. Should be home in time for cocktail hour! Yeah!

And as Bat Masterson was known to say, “We all get the same amount of ice. The rich get it in the summer. The poor get it in the winter”.