The other day, I was hiking along in Eldorado Canyon, minding my own business. In fact, I was on Rattlesnake Trail. I had no idea that a hotel used to be along the trail in 1908 until I came across a sign.
1908 was a long time ago. For whatever reason, the scene of where this hotel used to be was touching. I was having flashbacks of what it would have looked like, sounds I would have heard… kind of like in the movie Titanic. What a wild imagination I have. I wondered what the trail and local landscape in the area looked like 100 years ago around the hotel and how things like more humans, global climate change, and simply the natural cycle of the forest have changed things as I saw them.
There was a water tram you could take to the hotel or drive up “Crags” Boulevard which is now the trail. People went there to dance and play poker.
Old china and nails. I thought it was neat that it was preserved and still there. To anyone who glances at this photo, it just looks like a bunch of scattered garbage, but they are artifacts from this hotel 102 years ago. I always loved Indiana Jones as a kid….
Where the fountain used to be.
Remains of the fireplace. It probably heated the building.
Seeing this area reminded me to keep my head up and eyes open on hikes. Hiking is a lot slower than mountain biking so you get the chance to look around and take in the trail in a different way. The hotel area was clearly marked, but I was more sensitive to my surrounds after passing this site, and my eyes were wandering along the trail noticing small flowers,
pinecones that squirrels whittled down to get the seeds, and the sound of one lone bird chirping in the cool, fall air. Special time of year!
