Traffic was light -- the 4 lanes were much appreciated by us and probably lots of other folks as well -- and about 20 minutes later arrived at the residential edge of Glenwood Springs. We turned onto 14th street and followed Google's directions to the trail head for Pioneer cemetery, the lasting resting place of John Henry "Doc" Holiday, dentist turned gambler and gunman. He had come to the town for its allegedly healing powers for people suffering from lung ailments, and Holliday suffered from one the worst: tuberculosis, or "consumption as it was then called. He died in a room in the Hotel Glenwood, penniless and was buried in (then) Linwood cemetery, quite possible in an unmarked grave. The cemetery became city property in 1939 but by then the exact location of his grave had been lost to time.
The climb up the moist trail to the cemetery gave out onto spectacular views of both the canyon containing Route 82 as well as the city of Glenwood Springs itself. We couldn't help but remark to ourselves what the view have looked like when Holliday's body was carted up the steep mountainside in 1887.
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| view of Glenwood Springs from the cemetery |
After bidding adieu to Doc and all of our childhood memories of one of American's biggest western legends, we got back onto Route 82 through Glenwood Springs, a city of no small appeal to tourists: it sits not only at one of two entrances to the Aspen corridor -- the other is over Independence Pass and is closed for much of the winter -- but is still a favorite with people seeking thermal springs. Also it is located smack in the gorgeous and awesome Glenwood Canyon and not far from Hanging Lake (which were fortunate to visits several years back). Needless to say the city has certainly changed since Holliday slipped quietly into his last sleep and out onto the stage of western folklore.
But we had little time to hang around -- we had another appointment to keep and so quickly found our way to I-70 heading east toward Denver.
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