The Highway of Legends

Colorado’s State Highway 12, also known as the Highway of Legends, is a road we had traveled once before, several years ago. This scenic byway runs through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from La Veta to Trinidad, around the Spanish Peaks and through the San Isabel National Forest. We decided to take this road again, and wow, was it spectacular!

The turquoise line was our route (vs. the dark line of the interstate to the right)

What or who are the legends that give the byway its name, you ask? We had to look it up, ourselves. There are a number of legends from the Native Americans, the Spanish Conquistadors, and the pioneers, miners, trappers, and ranchers who explored and then settled this region. One of them is that the Tarahumare Indians believed the Spanish Peaks to be the place where all life emerged on Earth. Another tells the legend of Native warriors burying gold somewhere in a river valley along this route. 

We were in search of a place to camp for the night and had our eye on a couple of lakes off of the byway well into the national forest. But first we stopped in the tiny mountaintop town of Cuchara around lunch time. We walked around the very colorful town a bit and enjoyed the fresh mountain air. And, of course, I had to get an item or two from the country store gift shop. 🙂

We remembered Cuchara specifically for its Dog Bar & Grill restaurant. Perfect! We had lunch out on the patio with Koda, who loved the people — and dog — watching. The motto for the place is Come. Sit. Stay. Very cute. Todd was happy to see they had a Beyond Burger on the menu, and I had the Dog Bar Cobb. 

After lunch we were off to find a place to camp. About four miles down the road we came to Forest Service Road 422 and the end of our pavement. We drove about five miles up a washboard dirt and gravel road before coming to the first of two lakes. Clouds were darkening and it looked like it might rain so we kept going to check out the two available developed campgrounds. Neither had any electricity or hookups. These were primitive sites, each with only a fire ring and picnic table. The Bear Lake campground was full. Oh no! But fortunately we were able to find a space at Blue Lake. It never did rain, so we went down to Blue Lake to find several people fishing. It was a beautiful late afternoon to walk around.

There were still patches of snow on the ground in places from the 8” of snow that had fallen a couple of days earlier when a cold front blew through. Our campground was at about 10,500 ft. elevation so it was going to be a chilly night (of course the Revel keeps us toasty warm). 

Koda was in her element and would have stayed out most of the night if we had let her. She was transfixed by the chipmunks. While trying to catch them, the chipmunks teased her mercilessly by coming just out of range of her 30’ leash.

In the morning, we had Bear Lake practically to ourselves with the exception of a couple of people fishing. Of the two lakes, this one was larger and more beautiful in our opinion.

After a while, we left and continued on our drive to Trinidad where we camped at Trinidad Lake (below), and then drove home the next day.