Glenwood Springs, Colorado City of Glenwood Springs, Colorado Glenwood Springs view from Lookout Mountain Glenwood Springs view from Lookout Mountain The City of Glenwood Springs is the Home Rule Municipality that is the governmental center of county and the most crowded municipality of Garfield County, Colorado, United States. Glenwood Springs is positioned at the confluence of the Roaring Fork River and the Colorado River, threading together the Roaring Fork Valley and a series of lesser towns up and down the Colorado River.
Glenwood Springs is best known as a historic destination for vacationers with diverse natural amenities, most especially hot springs, but gentrification and evolution have introduced undivided cultural, dining, and recreational activities as well.
Glenwood Springs in 2015 was titled the "Most Vibrant Small Town Arts Environment in the United States" by Southern Methodist University and the 5th Best Place to Live in America by Outside magazine.
9.8 Glenwood Caverns 9.9 Glenwood Vaudeville Revue Glenwood Springs was originally known as "Defiance", a name sometimes still used by small-town squads or businesses.
Town Founder Isaac Cooper's wife Sarah was having a difficult time adjusting to the frontier life and, in an attempt to make her surrounding somewhat more comfortable, persuaded the framers to change the name to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, after her beloved hometown of Glenwood, Iowa. Glenwood Hot Springs Bathhouse, Glenwood Springs, assembled c.
The locale of Glenwood Springs, as well as gaining a stop on the barns , quickly made it a center of commerce in the area.
Corral gunfight, spent the final months of his life in Glenwood Springs and is buried in the town's initial Pioneer Cemetery above Bennett Avenue.
Infamous serial killer Ted Bundy was imprisoned in the Glenwood Springs jail until he escaped on the evening of December 30, 1977, an escape which went undetected for 17 hours. Grand Avenue, Glenwood Springs Glenwood Springs was one of the first places in the United States to have electric lights.
Later, a dam was assembled in Glenwood Canyon, providing water for the Shoshone power plant.
The plant began producing power on May 16, 1909, and retains the biggest and earliest water rights to the Colorado River, the "Shoshone Call", which is now far more valuable for the protection of Colorado River water clean water the minimal electricity produced. Looking west from Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park above Glenwood Springs Glenwood Springs is positioned in the narrow mountain valleys that host the confluence of the Colorado River and the Roaring Fork River.
The encircling terrain is steeply contoured on all sides, with various caves to be found. Extensive geothermal resources exist in the area, most famously manifest in the small-town hot springs, but also evidenced through other features such as the Dotsero maar.
Occasional proposals to leverage the geothermal energy for other purposes arise. Glenwood Springs has experienced a several significant mudslides throughout its history, a threat mitigated somewhat by enhance works. Glenwood Springs is one of the most walkable suburbs in America, a distinct ion that has been recognized by PBS and Walking Magazine, including in the Walking Town Hall of Fame. Although the town's dense amenities and constrained geography make Glenwood Springs a natural surrounding for pedestrians and cyclists, the extensive trails running throughout and around the town/city resulted from a renaissance that began in the 1980s in response to congestion and traffic. Due to assertive planning by town/city management amid the early years of the city, Glenwood Springs owns some of the most senior water rights to tributaries of the Colorado River. Even with very little threat of waterworks inadequacy, unlike most of the American West, conservation plans have been enacted anyway for largely surroundingal reasons.
Extensive mineral deposits exist further up the Crystal River and the Roaring Fork, and oil resources are sizeable in Garfield County, bringing momentous tax revenue to Glenwood Springs.
However, Glenwood Springs itself lies outside of the Colorado Mineral Belt, and there are no mineral or petroleum and gas sources near Glenwood Springs proper or its watersheds. While the paucity of minerals and petroleum was disastrous for early miners hoping to strike it rich, undivided Glenwood Springs has none of the typical Colorado mountain town impact of resource extraction, boasting pristine air, water, and land. Valley inversions and heavy traffic to Aspen can lead to air character issues amid exceptionally cold spells of winter.
Enumeration Bureau, Glenwood Springs has a total region of 5.7 square miles (14.7 km2), of which 0.01 square miles (0.02 km2), or 0.16%, is water. Glenwood Springs has a generally mild and semi-arid climate, much more persistently stable than that of the Front Range and most of Colorado, though still decidedly continental and apt to periods of extreme weather.
Microclimates dominate Glenwood Springs, with areas close to the rivers often much more damp and cool than hillsides.
Climate data for Glenwood Springs (1981 2010 normals, extremes 1893 present) Louis World's Fair in 1904, and strawberries thrived so well that Glenwood Springs' biggest festival was inaugurated as Strawberry Days in 1898. Just a several miles upvalley, Carbondale became legendary for its potatoes. Even with being an expensive region in which to live, Glenwood Springs has the highest life expectancy in America for 40-year-olds making working wages. Glenwood Springs' economy has centered on hospitality for vacationers since its foundation, unlike many of Colorado's mountain towns, which were generally settled for quarrying or barns purposes.
While early barns access and inclusion on chief lines and adjacency to Aspen certainly catalyzed the city's growth, Glenwood Springs persistently thriving visitors, and thus never really experienced the bust or quiet years most mountain suburbs endured.
In the winter, the adjacency of Glenwood Springs to multiple primary ski resorts and its hot springs draw visitors as well.
Historically, Glenwood Springs has been most visited by inhabitants of other parts of Colorado, but tourism from the rest of America and the world has been the most rapid origin of expansion recently. Excellent connectivity is provided throughout town by a small-town fiber-optic loop with multiple uplinks due to Glenwood's barns heritage.
Glenwood Springs also serves as a bedroom improve for Aspen and Vail, while many citizens who work in Glenwood Springs in turn live further down the Colorado River.
Bloomberg Business titled Glenwood Springs the 7th wealthiest small town in America in 2015, due principally to the influence of Aspen.
Glenwood Springs and Aspen share a micropolitan statistical area, and businesses often serve the entire Valley, including a merged multiple listing service. Many small businesses start in the region due to the ambient richness and a strong preference for small-town business, but they typically relocate to larger urbane areas after prosperous expansion leads to needs for more affordable workforce and physical resources. Glenwood Springs is the command posts of the Roaring Fork RE-1 school precinct and the Colorado Mountain College.
In all, the town/city has 5 enhance K-12 schools: Glenwood Springs High School, Yampah Mountain High School (an alternative school not part of RE-1), Glenwood Springs Middle School, Glenwood Springs Elementary School, and Sopris Elementary School.
Glenwood Springs' principal news origin is the Post Independent, a small-town daily journal created by the consolidation of the Glenwood Post, with a colorful history stretching back in various forms to 1889, and a newer competitor, the Glenwood Independent.
KMTS provides small-town nation radio along the Colorado River, and KSNO serves the Roaring Fork Valley.
The Glenwood Springs train station run by Amtrak Amtrak's California Zephyr, operating daily in both directions between Chicago and Emeryville, California, serves Glenwood Springs, the second busiest station in Colorado, behind only Denver's Union Station. The first commercially prosperous dome cars were assembled for the Zephyr family, inspired by Glenwood Canyon. Due to the scenery, timetables designed for maximum sunlight in Glenwood Canyon, the adjacency of downtown, and the sheer volume of small-town tourism, Glenwood Springs receives more passenger traffic than many primary cities on the Zephyr line, including Lincoln, Omaha, Grand Junction, and Salt Lake City. The Zephyr takes a scenic route through the mountain peaks between Denver and Glenwood Springs.
Part of the route near Glenwood Springs was used for locations in the 1995 action movie Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, starring Steven Seagal.
RFTA provides bus transit in Glenwood Springs and throughout the Roaring Fork Valley.
Veloci - RFTA(pronounced "Veloci-rafta", a pun on velociraptor) BRT service, the first non-urban BRT in the United States, began in September 2013, offering connections between south Glenwood Springs and Aspen roughly every 15 minutes with a 60-minute total travel time.
The town/city also operates an intracity bus service, Ride Glenwood. Ride Glenwood offers a chief route from the west side of town along the 6&24 corridor, through downtown, to the south part of Glenwood along Hwy 82.
A no-charge shuttle runs between the Hotel Colorado and the Hot Springs at Olive & 6th to 8th & Cooper and Centennial Park every 20 minutes from 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM while assembly on the new pedestrian walkway over the Colorado River is underway. Greyhound Lines stops in Glenwood Springs on trips between New York and Las Vegas twice per day and Denver and Las Vegas once per day. Daily bus service titled the Bustang runs between Glenwood Springs and Denver directed by CDOT. Amenities include no-charge Wi-Fi and electricity and restrooms.
Glenwood Springs lies along I-70 at exit 116 (main exit), about 150 miles (240 km) west of Denver and 85 miles (137 km) east of Grand Junction.
Colorado State Highway 82 leads southeast from Glenwood Springs up the Roaring Fork Valley 12 miles (19 km) to Carbondale and 41 miles (66 km) to Aspen.
Glenwood Springs Airport, a municipal airport, was assembled in the early 1940s.
Glenwood Springs has always been famous principally for outside recreation, today joined by cultural facilities and the emergence of Glenwood Springs and the Roaring Fork Valley as a whole as a gastronomical destination for foodies. Activities include whitewater rafting, kayaking, caving, cycling, modern climbing, horseback riding, all-terrain vehicle (ATV) tours, off-road Hummer tours, Segway tours, tandem paragliding flights, world-class fishing, and lodge stays in Glenwood Canyon.
The major draw of Glenwood Springs for over a hundred years has been the various hot springs in the area. Colorado is making a broader accomplishment to advertise its hot springs after surveys demonstrated the high value visitors place on hot mineral waters. Glenwood Hot Springs is the biggest hot springs facility in town, centrally positioned athwart the Colorado River from downtown.
The large pool is kept at 93 F (34 C) year round and is the world's biggest hot mineral springs pool.
There is a 107-room lodge, which includes unlimited access to the hot springs and a full hot breakfast for all guests.
Yampah Hot Springs vapor caves are historic underground steam baths.
The hot springs and mineral caves are tourist attractions and were a chief reason for the settlement of Glenwood Springs.
Iron Mountain Hot Springs offers a complimentary experience with lesser pools in a more intimate setting.
Sunlight Mountain Resort is the hometown hill for Glenwood Springs, operating a brick and mortar store for lift tickets, rentals, repairs, and equipment in downtown Glenwood.
Other ski areas such as Aspen, Beaver Creek, and Vail are farther away, but Glenwood Springs is still incessantly chose as a home base for visitors to these other resorts due to the hot springs, cultural and dining options, and cheaper lodging in the winter.
Two of the biggest rivers in Colorado, the Colorado River and the Roaring Fork River, converge in Glenwood Springs.
The waters of the Roaring Fork flowing through Glenwood Springs proper are "Gold Medal" fishing waters, formally so designated by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
The natural range in terrain and gradient of Glenwood Canyon and many small-town watersheds provides options for most watercraft users' skill levels.
Different times of year will accommodate different skill levels, with spring run-off making the rivers vastly more wild, while the rivers are often lackadaisical amid the autumn and frozen over completely in the winter.
There is a dedicated Glenwood Whitewater Park that was advanced in the river near Midland Avenue to furnish features and terrain for stationary wave surfing, kayaking, and more.
Paragliding is a prominent summer and shoulder season morning activeness in Glenwood Springs, with supportive and generally reliable air currents and extraordinary views with terrain that stretches more than 2 kilometers above the valley floor visible in multiple directions.
While Carbondale, just upvalley, is already well known as a premiere mountain biking destination, Glenwood Springs has its own ambitious plans to make the rugged terrain encircling town available to riders. There are already many famous mountain bike trails in the Roaring Fork Valley, most requiring momentous public and stamina for full appreciatement due to the steep slopes and rocky outcroppings. Some favored routes for locals are the Forest Hollow Trail, winding along the rim above Glenwood Canyon, and the Scout Trail, an extreme drop from the canyon rim into downtown Glenwood.
Glenwood Springs is home to a 9-hole golf course referred to by locals as "The Hill" and is inside driving distance of mountain golf.
Several larger courses, most prominently including River Valley Ranch and Ironbridge, sprawl through some of the mountain valleys around Glenwood Springs and Carbondale.
Two exceptionally beautiful and long trails host Glenwood Springs as one of the endpoints.
The Glenwood Canyon Recreational Trail winds 16 miles (26 km) through Glenwood Canyon sandwiched between the canyon walls and the Colorado River.
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is a moderate-sized amusement park aimed at visitors of all ages. A tram takes visitors up to an extensive fitness of caverns historically known as the "Fairy Caves", now known as the Glenwood Caverns.
Principal attractions are the caverns and a number of imported thrill rides, including an alpine coaster, the Giant Canyon Swing, which spins riders out over the cliff-edge of Glenwood Canyon to reflect on the Colorado River some 1300 ft below, and the Cliffhanger, a roller coaster which is literally bolted to the mountain. More gentle experiences such as laser tag, lunch, and rides for small kids are hosted at the top of the tramway.
The Glenwood Caverns themselves are a complex cave fitness that winds throughout Iron Mountain, eventually connecting to the same hydrothermal features that power the hot springs.
A guided walking cave tour will take you through the cave fitness to see places like Kings Row, the most highly decorated cave room in Colorado, and the Barn, the second biggest cave room in Colorado.
Glenwood Vaudeville Revue The Glenwood Vaudeville Revue is a two-hour experienced dinner theater show performing comedy skits, dances, and music for audiences of all ages. An old downtown movie theater was purchased and renovated into a dedicated performance venue. The revue has been in experienced performance since 2009. Hanging Lake is positioned in Glenwood Canyon about 7 miles (11 km) east of Glenwood Springs.
The unique geography of Glenwood Springs, etched deep into the encircling terrain by the confluence of the rivers, provides hundreds of miles of off-road trails minutes from downtown.
The most prominent trail near Glenwood Springs is called the Transfer Trail.
The Transfer Trail was once a major access route to Glenwood Springs when Glenwood Canyon was considered largely impassible.
One of many celebrations and markets hosted by Glenwood Springs throughout the year, the Downtown Market farmers' market occurs every Tuesday throughout the summer months.
Glenwood Canyon Glenwood Hot Springs a b "Active Colorado Municipalities".
"Colorado Municipal Incorporations".
State of Colorado, Department of Personnel & Administration, Colorado State Archives.
"Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Glenwood Springs city, Colorado".
"City of Glenwood Springs explores geothermal energy use".
City of Glenwood Springs.
"Glenwood Springs Trail System".
City of Glenwood Springs.
"Trails of Glenwood Springs".
"Frontier Diary: A pedestrian bridge to the heart of Glenwood Springs".
City of Glenwood Springs.
"General Climate Summary Tables - Glenwood Springs, Colorado".
Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association.
"Strawberry Days Festival, Glenwood Springs, Colorado".
Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association.
"Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015".
"The world is coming to visit Glenwood Springs".
City of Glenwood Springs.
"Why is Glenwood the 7th-richest small town in U.S.?".
"Aspen Glenwood MLS".
Aspen Glenwood MLS.
Glenwood Springs Post Independent.
"Amtrak Colorado FY15 Fact Sheet" (PDF).
"Glenwood Canyon Inspired Amtrak's Vista-Dome Railcar".
"Ride Glenwood Springs".
City of Glenwood Springs.
Reuter, Elise (November 18, 2015).
"Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts".
Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts.
"Record year for Glenwood Springs retail sales".
Glenwood Hot Springs.
Glenwood Springs Parks and Recreation.
Stroud, John (March 1, 2015).
"Glenwood region mountain biking potential abounds in new plan".
"Glenwood Canyon Bike Path".
"Looking for an exciting Glenwood Springs family vacation?".
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park.
"Glenwood Caverns Park Opens 'Cliffhanger', Highest Elevation Roller Coaster in U.S.".
"Glenwood Vaudeville Revue".
Stroud, John (November 26, 2013).
Cabe, Jessica (December 1, 2014).
"The Glenwood Springs Vaudeville Revue's wacky holiday show opens today".
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Glenwood Springs.
City of Glenwood Springs municipal website Glenwood Springs Fire Department Glenwood Springs Police Dept CDOT map of the City of Glenwood Springs Glenwood Tourism: Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association Visitglenwood.com, Glenwood Springs official travel website
Categories:
Glenwood Springs, Colorado - Cities in Garfield County, Colorado - Roaring Fork Valley - Hot springs of Colorado - County seats in Colorado - Spa suburbs in the United States - Cities in Colorado
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