Foothills
Fremont County
23 Porch Notes tied to Fremont County — the local details that change from one part of Colorado to the next.
Money and taxes (1)
Home and property (1)
Water and land (1)
Outdoors and wildfire (8)
Outdoors and wildfire
Beaver Creek near Penrose is rugged canyon country with bighorn sheep
The Beaver Creek canyons northeast of Cañon City include a BLM wilderness study area and a state wildlife area near Penrose, with wildlife that includes Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Cañon City's Arkansas Riverwalk: an easy trail right through town
A flat, crushed-gravel riverfront trail through Cañon City that locals walk, bike, and run year-round, with no canyon driving required.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Garden Park near Cañon City is public fossil land, not a free-for-all
The Garden Park Fossil Area north of Cañon City is federal public land with protections, so visiting it comes with rules about digging for and collecting fossils.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
On the Arkansas through Fremont County, the river has its own managers and rules
The stretch of the Arkansas River around Cañon City and the Royal Gorge is part of a state-managed recreation area, so launches, fees, and safety rules are set by an official agency rather than left open.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Shelf Road north of Cañon City is a rock-climbing area on BLM land
The Shelf Road Recreation Area north of Cañon City is BLM public land known for sport climbing on limestone cliffs, with small campgrounds bookable through Recreation.gov and back-road access along the Gold Belt Tour byway.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Temple Canyon Park south of Cañon City is a rugged city park on Grape Creek
Temple Canyon Park is a city-owned natural area southeast of Cañon City along Grape Creek, reached by winding gravel roads and open dawn to dusk for camping and hiking.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The land around the Royal Gorge Bridge is a city park, not a private resort
Royal Gorge Park west of Cañon City is owned by the City of Cañon City as a large mountain park, with the famous bridge run as one attraction inside it.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Tunnel Drive Trail near Cañon City follows an old water pipeline through three blasted-rock tunnels
Tunnel Drive Trail is a gravel out-and-back west of Cañon City that runs along a retired irrigation pipeline bed through three granite tunnels above the Arkansas River.
Read note ->Cars and driving (3)
Cars and driving
Phantom Canyon Road follows an old railroad grade up to Cripple Creek
Phantom Canyon Road north of the Cañon City area is a narrow gravel back road built on a former narrow-gauge railroad bed, with tunnels and tight turns that make it a slow, careful drive.
Read note ->Cars and driving
Skyline Drive above Cañon City is a one-way road on a thin ridge
Skyline Drive west of Cañon City runs one direction along a narrow hogback ridge, so it is a road to take slowly and on purpose, not a shortcut.
Read note ->Cars and driving
The Gold Belt Tour byway near Cañon City is part pavement, part old wagon and rail grade
The Gold Belt Tour National Scenic Byway loops north from the Cañon City area toward Cripple Creek over historic gravel routes, so parts of it are slow, narrow back roads rather than easy highway.
Read note ->Local rules (1)
History and culture (8)
History and culture
A 1929 suspension bridge that hung over the Arkansas before there were power tools to help
The Royal Gorge Bridge near Cañon City went up in about seven months in 1929 and held the world record for highest suspension bridge for roughly 74 years.
Read note ->History and culture
Cañon City has been a prison town since territorial days
Colorado chose Cañon City for its territorial penitentiary in the late 1860s, and that long corrections history is told at the Museum of Colorado Prisons in town.
Read note ->History and culture
Cañon City's 1913 Santa Fe Depot is now the start of a scenic train
The Mediterranean Revival Santa Fe Depot in Cañon City, built in 1913, survives as a historic landmark and serves as the boarding point for the Royal Gorge Route tourist railroad along the Arkansas River.
Read note ->History and culture
Downtown Florence is a listed historic district built on coal, oil, and smelting
The Downtown Florence Historic District preserves the commercial main street of a town that boomed on coal, oil, and smelting, and the Florence Pioneer Museum sits in one of its sandstone buildings.
Read note ->History and culture
Florence calls itself the Antique Capital of Colorado, and Main Street backs it up
Florence packs a couple dozen antique shops into a few walkable blocks of historic brick storefronts, drawing weekend browsers from across the state.
Read note ->History and culture
Florence is home to a federal prison complex, including the federal supermax
A federal correctional complex outside Florence, including the federal supermax, is part of why corrections runs deep in Fremont County life and work.
Read note ->History and culture
Florence sits on one of Colorado's earliest oil stories
The area around Florence in Fremont County was an early Colorado oil field, and that history is one part of how the town took shape.
Read note ->History and culture
The Royal Gorge is narrow enough that two railroads once fought over it
The deep, tight Royal Gorge canyon on the Arkansas River had room for only one rail line, and the fight over that route is a real part of Fremont County's history.
Read note ->