westcliffe

Location: 145 miles southwest of Denver on Colorado 69
Elevation: 7888, Population: 417

From this lush, picturesque town, sandwiched by the Wet and Sangre de Cristo Mountain ranges, you can spot five 14,000-foot peaks, known as the Crestone Needle Peaks.

Campgrounds in the San Isabel National Forest are easily accessible just west of town and are starting points for numerous outdoor adventures. Skiers, hikers, anglers, climbers, and hunters will all find something to inspire them here.

A funky, out-of-time site is Bishop Castle, about 28 miles southeast of Westcliffe. Resident Jim Bishop has been building this medieval masterpiece by hand at the rate of about 1,000 stones per year. Why not visit? It's free and open to the public. In town, hit Purnell's Cafe for espresso and various traveling necessaries. Three lodging facilities will be happy to provide simplistic rooms very inexpensively.

A real fieldstone schoolhouse from 1891, which now depicts a one-room teaching setting from the period, plus historical photographs make up the Westcliffe Schoolhouse Museum; the building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Source: Colorado.com

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