Colorado became the 38th state to join the United States on August 1, 1876. The capital city is Denver. The highest point is Mt. Elbert at 14,433 feet.

Road Trip 2013 - Day 7 - June 17 - Colorado - Stop 2 (Previous road trip 2013 posts: Indiana Dunes, De Immigrant, Amana Colonies, Des Moines, Madison County Roads, Bridges of Madison County, White Pole Road, Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, Golden Spike Tower & Union Pacific's Bailey Rail Yard, Loveland Pass, The Resting Day at Powderhorn, Black Canyon of the Gunnison)

Historic CimarronWild West History by the Gunnison River & Black Canyon

In the previous post in this road trip series I touched on the need to visit Cimarron. We could not miss the place where Spirit, the wild mustang from Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron ruled. So we left the Black Canyon with some daylight remaining and headed over to Cimarron. Nothing was open any more and there were no people anywhere, which was nice too since we could enjoy walking around in our own pace and soak in the mood of the days gone by.

Now back to the Spirit story, Cimarron, Colorado seems to fit the bill. The exploration of the west, the railroad building, it all fits in, but despite having the Internet at my fingertips I was not able to confirm what served as the inspiration for the name. What do I mean? As so common in the United States, there is not just one Cimarron. This Cimarron, Colorado, seems to have been named after Cimarron, New Mexico. And that is not all. There are also Cimarron, California, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Since there is nothing conclusive I will assume for now that this was the right Cimarron to visit. And if it was not? It does not really matter, it was nice and right around the corner from Black Canyon anyway.

Cattle CorralsHistoric Cimarron, Colorado If you'd like to learn a little bit more about the town of Cimarron and its history and railroad building times, feel free to click on the corral photo on the right and read through the accompanying text, or click further to the references provided there.

Here, I will stick to the horse story for a bit longer. While I failed to identify the right Cimarron in my searches I came upon a Return to Freedom web site and their article about Spirit, the main character in the above mentioned 2002 movie. Apparently, there was a real model for the horse, a Kiger Mustang from the high desert of southeastern Oregon.

​DreamWorks purchased the horse as the model for Spirit and brought the horse to the animation studio in Glendale, California. In April 2002, after completion of the film, Spirit was relocated to Return to Freedom American Wild Horse Preservation and Sanctuary where he serves as a prominent ambassador of the Kiger Mustang breed.

Rio Grande, CimarronThe Rail Exhibit The Bureau of Land Management discovered the Kiger horses on the high desert of southeastern Oregon in 1977. Government officials agreed that they had found very unique horses. To preserve them, they moved this small band of horses to other areas on the north end of the Steens Mountain near Kiger Gorge. The Kiger breed takes its name from this region.

After Cimarron, it was not completely dark yet and we headed a few miels down the road to the Morrow Point Dam. It's a 468-foot tall double-arch dam on the Gunnison River. It's in the upper Black Canyon area within the Curecanti National Recreation Area operated by the National Park Service. Aside for a nice view of the dam from below the site also features the last remaining trestle of the Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG) narrow gauge railroad that once led through the upper Black Canyon. The trestle, tracks, a steam locomotive, a boxcar, and a caboose are normally on display but during our visit, the whole train was absent due to repairs. That was too bad, the steam locomotive would definitely add to the mood the place has to offer.

D&RG Narrow Gauge TrestleMorrow Point Dam, Upper Black Canyon We missed the views the Curecanti and the three reservoirs within have to offer, but if you have time, go for it too. The views I only know from photographs are excellent!

• Colorado on 50states.com
• Historic Cimarron on nps.gov
• Spirit on Return to Freedom
• Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron on Wikipedia
• Morrow Point Dam on Wikipedia
• Curecanti National Recreation Area on Wikipedia
• D & RG Narrow Gauge Trestle by Morrow Point Dam on Wikipedia

Equipment Used:

Nikon D600, Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens, Induro Carbon 8x Travel Tripod (CT-014) and Manfrotto Ball Head (496RC2), Think Tank Speed Demon Waist Pack,  Petzl Zipka Plus 2 Headlamp (always in the bag just in case), Jackery Bar 5600mAh (usually o hand to keep the smart phone going), SanDisk Extreme 32GB SD Cards, Nikon Capture NX2.

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