BackRoads: Colorado Doc Holiday

As a kid, I remember watching TV westerns; Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, The Cisco Kid and the Rifleman. My brothers and I had our 6-shooters, our cowboy boots and hats and we would play cowboy for hours. One of my favorite shows was Wyatt Earp, staring Hugh O’Brien. At my tender years, I don’t think I had any idea that Wyatt Earp was a real person, was maybe more a bad guy than good one or that the show failed to present one of the most important people in Wyatt’s life.

I was thinking about that on a ride that took us through Tombstone, Arizona. This is the location of the west’s most famous gunfight, The Shootout at the O.K. Corral, where the Earp’s and Doc Holliday, sometime dentist, gambler and gunslinger, took part.

So what happened to Doc after that bit of unpleasantness in Tombstone? Like many of the characters of the old west, he ended up in Colorado. Mining towns such as Leadville, “The Cloud City” America’s highest incorporated city, Telluride, and Creede were the haunts of some of the most infamous characters of the Old West. Word is Doc shot a man in Trinidad, Colorado before moving on to Denver and then to Leadville.

It’s time to gas up the bikes and see some of Colorado and in between all the natural beauty, soak up (and soak in) some of Colorado’s Wild West and Mining history.

To follow Doc’s trail in Colorado, start in Denver. There are two choices to get there, Interstate 70 or US Highway 285. If you take I-70, head west through Mount Vernon Canyon and up to the Eisenhower Tunnel. Crossing the Continental Divide at 11,158 feet, it is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world (it can also be the site if the world’s highest traffic jam.)

Travel down through Summit County, home of some of Colorado’s greatest skiing, then over Vail Pass. It’s the interstate but still a scenic ride. Now head south to Minturn on Highway 24 and head up towards Tennessee Pass to cross the Divide back to the Atlantic side. Now this is a motorcycle road. Lots of turns and altitude gain. Stop at the site of Camp Hale, home of the famed 10th Mountain Division, America’s World War Two Ski Troops. Several of the troopers came back to the state after the war and built Colorado’s ski industry. Not much is left of the camp; visit the historical monument and take a moment to say thanks before heading over the pass and on to Leadville.

If you decide to avoid the interstate, take US Highway 285. Leave Denver via Hampden Avenue (which is what 285 is known by in town). If you know your US highway designations, odd numbers are north and south but 285 runs east west through Denver. This provides a constant source of confusion and amusement.

Once through the Dakota Hogback – the first rise of the foothills west of town, you’ll enter Turkey Creek Canyon. It’s four lanes but it’s no stroll...

We hope that you enjoyed reading this excerpt from "Colorado Doc Holiday". If you would like to read the entire article and more, you can order a back issue of Jul / Aug 2006 where this article was originally published.

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