John Denver Sanctuary – Aspen, Colorado

Day 9 | July 12 | Tuesday

Durango to Silverton to Aspen

Another long day of driving (5+ hrs with stops). I drove up to Silverton (And by up, I mean an elevation change of about 3,000 feet.) and looked around a bit more and then drove on to Aspen, which is 1,400 feet lower than Silverton, to stay at the St. Mortiz Lodge which has a nice hostel.

I arrived around, I don’t know, 4.. 5.. 6…, checked in and walked over to the John Denver Santuary. (Aspen is not a big town. According to the 2003 census, there are less than 6,000 people living there and is only 3.5 sqr miles big.)

Then I walked back to the main part of town, looking for a place to eat. Most had their menus posted outside and everything was very expensive. Finally, I found a hot dog stand and I asked the operator where the normal people at, and she said, “Right here.”

Wikipedia says, “As a result of [the] influx of wealth, Aspen boasts the most expensive real estate prices in the United States and many middle-class residents can no longer afford to live there.” Houston’s median income is $60,000 and Aspen’s is $70,300.

The John Denver Sanctuary (not to be confused with the 957 acres Denver owned in Snowmass, Colorado) is a new addition to the town. There’s a small community theater, an amphitheater, and some man-made streams and falls that actually filter the city’s run-off water before it reaches the river. (But overall, it was eh.)

A couple of streets that cross the main blocks of town were turned into pedestrian walkways, allowing restaurants to set up more outside tables. For drainage, instead of gutters, there were narrow strips of land with tiny streams running through them. You can see them in the pictures.

Silverton and the Drive to Aspen