Movies filmed in CO; 'Bermuda Triangle of the West'; Ghost towns hidden by flooding; Big snow hits; & More

[00:00:04] Welcome to another episode of the The OutThere Colorado Podcast. Once again, I'm Spencer here with Seth. Hello. And we got Tim over there on the audio and the video for today. And once again, a midweek special, so to speak, where we go over some news. Got a few fun topics on the schedule here. Some movies filmed in Colorado. Part of Colorado that's known as the Bermuda Triangle of the West. And some ghost towns that have sunk underwater in May.

[00:00:34] We'll learn more. In a year that's dry, although today not so much. Yeah, big snow. Snow is flying. Big snow moving in. Estes Park got the most snow as of the most recent report. And these numbers, I mean, I'm looking out my window and I'm seeing some pretty fat flakes falling. And Colorado Springs did not get that. It was a little bit too warm for that accumulation to really take place.

[00:00:59] But up north in Colorado, Estes Park got 28 inches. And that report came out in the early morning hours. So wouldn't be surprised. Wow. Yeah. Wouldn't be surprised if there's a little bit more there. Denver ended up with about five, five and a half inches. Boulder got about 12 inches of snow. So a lot of those northern front range mountain towns getting some snow. Yeah. So pretty interesting. At long last.

[00:01:27] Yeah. Winter weather advisory or whatever the official term is, winter weather watch, morning, something like that. Yeah. Activated by the National Weather Service through the middle of the day on Wednesday. So you have any insight into just how common or not big snows like this in Colorado are for early May? I got that question the other day and I was like 10 years of me being here. Anecdotally, I mean, it's not terribly uncommon, right?

[00:01:51] Yeah, not terribly uncommon. KDVR put out a report on it the other day looking at Denver specifically. Biggest snowstorm for Denver in May was 10.7 inches. This five, five inch storm 5.5 out of the area. The five inch storm will say would land it one, two, three, four, five, the sixth biggest. Okay. May snowstorm for Denver history. Okay. Per KDVR's report. So.

[00:02:20] Is that the historical record going back to the 80s or goes back? Um, they don't. Yeah. It doesn't look like they specify in the report here, but that is from the National Weather Service. A lot of those numbers with Denver snowfall do date back to like 1890 or 18, 1870 something.

[00:02:38] Yeah. So, uh, definitely a significant snowstorm. Um, yeah, pretty, pretty, uh, pretty noteworthy, especially noteworthy in terms of snowpack. So, uh, Colorado statewide snowpack is now at 23% of the median there for a while. It was at about 19% of the median. So, uh, nice little jump there. And we are officially above the record low snowpack for the first time since February. I told Seth I had big news. Um, it's a strange celebration, isn't it?

[00:03:06] Yeah. So the, uh, the record low, the, uh, area, the, the longstanding record low for, uh, May 6th is, um, it was 2.1 inches, uh, going into today. Uh, today we are at 2.7 inches of snow water equivalent. So. It just feels weird to celebrate. Right. I mean, but. And that doesn't include the snow that's happening, you know, right now. So. Good news though.

[00:03:34] Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if that gap increases and we've got some more snow coming later this week. Yeah. Got some more snow. Uh, I mean, the National Weather Service is predicting that at least through mid May, uh, we'll have wetter than normal conditions. So probably some more snow on the way too. I know that kind of word was getting out there with how the patterns were shaken up that maybe there's hope for some, some good monsoons. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and to put it in perspective too. So on April 26th, we were around 2.2 inches of snow water equivalent.

[00:04:02] Uh, that's on par with June 3rd. We're now on par with what's normal, uh, for June 1st. So already with the first week underway. Yeah. Um, so with some more snow though, I mean, you know, you know, like maybe we, yeah, maybe the snow snow pack sticks around a little bit longer than people were anticipating. I think gets, especially for the boating people gives a little, little bit of a surge there. Yeah. I mean, you know, as I was saying, I mean, it's not exactly a record.

[00:04:30] I wish, uh, we had to talk about as like a good news thing, but you know, in a winter of just bad news, take it where you can get it. Right. Yeah. And I was talking to some, uh, some rafting guides down in the Canyon city, uh, recently and they were excited about this snow. They said it means good things for them, uh, down there on the, on the river. So, and just statewide. So at least, you know, it makes me think like there can be some proper excitement for that Memorial Day weekend.

[00:04:58] Yeah. You know, something feeling a little more normal for Memorial Day weekend. Yeah, for sure. Um, we want to talk about something that's not normal. You, uh, you just revealed that you have some skiing numbers. Oh, right. I was really curious to hear related to, um, related to snow pack or lack thereof, which no surprise, we've kind of seen indications of it, right?

[00:05:18] Vale resorts in their reports to investors have, has been indicating declines in visitation. I can't remember the percentages there, but you know, fairly, fairly significant, um, dips in visitation. So don't think anyone will be surprised, uh, to hear that, um, national skiers association put out their nationwide, um, ski visitation numbers.

[00:05:42] These are not Colorado specific. Colorado gets bunched up into the Rocky mountain region, right? Among, I think four regions that national skier is association, um, reports with ski visitation every year. This is a head of Colorado ski country USA that puts out, uh, I think they call it like somewhat of an estimate of visitation across, across the state, um, for their numbers in Colorado.

[00:06:09] But at least we got, um, this indication so far. So surprise, surprise, Rocky mountain region, along with every other region is down. Um, overall in the U S, um, national skiers association is calling it a 9.1% decrease from the 10 year average that they have tracked for skiing visitation. What about Rocky mountain region?

[00:06:32] Rocky mountain region this past season, um, reported 20.1 million visitations visits. If I'm seeing that right. Yeah. Um, 20.1 million visits for Rocky mountain region, right? So go back historically, um, last season, 2024, 2025, that was more like 26 and a half. Okay. That's what it looked like the season before season before that you're close to 28.1.

[00:06:58] Um, in 2022, 2023, that might have been the record there, um, from their log, uh, from what I can tell though, at the quick glance again, for this past season, 20.1 million, you gotta go back to, you got the COVID shortened season of 2019 and 2020. If I'm thinking that right, it's right on par with that. So I was thinking that 19 and 20 is when we saw those shortened seasons. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause they cut it short there in like March.

[00:07:28] So think about that. I mean, where we didn't, where they cut off the season before the best skiing typically we're on track with that season. So when you said the record, the record season was around 28 million more around 28 million. And then this season was around 20 million, at least in recent. So that's about a 28 and a half percent decrease. I write because I can't do math. So yeah, well, I, I pulled up a, one of my favorite websites, which is calculator soup. I know what you're talking about.

[00:07:53] So yeah. I mean, before that exempting the COVID shortened season of 2019 and 2020, it looks like you got to go back to 2012 to 2013. Dang. Where they had a reported 19.8 million. And that's before, before the big passes were. Yeah. Good point. Right. So at that point you were buying season passes and lift tickets.

[00:08:18] So, yeah. So again, at just my glance of their chart here. Yeah. For 20.1 million in the Rocky mountain region. I think you got to go back exempting that COVID season. Yeah. I mean, in 2017, 2018, we saw 20.7 million. So we are kind of talking about thousands to hundreds of thousands of difference, but 2017, 2018, another dry year, if I remember correctly.

[00:08:45] Okay. Yeah. But in terms of 20.1, getting something closer to that, you know, 2014, 2015, we saw 20.7 million. Mm-hmm. According to their numbers, 2012, 2013 is when we saw below 20 million. Yeah. I mean, in recent years, I mean, skier numbers have been, have been on the rise and I wonder if there is, you know, people always talk about the passes and everything.

[00:09:10] Like, it'd be interesting to look into how much of an impact those have had on just increasing the number of days people can spend on the mountain. Right. And yeah. Yeah. I mean, it seems like just based on those numbers and based on how the passes are here and they weren't previously, it seems like it definitely increases the accessibility of the sport in some way there. Yep. But yeah, dang, those numbers are, those numbers are shocking.

[00:09:33] So I'd also be curious. I mean, when you have a drop that's that significant too in the Rockies, I wonder what that drop was like on the East Coast. Cause I heard the East Coast had a little bit of a better. Yeah. I was going to say, I think there's a better story there. Let me go back to their news release. Let's see. Yeah. And by the way, that decline of approximately 9 million visits from last season, that's ranking 32nd out of 48 seasons on record nationwide.

[00:10:01] Yeah. But you're right. I think regionally they divide into six regions. And I say it does. And by the way, Wrecking Mountain still maybe to no surprise leads by a huge margin. Yeah. Just how many visits. That makes sense. Yep. Northeast and Southeast delivered their second best seasons of the past decade. Okay. With the Northeast benefiting from an early start in consistent snowfall. Yeah. I was going to say, I heard things were better out there this year than they were here. Yep. Yeah.

[00:10:31] A lot of stuff. But down in the Rockies, which I want to say that's Colorado, Utah, Wyoming. There is a Pacific North, there is a Pacific Northwest region. So not counting for the Rockies. Do they include New Mexico on that too? Gotta think so. Yeah. Yeah. So it'll be interesting, you know, all eyes out for the Colorado. Colorado, ski country numbers that typically come out. I want to say maybe in June when I've come to expect those. But we'll see. Around the same time the 14er numbers come out. Is that right? If I remember correctly. Doing some number crunching.

[00:11:00] For the day use estimates. Yeah. One more quick thing. So we talked. Totally different subject. But that's what we do, man. Hands up more today, right? That's what we do. Yeah. So I was talking about Dark Wizard. Mm-hmm. That the HBO docuseries covering Dean Potter, famous for his wingsuiting, famous for his bass jump, famous for his slacklining. Yeah. The fourth episode came out. So I watched that. Right? Yeah. It was nice to...

[00:11:28] I thought it put a really good ribbon on the show or bow on the show, whatever the right phrase is there. Obviously, that fourth episode is about his death. Gets a little bit more into the details there of what happened and kind of what led up to that maybe. Gave a little bit of a note of redemption for some of the characters. You know, like him and Alex Honnold ended up having a nice conversation and kind of made amends there. So that's worth including.

[00:11:57] Because they were kind of building him into being this sort of a villain. Not villains. That's how Honnold put it, right? Yeah. In an interview I saw, I think he said it was interesting to be cast as a villain. Seeding the villain. Yeah. And so there was a moment of redemption there, which I like seeing. And yeah, and I think I did also mention on the last show that I thought someone had hit Dean. This fourth episode didn't make it sound like that was the case.

[00:12:25] He was with somebody else when both of them had a fatal accident there in Yosemite Valley. But either way, definitely worth watching. I put it up there with similar vibes as like McConkie, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. Not just in the world of extreme sports, but all-time favorite documentaries way up there in that list. And up there with The Alpinist too, which is another movie that everyone needs to watch. Noted. Yeah. I'm excited to check it out. Yeah. On the list.

[00:12:55] For sure. Did you see the news today too that Ted Turner died? I did see that headline. Yeah. I think what founded CNN, right? But also known for his conservation efforts, famously purchased a, well, it's 558,000 acres Romejo Park Ranch down there in New Mexico, kind of on the border with Colorado.

[00:13:20] Purchased that for 80 million back in 1996 and kind of spent a lot of his later years working towards some preservation of some pretty big, big acreage in the West. So noteworthy in that regard, at least as far as our show is concerned. One of the largest land owners in the U.S. Yeah. Bottom line. Yeah. Yeah. There's a documentary about that conservation effort at Vermeo Park Ranch too. It's called Preserved. That came out recently.

[00:13:48] So people that are interested in learning more might want to check that out. I know there were some screening dates in Denver and Boulder. When would this have been? Back in January. So a pretty new movie. Worth checking out. But interesting stuff there for sure. So we talked about snowpack. You want to tell us about these towns? Right. Dealing with Blue Mesa? Yeah.

[00:14:14] I was thinking about you and I were kind of chitchatting the other day about what drought means for some of the biggest bodies of water in the state, including the biggest body of water in the state, Blue Mesa Reservoir. And I remembered how – I can't remember what year it was. Some years ago, again, a historic drought year, kind of what we're facing right now.

[00:14:32] And the history that reveals itself sometimes in years like this, in summers like this, when water can drop significantly, as it has at the Blue Mesa, when decisions maybe get made to divert some of that water, drain some of that water downstream for uses, which maybe segues into why Blue Mesa was built in the first place going back to the 60s when the dam was built in the first place

[00:15:00] and when that valley was flooded for the purpose of hydropower and water storage for bigger populations that were booming around Colorado and elsewhere in the west. But not to be forgotten, little towns that were lost in events like these at the Blue Mesa, at other reservoirs around the state. I feel like we've talked about it on this show before. Yeah, Lake Dillon. Sure. Talked about that.

[00:15:28] I know Trinidad Lake, we were talking about that amazing story there with the towns that used to be in that valley, the mining towns that used to be in that valley before Trinidad Lake. And yeah, sure enough, below the Blue Mesa, when it drops low enough, some old foundations can reveal themselves, some old semblances of where fence posts might have been, where old country roads ran through,

[00:15:55] and reminders of generations of families who ranched on this ground before it was flooded. So yeah, some years ago I met up with some old timers who were living kind of in the hills, you know, beyond the Blue Mesa, and we were walking around the mud flat there, and they were kind of pointing out where the railroad used to run through, and where they would load cattle, and where some of these, some fairly significant fishing resorts were.

[00:16:23] You know, there's stories of John Wayne and Herbert Hoover coming to this area. The guys I was visiting were from the town of Iola. I'm pronouncing that right? Iola. There was also the larger Saponero, and then the smaller Cebola. Hopefully I'm pronouncing that right. Among towns in there.

[00:16:49] You still see kind of some reminders, like there's some marinas and landmarks that point to these towns. But people don't realize, like, yeah, these names were referring to once thriving towns where families were raised, and memories made, and almost forgotten by massive water that flooded. Typically all underwater nowadays, except for dry years, right? Right.

[00:17:15] So in a dry year like this, I mean, you might hear about that, some of this curious stuff coming to the surface. Like I said, I mean, foundations sometimes show themselves in old semblances of farming life, you know, just right below the biggest body of water in Colorado, unbeknownst to people who fish and boat over there. But maybe they might learn a little bit more of that history in a summer like this. Hmm.

[00:17:45] Yeah. Very cool. Kind of interesting. Yeah, that is. I mean, I can't imagine that, like, growing up somewhere and then just the town literally not existing anymore. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Especially not even just not existing, but not even, like, it's a totally different scene. You can't even see the town. It's not like it's decayed and people have moved out. Yeah. It's just gone. Yeah. And that's kind of also the story at Trinidad Lake. I'm looking up the, shame on me for forgetting the town already. I wrote about it. So personal.

[00:18:16] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[00:18:42] Going to the candy store and going to school and playing baseball. You know? It was just all right there below what we see now, just a massive reservoir. Dang. So, yeah. And there's other stories like that. Like you mentioned, I mean, around the state. I mean, a lot of these reservoirs, I was going to say recall, but really they don't recall. Yeah. I mean. This history, you know. With Lake Dillon, there was an old Dillon right in the middle there. Yeah.

[00:19:11] And they were pretty much told they had to move out. Yeah. And, or move their house if they could, or just move out altogether and everything would be burnt to the ground. Yeah. And that's how the story of that town goes, you know? Yeah. Just booming pop. That was back in the 60s, I think, too. Yeah. Yeah. That's when a lot of that was happening. Blue Mesa, same thing in the 60s is when that flood, flooding started. Yeah. And, yeah, just kind of similar stories, you know, of people seemingly having little to

[00:19:40] no options of what to do with the homes they knew all their lives, you know, because of just bigger money and bigger demands for power, for water, elsewhere in the state and elsewhere in the West. Not a lot of water in Denver compared to the number of people there. So, you've got to get it from somewhere. Yep. You mentioned John Wayne. Uh-huh. This is a good jump point. Yep.

[00:20:10] What are a few of the movies that you've seen that are filmed in Colorado? You know the one that I always think about? Yeah. Because I watch it every year, multiple times every year, around Christmas time. Christmas Vacation. Yeah. Set in, you know, the movie, this is a family in Chicago area, and yet at the beginning, the iconic beginning of that movie, they're driving around Breckenridge, right? Mm-hmm. Looking for a tree. Yep.

[00:20:34] And if you're from Chicago area, like me, you're following along with that very funny drive and that very funny search for a tree, and you're like, this isn't Chicago area, you know? Yeah. Yeah. We're looking at some mountains here. It's Breckenridge, right? Yeah. It's Breckenridge area. It's so weird. Yeah. Yeah. It is funny because you see a lot of places also try to fake Colorado. Yeah. Like we talked about that Netflix movie recently.

[00:21:03] I forget the name of it, but yes, War Machine. Thank you, Tim. Oh, yeah. We talked about War Machine recently, and they're faking Colorado. They're trying to pretend like they're in Colorado, but they're not. They're in Australia, I think. It's even funnier to see it the other way around, where they're in Colorado, faking being somewhere else when Colorado is so recognizable in general. Yeah. I think one that I always like is Dumb and Dumber, right? Of course. Aspen, right? Yeah. Aspen.

[00:21:33] So I don't think Aspen. I think it was actually shot in Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Estes Park, faking Aspen. Okay. But yeah, Dumb and Dumber had some scenes filmed out here. Another one, The Shining. People always think with this one, too, there are a lot of misconceptions here. People think the OG movie back in 1980 was filmed in Colorado, and it wasn't. It wasn't filmed in Colorado.

[00:22:01] It was filmed in Oregon and in an English movie studio. But the TV series remake did have, that was filmed in Colorado. So some of those scenes were filmed in Colorado. Which, I mean, I think that misconception there comes from how Stephen King was inspired by his stay at the Stanley Hotel. Right. But then it went on to be filmed at the Timberline Lodge. So different spot.

[00:22:28] But yeah, the Stanley Hotel, though, I mean, obviously they really play into the Shining persona there. Big time. Yeah. Got to talk about True Grit. Yeah. Got to. Around Ridgeway and URA. I mean, I've been around. I did like a stay there once where I kind of stopped and visited all the landmarks where the original True Grit with John Wayne was shot around between Ridgeway and URA. You know, the courthouse in URA. I think it's like still arranged just as it was for the movie, for that famous scene.

[00:22:58] And then, you know, I mean, I think it's the Outlaw restaurant in URA. At least last I checked, still claims to have the hat that John Wayne reportedly left there. I put that hat on my head once. Whether it was John Wayne's or not, I put it on my head. You got to. Just in case. Had a little sip of whiskey with it and felt like a real strong man. Yeah. Just in case. You got to. Yeah. So this is one where people can actually go visit it, too.

[00:23:26] But the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed in parts of Colorado, filmed in Cortez, Pagosa Springs, and Antonito. Also Alamosa, I think. But you can go to the Indiana Jones Bed and Breakfast in Antonito, which was the childhood home of Indiana Jones. I've been there. So, yeah. That's a cool spot. That's a fun one. Shout out from Tim in the booth. Got this one on my road trip, too, because it was a beautiful road.

[00:23:53] But Furious 7 was filmed in Woodland Park, filmed on Pikes Peak, which is funny because that's one of those spots where it's a very recognizable road, at least if you're in Colorado Springs. Maybe if you're in Colorado, maybe if you've just driven the road before, seen the Pikes Peak hill climb race. Very recognizable road. But I think they try to pass it off as some foreign country, a fictional foreign country in Furious 7. Some far-flown exotic place. Yeah. But they're racing the cars.

[00:24:20] I remember when they shut that road down so they could film on there. Yeah. And they had all the rigging for the vehicles to fly off the road and everything. Very cool seeing some of the behind the scenes there. That's Pikes Peak Highway. Yeah. Also, more recent years, you got the Hateful Eight, right? That was filmed around Telluride. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think when they were filming that, I talked to a few locals about how the actors

[00:24:48] were just there mingling in the town for a while. Mm-hmm. But yeah, Hateful Eight and Telluride. I mean, we're talking Samuel Jackson, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Big name. Just walking down the street of Telluride and seeing Sam Jackson. Yep. Quentin Tarantino, too. Yeah. Apparently, he was floating around. Kurt Russell? He in that one? Bruce Dern. Yeah. Rest in peace. Bruce Dern. Yeah. What else we got here? Oh, here's a good one. So this is a movie that is often overlooked, but it was shot in Colorado Springs. Mm-hmm.

[00:25:17] And I had no clue it was shot in Colorado Springs. I put the movie on, and I was just like, that's Colorado Springs. Cop Car with Kevin Bacon. Oh. Yeah. Oh, I don't think I knew that. Yeah. Back in 2015. It's one of those things where people think Colorado Springs, and they think the mountain scenes and everything. I actually recognized it from kind of like the grasslands and the eastern plains part of the city. Interesting. Where I was like, that looks just like Colorado Springs. And some of the roads and the gas stations and everything.

[00:25:46] Just a vibe. Yeah. But Cop Car. And I enjoyed that movie. Maybe partially, because once I realized it was Colorado Springs, I had a little bit of hometown pride there. But that's one that you should put on your list. Mr. and Mrs. Smith, right? Oh, yeah. 2005. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie filmed in Glenwood Canyon. That's right. So there are some, I think it's a rock climbing scene, I want to say, that's filmed there.

[00:26:12] But that's a pretty popular movie that I would venture to say most people, most millennials especially have seen. When do we get the next Star Wars movie at the Great Sand Dunes is what I want to know. Right. Are there some rules at the Great Sand Dunes prohibiting filming? Because that place demands, or for the next Dune, right? The next Dune movie. Yeah. Right. Some worms jumping out, some massive worms jumping out of the sand dunes. I've heard it's a little bit tricky to film in Colorado. Or at least compared to, there aren't as many incentives compared to other places.

[00:26:42] Is what I've heard. I'm not an expert in the film industry. I do not know if that is a verified fact. It's a big part of it, though. Yeah. I think that might be a factor. What else we got here? Where should another, where should a film be shot? I mean, you mentioned Glenwood Canyon. And I just think like, wow, what an epic, you know, get some dinosaurs in there. And you got the Jurassic Park movie. Yeah. Right. It's true. So speaking of another epic scene to film at, at least, Creed, right?

[00:27:11] The town of Creed with those dramatic cliffs. Yeah. The Lone Ranger of 2013 with Johnny Depp had some scenes filmed there. That's right. I think that movie might have been kind of a commercial failure. At least in the sense of, yeah. Tim confirms that it's not good. So maybe watch it for the scenes in Creed, I guess. Nonetheless, I can imagine Johnny Depp partying at Kipps there in Creed. You know, having a ball at Kipps that night. Right. Yeah. Very true. It is Kipps, right? Am I right in thinking of that? Kipps Cantina? Let's see. I've been to the Pagosa one.

[00:27:41] Man, it gets, it got rowdy in that Pagosa Springs one. Kipps is the Pagosa one. I think the. There's multiple though. Yeah. What's the Creed bar? I thought it was Kipps. Could be wrong. Tommyknocker Tavern. But there's multiple. Oh, there is a Kipps. You're right. That's what I was thinking. Yep. Seth. Seth is correct. Haven't been to that Kipps, but. Yep. Kipped it up at the other Kipps in Pagosa. Yeah. Creed is one of those spots that a lot of people overlook and they shouldn't overlook. Not Johnny Depp. Yeah. Not Johnny Depp.

[00:28:10] Here's one that got some pretty high ratings and a lot of people really love this movie, but the Prestige had some scenes filmed in Colorado. That's right. The Durango Silverton railway line. That's right. Yeah. So that's, that's one that a lot of people have seen too. Yep. That's about everything on my list here. Let's see if I missed anything. I haven't looked at that list in a long time. Oh, here we go. Denver. We had Blades of Glory and Return of the Ghostbusters. Oh yeah. Blades of Glory. I knew that one.

[00:28:37] There's two that people, people might've, uh, might recognize. Yeah. Um, oh, here we go. Another, uh, uh, local Colorado Springs one, uh, Independence Day at Peterson Air Force Base. Oh, maybe I'd forgotten that. Yeah. I, I need to go back and watch that and see if I can, uh, if I can, uh, if I can recognize it. But yeah, so apparently it's, uh, it says, so I've got to add a caveat here. The general public cannot tour that, uh, base. So, uh, space.

[00:29:08] Yeah. Yeah. And don't try to drive through there. I, I accidentally did that one. Do you know the road I'm kind of talking about under there? No, I do not. Where like, if you're driving it, you got no choice. Like there's like a circle. Yeah. Yeah. I might be misrecalling this. It's been a while since I've been on that side of town, but I'm vaguely recalling like a traffic circle where I needed to keep going and I accidentally went off and I realized I was like going toward the base and sure enough, like stop at the gate, give them my ID, go park over here. They background me for probably like a half hour.

[00:29:36] My wife and I are just sitting in the car like, wow. So don't do that. That's a cautionary tale. Yeah. Yeah. I almost did that at a Fort Carson. One time I found myself, I took a wrong turn and found myself on a, pretty much one way toward the, uh, toward the base. I pulled a U-turn on the road, which I don't know if that, that's when they'll really come after you. But the other way. Yeah. Um, what else we got here for today? You know, a lot of good movies, a lot of good movies filmed in Colorado.

[00:30:07] Wish there were more filmed in Colorado. Like I said, there's so many settings, man. I mean, gosh, what about the paint mines? Again, I'm sure there are rules and regulations to protect these places and I'm all about that, but paint mines, that is a movie. That is a movie setting. I mean, I can't think of any, any of those Hallmark movies, right? They want to be in a little small snowy town, right? Colorado's full of them, right? So what was that? There was some Netflix series with Robert Redford. I think it was just kind of like a romance kind of thing shot since you and I have been

[00:30:36] here in old Colorado city. Oh, I do. Remember that? Is it dark winds? That doesn't sound familiar. Sure. But there again, I mean, when I saw like, I didn't watch the show, but when I saw like images coming out of the show, I mean, it looked very old Colorado city, you know? Our souls at night. That sounds right. Yeah. Yeah. Co-star Jane Fonda. That's right. So yeah. Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. Shot in Florence too. In Florence.

[00:31:04] But they made it the fictional town of Holt, Colorado, according to Google's AI here. So you mentioned it already. I want to dig into this because I was, I was kind of writing about this this week and I've, I've always found it fascinating, but did you know that the Bermuda triangle of the West is located in Colorado? I had no idea. You can probably guess where it is. I don't think I can. San Luis Valley. Oh, well, yeah, of course. So known for ever anything curious and odd.

[00:31:35] It's the San Luis Valley. Right. It's, it's known for its UFO sightings, the supernatural, the unexplained phenomenon that goes on there and obviously plenty of local folklore and history. But I started kind of digging into like how it became this, you know, we'll call it like a hotbed for this paranormal existence that it, that it seems to have. Personally, I find it peaceful when I'm down there. I've got to, got to add that caveat though. Yeah.

[00:32:03] Just because I don't want people to think that, you know, it's, you're going to go down there and get abducted by a, by an alien spacecraft. You might. You might. There's a, there's a, perhaps a non-zero chance, but, but so I started digging into the UFO sightings. I found this book that's written by Christopher O'Brien. I've talked to that guy. Have you? So it documents over a thousand paranormal events that have taken place in the San Luis Valley. Yeah. I talked to him about Snippy the horse. Oh, of course. That legendary tale. Yeah.

[00:32:33] Yeah. The legendary tale of the horse that was found mutilated. It's flesh skinned off its face and this chemical scent in the area and blood drained from its body. Yeah. A lot of, yeah. A lot of mystery around Snippy the horse. Yeah. That was back in the sixties. And it doesn't, I mean, before that was happening, there were these UFO sightings. After that was happening, there were still these UFO sightings that take place. I even found one that's documented on the CIA website where basically these two teens were,

[00:33:03] I think, I think I want to say this was back in the sixties or seventies too, but don't quote me on that. But these two teens were out on kind of the prairie land there and they saw these headlights in the sky that were described as, or these big lights in the sky that were described as 50 times larger than like a car's headlight. Um, and you can actually go find that on the CIA website. Like I'm looking at it right now, cia.gov, a reading room, a pair of Pueblo youths photographed

[00:33:28] strange lights in the San Luis Valley approved for release on in 2001. So, um, no date attached to it, unfortunately, aside from when it was approved for release. But, uh, yeah. So, I mean, that is obviously playing into this like persona of the San Luis Valley. Then you've also got the spiritual nature of the Valley, right? So you've got Crestone famously home to like what? Two dozen spiritual groups. I started looking into why that is the case.

[00:33:57] Apparently this stems from a, uh, a Canadian businessman who purchased a massive swath of land in the Crestone area back in 1977. There was a mystic at the time who told him that the land had unique spiritual qualities and he decided to give the way, give portions of this land away for free to religious groups that were wanting to build a center there. So that's, that plays into that role there. Um, doesn't stop at Crestone either.

[00:34:24] You have Penitente Canyon, which is known for, uh, um, some of these. Yeah. Yeah. Um, known for some of the, uh, ritualistic crucifications as they've been described. And, um, some other, uh, some other practices that took place by, as, as you mentioned, it's a, uh, it's a non-traditional Catholic sect that was there. Um, more prominent in New Mexico, perhaps.

[00:34:48] Uh, I also came across this, uh, report from the New Mexico Geological Society that was essentially saying a part of the, uh, San Luis Valley has been rumored to have a connection to the underworld. Mm-hmm. Right? So apparently, uh, some legends that were told by Pueblo Indians claim that their ancestors emerged from the underworld through a lake. And that lake is believed to be the San Luis Lakes, which is now a state wildlife area in Moscow.

[00:35:15] So, um, thought that was interesting as well. Uh, then you also, you also have, uh, kind of these like darker moments in San Luis Valley's history, we'll say, uh, where you have like some, some, uh, enslavement going on, uh, by some of the, uh, some of the early, early settlers in the Valley, uh, enslaving native populations.

[00:35:38] Um, you have, uh, America's or sometimes called America's first serial killers were from the San Luis Valley. Uh, this is according to history of Colorado, but the, uh, Espinosa brothers, uh, started their killings in 1863 around Colorado. And yeah, so sometimes called the first serial killers in America. Uh, then you also have like a long list of people that have gone missing in the San Luis Valley too.

[00:36:05] Uh, Crystal Reisinger being a famous one, uh, or being one that's talked about a lot. Um, that case got a lot of, uh, national attention on the, the popular podcast up and vanished where entire season was dedicated to her case. Heard about that. Uh, disappeared out of the Crestone area still has not been found. Um, and, uh, but I mean, there's, there are websites dedicated to people who have gone missing in the San Luis Valley. Uh, and you can, the list is long.

[00:36:31] And I, I think that kind of this, like the overarching factor in all of this is just how vast this Valley is and how sparsely populated it is and how many truly wild areas can still be found in the San Luis Valley from the UFO sightings and just this vast darkness that, you know, hovers overhead at night to the missing persons cases where there are a lot of places where if

[00:36:57] you go missing or you can't make it back to civilization from there, I mean, a lot of people aren't going through those places. So it might take a long time to be found. Um, but yeah, I mean, I think, uh, it's definitely one of those places in Colorado where it's unique. You don't have much else like it in the state. And then on top of that too, it's dotted with like all these weird attractions. Yeah. Like we've talked about that a little bit and on the show, just throughout the history

[00:37:26] of the show, but you've obviously got the great Sandeans national park, which is one of a kind in America. Um, can't find anything else at that same scale with the massive mountains. Nor can you find a gator farm anywhere else. You can't find the gator farm, right? Uh, you can go wrestle alligators in the middle of a middle of a massive valley. Um, the largest Alpine Valley in the world too. Like to put it in perspective, the San Luis Valley is 122 miles long and 74 miles wide.

[00:37:55] So it's a big, big swath of land and it's just flat. Right. Um, you've got the UFO watchtower. That's something that's a little bit of a quirky, uh, quirky thing to check out. Got hot springs. Mm-hmm. Got some hot springs. I always hear a lot of stories and legends rooted in that, in the geothermal energy. Yeah. And the magnetic energy set to relate to that valley. Yeah. A lot of people talking about like energy vortexes. Right. Right. Um, that is something that, that comes up quite a bit.

[00:38:25] And just a valley like rooted in some of the earliest settlement history on our state and state record. And I just kind of think like with settlement, with humanity, with people, you get a long line of messiness and a long line of legends and folklore and stories. Like I think a lot of it's just rooted in that where there has been a record of people for the longest time in Colorado, you know? Yeah. I mean, you're looking at like the oldest town in Colorado is San Luis. Yeah. Right.

[00:38:54] Which, um, it's, uh, on that very, you know, Southern edge of the San Luis Valley, but. There's that trail that wanders up to pick with the statues depicting the stages of the crucifixion. Yes. Yeah. I walked that once. Um, what is that called? Is it Guadalupe? Something? Uh, yeah. I can't remember, man. I have hiked that. But yeah, that was founded in 1851 by Spanish settlers. Um, so that's, and, and I think also another thing that I didn't really dig into much, but

[00:39:22] you have a lot of people that were interested in like the gold in the hills. Right. In the San Luis Valley as well. And people that were desperate to get to that gold in the hills too. So there was, there was some nefarious, nefarious acts around that part of the culture as well. Um, but yeah, I mean, all around, I mean, it's a special place and no shortage of stories and histories there. That's for sure. Yeah. And worth checking out too. I mean, it's, uh, a lot of people tend to think about Colorado and they go to the mountains.

[00:39:52] San Luis Valley is, uh, definitely worth the weekend trip. So sand dunes alone make it worth it. But yeah, like you said, checking out all these historical spots, definitely something that is, is worthwhile. Uh, cool. Always good to fit some San Luis Valley in the show. Yeah. Right. I think that's about all I have to, uh, Oh, the other San Luis Valley thing, the greater cranes. Oh yeah. Right. Don't they migrate? Yeah. They migrate through there. Yeah.

[00:40:20] Um, so that's something to see if you're looking for a natural thing. Another reason to go more like in March. Yeah. Yeah. But all right. Well, yeah, that's all, all I got for today. Always fun. Nice little rant about San Luis Valley to end it there. Um, but yeah, I think that's, uh, that's it for our show. So until next time I'm Spencer and I'm Seth and we'll see you out there.