The infamy of the Wild West and the healing waters are part of its draw
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“I’m your huckleberry.”
Oh, the shivers those words still give me more than three decades after Val Kilmer oozed them as John Henry “Doc” Holliday in 1993’s Tombstone. Even when depicting the tuberculosis that was wrecking the gunslinger’s body, Kilmer made that line sing — and slickly felled Doc’s enemies to boot.
After the Arizona events recounted in the movie, the real-life Doc headed to Colorado and, in May 1887, landed in Glenwood Springs where he hoped the purported healing powers of the mountain town’s famous hot springs would mend his infected body.
Alas, he was too far gone and soon fell into a coma, dying at age 36 in his room at the Hotel Glenwood on Nov. 8, 1887. The hotel would burn in 1945 and today, next to the Doc Holliday Saloon, family-owned western wear store Bullocks (lasso your hats, boots and clothing here!) pays homage to the legend. Tucked in the basement behind shirts emblazoned with “I’m your huckleberry” is a room showcasing the Doc Holliday, Life, Legend and Lore collection by the Glenwood Springs Historical Society.
Among the items — which include memorabilia from pop culture like an autographed movie still from Kilmer and actual time-period artifacts such as the gun Doc’s girlfriend Big Nose Kate gave him — is a pocket watch that a mourning Wyatt Earp had engraved after Doc’s death but was only recently discovered.
As for Doc, word is he was buried at Linwood Cemetery, accessible by a short — yet steep and scenic, our guide tells us — hike. The exact spot isn’t known but there’s a memorial to him and fans leave playing cards, whiskey bottles and bullets in ode to his known vices.
The infamy of Doc and the Wild West is part of the draw to Glenwood Springs, population around 10,000, situated in the heart of the Rockies on a route between Vail and Aspen. About 250 km west of Denver and at an elevation of 5,761 feet, the air is thinner here, sure, but it’s mountain air, fresh and crisp. The sun is strong — an average of 300 days of sunshine a year! — and there is less rainfall than Toronto but more snowfall (don’t skip a winter visit to local Sunlight Mountain Resort, a low-key ski hill with 75 trails).
Another big lure is the soothing hot springs that Doc sought. Glenwood Hot Springs Resort is home to the world’s largest hot springs pool, fed by the Yampah Spring that daily pumps out 3.5 million gallons of 50°C (122°F) water laden with 15 minerals including calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium and potassium.
The pool offers several spaces for fun and relaxation including a family area with a splash pad, mini waterslides and a whitewater river open-air tube ride, as well as the historic grand and therapy pools.
Newly opened this year is the Yampah Mineral Baths, which has five pools including cold plunges, waterfalls, infinity edges and a natural stone grotto. With an outdoor lounging area and fireplace, it turns adults-only after 5 p.m.
Hotel lore has it that the “Teddy Bear” was born there in 1901 when maids gave then Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt a stuffed bear pieced together with scraps of material to cheer him up after an unsuccessful day of hunting. His daughter called it “Teddy,” and the local legend is commemorated in lobby display cases. Other famous guests have included Al Capone, Buffalo Bill Cody and “Unsinkable” Molly Brown of Titanic fame whose husband had a big gold strike. She is immortalized with family photos, memorabilia and period furnishings in one of the hotel’s unique and cool tower suites (the view of the hot springs pool, Colorado River and mountains from the private balcony is amazing).
The history of Glenwood Springs is entwined with the railway, which arrived in 1887. Today, train service includes Rocky Mountaineer’s Rockies to the Red Rocks (which journeys between Moab, Utah and Denver and has an overnight stop here), and Amtrak’s California Zephyr train running between Chicago and San Francisco. Whether arriving by train or by highway, it’s surely one of the most scenic trips you’ll ever have.