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Gateway, Colorado, isn’t in the most accessible location. After flying into Grand Junction (via a connecting flight from Salt Lake City), you drive about an hour west to Gateway, which is just shy of the Utah border. But while it’s somewhat isolated (for the U.S.), this is an invigorating isolation; the drive from Grand Junction winds through a canyon of rock that rose up to form plateaus millions of years ago, and as you approach your destination, the rock turns from grayish brown to a pinkish red. Red rocks! I think there’s something special in (some beautiful) places that are off the grid, and Gateway Canyons Resort is no exception. It lies in the Unaweep Canyon at the center of five intersecting red-rock canyons, just in the shadow of the grand Palisade rock formation. To truly appreciate its locale, you need to literally go up—either by hiking, horseback riding, mountain bike, ATV or (best of all?) luxury helicopter. All are options at Gateway Canyons. And this is no ordinary resort, having been built by John Hendricks, the man who founded the Discovery Channel in 1985 with just $5 million in start-up capital. (Today, a single hour of a series such as Planet Earth costs $2 million to make.)
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Hendricks, with the help of Noble House Hotels & Resorts, has created a place where you can have fun, learn, experience, pamper yourself and get your hands dirty. The resort has brought in subject-matter experts to give talks about the surrounding environs, from the plants to the geology to the wildlife and everything else. We drove about an hour on back roads to Utah to gawk at fossilized dinosaur footprints with a paleontologist, who calculated the dinosaur’s height and speed based on the size of the footprints and the distance between them as we stood there. The night before, we had gazed at the surface of the moon and the rings of Saturn with an astronomer. Cool.
You can ride mountain bikes or horses, and if the water in the Dolores River is high enough (for us, it wasn’t), you can go kayaking or fly-fishing. You can watch shows from the Discovery Channel—maybe even one that hasn’t aired yet. You can visit Hendricks’ amazing collection of 50-plus cars at the Gateway Auto Museum (including a 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 concept car, literally the only one in existence). And if you work for a really cool boss (or maybe in a scientific field), you can have your company retreat here. Did I mention the spa? Or the massive rooms, each equipped with its own gas fireplace (and a few with their own personal outdoor hot tubs)? It’s all good, particularly for someone like me who does like to get out and move and get muddy, but also appreciates a lovely massage and hour spent lounging by the pool.
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Perhaps the best part of coming to this area is the quiet. As my lovely horse Tigger contentedly carried me from the resort’s ranch up into a canyon for dinner, I listened to the sound of rocks moving underneath his hooves. I woke up early for a solo hike and took in the sound of the birds as they quietly flitted here and there. When I later took aim with my bow and arrow at a straw target (Katniss training), my compatriots stood silently by (holding their breath?) until I let go. And when we lined up and headed up into the dusty hills on our ATVs ... well, never mind. But, man, was it fun.
Photos by Sarah Elbert