For most of the month of July, Dead Ed the Head and I are visiting Colorado.  This is Dead Ed's first trip to Colorado, and he seems to like it so far.  The air is still try, just like West Texas, which helps to keep Dead Ed's particular odor at a minimum.  He tends to get self conscious.  

This past Sunday, I took Dead Ed to Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site outside La Junta.  

The fort was one of the major centers of the fur trade along the Santa Fe trail.  It was named after brothers Charles and William Bent, who opened the fort in 1833.  The Arkansas River, once the boundary between the United States and Mexico, runs along side the fort and facilitated the movement of furs.  Later, the military used the fort in the western expansion of the United States.

Despite being located on a river, life at the fort was pretty harsh.  The summers are brutally hot, and the winters miserably cold.  

Travelers on the Santa Fe trail died from exhaustion, dehydration, heat stroke, and diseases such as cholera.  There were confrontations with Native Americans, and wildlife.  The cemetery at Bent's Old Fort has never been excavated, and this is the only grave with a marker.  Dead Ed wasn't thrilled with the cemetery, fearing I would leave him there.

One of Dead Ed's favorite animals can be encountered on the trails around the fort:  rattlesnakes!  This area of Colorado has two species, the Prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) and the Desert Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus).  Signs warned visitors to stay on the trail and watch out.  

Tours of the fort are self guided, and visitors get to wander almost wherever they want.  We were even allowed to touch some of the items, as long as we didn't go behind chains.  Dead Ed is very "head" on, so he liked this part.  

Our first stop on the tour is the main trade room, where most of the trade was done.  I say most, because any trade with hostile Native Americans was conducted in a special room outside the fort, where goods could be passed through a small window, protecting both sides.  Besides furs, goods such as Mexican chocolate were also sold.  The gift shop still sells heritage recipe chocolate, which Dead Ed loved.

The carpentry shop, kitchen, and dining room were also open for exploration.  I thought it was really cool to look at all the old tools, but Dead Ed just got depressed over his lack of hands.

Bent's Old Fort is a living historical site, meaning there are actors playing the parts of residents.  Dead Ed made friends with this woman, hoping she would sew him a shirt.

A working blacksmith shop is also part of the tour.  We stopped to watch the smith making a flint striker for starting fires.  Dead Ed wanted to pull the bellows, but lacking arms wasn't able to.

In the doctors quarters we found more evidence of our reptile friends.

Throughout the fort there is evidence of it's somewhat violent past.  Lookout tours feature shooting windows, and cannons adorn the corners of the walls.  I can't speak to the accuracy of the canons, but Dead Ed sure liked them.

All in all, it was a fun adventure.  And at $3 entry for adults, and $1 donation for the guide book, a very affordable one.  Dead Ed wants to go back already, but I think mostly for the chocolate.

http://www.nps.gov/beol/index.htm