The cinnamon donut at Sweet Colorado arrived on a rainy Tuesday morning looking almost too modest for its reputation, white and fluffy and flaky, cream heaped on top, served inside a shop where the line stretched toward the door and the staff made somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 donuts that same day. Glenwood Springs, Colorado does not announce itself. It earns attention the same way that donut does: quietly, specifically, one thing at a time. For anyone who has wondered whether a small mountain city in western Colorado is worth a detour, 36 hours here answers that question faster than expected.
The journey in sets the tone. A flight into Denver Airport followed by a roughly 3-hour drive west deposits you in the city, and the final stretch through Glenwood Canyon, where the Colorado River runs tight against sheer canyon walls, is the kind of road that makes passengers stop talking mid-sentence. Hotel Glenwood Springs sits close to the Glenwood Canyon Adventure Park Gondola, which is exactly where the first full day was spent, rain and all.
A canyon ride, two caves, and a swing over nothing
The Glenwood Canyon Adventure Park is reached by gondola, and from the top the views alone justify the ticket. The park hosts what it describes as the highest elevation roller coaster in America, not the tallest coaster by drop height, but the one sitting highest above sea level. On a wet, grey weekday, the crowds were almost entirely absent, which meant the Alpine Coaster ran three times back to back with no waiting. A child named Sunny called it the funniest thing in her life. That assessment held up across repeated rides.
The park includes two cave tours in the base ticket price. The King’s Row tour descends about 150 ft underground over 45 minutes, terminating in a room of stalagmites and stalactites the early explorers thought resembled a chessboard. The Fairy Cave tour, the older of the two, was developed and named by Charles Darrow’s daughter, who claimed she saw fairies flying through the formations while exploring. That tour ends by walking through a hand-carved tunnel more than 100 years old, which opens onto a viewing platform above Glenwood Canyon.
The Glenwood Canyon Flyer is the ride that stays with you. A swing-type attraction that carries riders out over the cliff’s edge at roughly 1,300 ft above the canyon floor, it produced a reaction one traveler described plainly: ‘That was on the top list of terrifying things, but I would totally do it again.’
Dinner that evening went to Slope and Hatch, a counter-service taco and hot dog spot a five-minute walk from the hot springs over a bridge into downtown. The menu runs from chimichurri steak tacos to jerk chicken, and the Cubano taco from a previous visit still held the top spot in memory. The night ended at Sunday, an ice cream shop where staff were hand-rolling fresh waffle cones as customers arrived, every table occupied, the smell of warm cone dough carrying through the room.
Hanging Lake at 7,300 feet and a waterfall that comes out of solid rock
Day two began with a solo drive back through the canyon to the Hanging Lake Trailhead, about 15 minutes from the city. The permit, around $12 when purchased, sells out weeks ahead during summer, and the trail earns that demand. A permit system was introduced after the hike became badly overcrowded, and the trail itself has reopened after a sequence of closures tied to fire damage, mudslide repair, and a major reconstruction completed in 2025, which added seven new bridges along the creek.
The elevation gain is 1,200 ft in one mile, starting at roughly 6,000 to 7,000 ft of elevation. The final approach requires climbing about 40 steps carved directly into the rock. What waits at the top is a 1.5-acre lake fed by multiple waterfalls, sitting at 7,300 ft, with water so clear that fish are visible from the bank. Swimming, fishing, and any contact with the water are prohibited, as human skin oils can damage one of the least-altered travertine systems in the Rocky Mountains.
Spouting Rock, 200 yards beyond the lake, adds a second waterfall to the same hike. Water pours directly out of a hole in a large rock face rather than over its edge, and visitors can walk behind it. Most people at Hanging Lake appear to skip Spouting Rock entirely, which means the upper waterfall is nearly empty.
The trip closed the way it opened: back at Sweet Colorado, this time for the donut holes. Sunny weighed in without being asked. ‘Might be the best donut hole I’ve ever had,’ she said. There was no argument.
A frisbee, a burger, and one more look at the canyon
The Glenwood Canyon Brewpub served the final lunch, chicken enchiladas recommended by staff as the most popular item, and a kids meal delivered on a plastic frisbee that goes home with the child. Sunny kept the frisbee.
The 36 hours in Glenwood Springs covered a nationally ranked donut shop, the highest-elevation coaster in the country, two underground cave tours, a world-record outdoor mineral hot spring pool at 405 ft long holding over a million gallons, a cliff swing above a 1,300-ft canyon, and one of the most unusual waterfalls in the Rocky Mountains. The roller coaster stayed closed in the rain. That is a good enough reason to come back.
The cinnamon donut from Sweet Colorado, the one the staff told the visitor to order, the one that rated a 10 out of 10, was still the consensus favorite over the ice cream, the tacos, and even the enchiladas when the final tallying happened at the end of day two. Glenwood Canyon was already fading into the rearview mirror, and the donut was still winning.
Wake up to Only Happy News!
