A theme park complete with cave tours and a roller coaster might not be what you would expect to find at the top of a mountain, but that is exactly what sits at the peak of a mountaintop 7,100 feet above sea level in Glenwood Springs.

Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is America’s only mountaintop theme park, and the story of how it ended up there involves persistence, curiosity, and exploration.

Steve Beckley started writing to the Fairy Caves’ then-owner, Pete Prebble, in 1982, wanting to explore the caves. However, almost all of the letters were returned unopened and stamped “Return to Sender.” This didn’t stop Beckley, and he continued writing to Prebble for a decade until Prebble gave in and allowed Beckley to finally explore the caves.

Steve and his wife Jeanne got the property from Prebble in 1998. The next year, they welcomed 500 guests to the renamed Glenwood Caverns for a tour on Memorial Day weekend.

According to the park, by 2003, 100,000 people were visiting the caves for tours a year. The Beckleys installed the Iron Mountain Tramway – a Poma gondola – to bring the guests to the mountain cave entrance.

Although interest in the caves was soaring, visitors had to wait in lines of three hours. To solve that issue, the owners decided to start putting in rides to give visitors something to do while they waited for cave tours. That idea took the business in a new direction, a mountaintop theme park with a “Western history slant.”

The first rides were installed in 2005, and many more exciting thrill rides and attractions have been added since then.

Today, attractions include the Defiance Roller Coaster, a roller coaster featuring a record-breaking 102.3 degree freefall, the Alpine Coaster, the Giant Canyon Swing, which launches riders nearly vertical at 50 mph over a 1,300-foot cliff edge above the Colorado River, and much more.

Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park offers a great opportunity to experience a unique part of Colorado, take in some stunning views, and have lots of fun on its thrilling rides.

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