Chapel on the Rock, Allenspark, Colorado, September 16, 2011
High Mountains to High Desert (Exit78)
About nine miles south of Estes Park on Colorado 7, we stopped to take pictures of the Chapel on the Rock – officially St. Catherine of Siena Chapel – on the grounds of Saint Malo Retreat Center. The chapel is built on a large piece of granite that the Colorado highway department once planned to dynamite to widen and straighten the adjacent highway. Dedicated in 1936, the chapel was built from local stone hauled in by mule carts.
In November 2011, a fire heavily damaged portions of the St. Malo Retreat Center. The chapel, several hundred feet away was not damaged.
In September 2013, 100-year scale rains caused flooding and mud and rock slides that significantly damaged the natural terrain. Plans to rebuild the property have been placed on indefinite hold.
The Chapel on the Rock was undamaged and remains open.
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Hi Mike – I’m so pleased to read it’s still in situ and has survived man and nature (so far!) …
Fascinating … cheers Hilary
We had seen this gem quite a few years earlier. Although we were just passing through this time, I was looking for it and, when we finally saw it, pulled over to get a few pictures. Well worth it.
Breathtaking! I’d love to visit there some day! Thanks for sharing this!
It certainly is. The first time we saw it, we had just kind of stumbled on it. This time, I was watching for it. 😉