The traders, gold-seekers, miners, and settlers who came later also found and followed these established routes into the mountains. Long before, even the dinosaurs used the area as a passageway, as do their modern descendants, migrating raptors. In the last 125 years, wagon roads and railroads came to follow these original migration routes, then our modern highways once again used the same pathways. Tourists, commuters, and other travelers now use these routes daily. Large quantities of goods flow into and over the Rocky Mountains along the I-70 corridor, which replaced earlier routes through Mt. Vernon Canyon.
Transportation is a focus of the Gateway, whether for pleasure, recreation, commuting, or trade.
The Lariat Loop Mountain Gateway has historically been a tourist destination prized for its scenery, open spaces, and historical features. It has also been an avenue for tourists intent on reaching destinations farther west. The new phenomenon of commuting is increasingly important, as people choose to live here and work elsewhere. It is likely that this historic theme reflects an emotional and spiritual response to this landscape that has been shared since humans first occupied this part of Colorado as much as 18,000 years ago. And it is here, in the Gateway, that the mountains begin, and here they are most accessible to many people.