Entry No. 30 — the Durango file — filed under: outdoor

Dennis Weaver Memorial Park

Best known as Chester on Gunsmoke and the wisecracking New Mexico deputy in McCloud, Dennis Weaver left Hollywood behind in 1990 and moved to Ridgway, where he built "Sunridge" — a nearly 10,000-square-foot Earthship of 3,000 earth-packed tires and 15,000 aluminum cans designed by architect Michael Reynolds, requiring no heating ducts or air conditioning. He founded the Institute of Ecolonomics and spent his final years championing sustainable building and organic farming. The 60-acre park donated to Ridgway after his 2006 death sits on the cottonwood-lined bank of the Uncompahgre River. Its centerpiece is a 2,000-pound metal eagle — wings fully spread — rising from a ring of stones arranged as a medicine wheel, the surrounding ground thick with visitor-stacked cairns left as quiet offerings.

The move: Pack a picnic and walk the river trail to the medicine wheel. Sit with the eagle at your back and the San Juan peaks ahead, stack a cairn together, and read aloud one of the Weaver poems displayed on-site — it's low-key and genuinely moving.

📍 Before you go Admission is free and the park is open year-round, though the Uncompahgre River path can be muddy after snowmelt (typically April–May). No restrooms are listed on-site, so use facilities in downtown Ridgway (0.3 miles south) before arriving. The eagle and medicine wheel are a short flat walk from the parking area — suitable for any fitness level. Ridgway is about 75 miles north of Durango via US-550 through Ouray; allow 90 minutes each way.

• 📍 Ridgway
• 💸 Free
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Outdoors

Where: Riversage Dr, Ridgway, CO 81432 — approximately 1.5 miles north of downtown Ridgway off US-550; turn west at Riversage Drive, cross the bridge, and park in the lot.

Hours: Added 2026-06-11 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

last checked: 2026-06-11