Front Range Colorado - mostly - Part 2 - STR-2021-26

Monday, 9 August

An early start to ride the Arkansas River Trail which runs from Lake Pueblo SP to Runyon Lake south of downtown. One of the first things we noticed this morning was that the smoke haze was a little less.

The trail ran along the Arkansas River, and we quite like trails that follow water.

The water feeding the Arkansas River begins its journey from the snow melt that flows into Twin Creeks Reservoir near Leadville, CO. The Arkansas River continues its journey to the Mississippi River via Wichita, KS; Tulsa, OK; and Little Rock, AR.

After reaching Runyon Lake, we rode to the Riverwalk in downtown Pueblo. The Riverwalk is a mini (very mini) version of the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Mostly appealing for a nice walk or the restaurants.

We stopped at a park for our break and enjoyed a nice waterfall.

An exhibit also told the story of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, for whom Pike's Peak is named. The Pike Expedition (July 15, 1806 – July 1, 1807) was a military party sent out by President Thomas Jefferson and authorized by the United States government to explore the south and west of the recent Louisiana Purchase. On November 15, Pike recorded the first sight of the distant mountain Tava which he called "Grand Peak". It has since been called Pikes Peak in his honor. Pike tried to climb the peak, hoping to get a view of the surrounding area to record on maps,

As we rode along the Arkansas River, we enjoyed a number of murals on the levee walls.

At one time, the mural extended over 3 miles making it the longest continuous painting in the world. It appears that the levee repairs needed as the 90 year old levee was in poor condition covered up the painting. Today, new murals are being painted.

By the time we got back to Lake Pueblo SP, it was getting warm and we appreciated our early start.

Today was also a reposition day as Sprinty spends the next four nights at Cheyanne Mountain SP near Colorado Springs. With plenty of day left, we decided to check out Seven Falls, which is part of the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs.

The falls are in a privately owned canyon, and parking is located at the Broadmoor Resort several miles away. The shuttle to the falls is complementary. We arrived just after noon, and there was quite a long line formed for the shuttles. We waited for about 30 minutes in the sun.

Seven Falls seemed to us to be a private version of the town owned and operated Box Canyon that we visited in Ourey, CO. The walk from the shuttle drop off to the base of the falls was 0.8 miles of paved walkway.

We started by taking the elevator up for a view of the falls.

The stream was flowing well which make for picturesque waterfalls.

To think all the excitement that started in 1858.

Many people just went to the base of the falls.

224 stairs takes you to the top of the falls - not for those with fear of heights, unable to climb 100 stairs without stopping, or anyone with unsure footing. Darrell climbed the stairs and enjoyed some closeup views of the higher falls.

Once up there, Darrell continued to Midnight Falls, 0.4 miles further up the trail.

Along the way, a merging stream make for another picturesque waterfall.

Midnight Falls

Here is a photo from the top before descending the steep stairs.

A very nice set of waterfalls. As we waited for the shuttle to take us back, there were dozens of people arriving in cars to get to the falls who likely followed their GPS, unaware that parking was at the Broadmoor several miles away. It pays to plan your activities.

Sprinty has a nice pull-through site beside Cheyenne Mounatain at Cheyenne Mountain State Park Campground for the next four nights. Likely also the result of a cancellation as this campground is very nice, and very few vacancies. Persistence paid off.

Cheyenne Mountain 

Tuesday, 10 August

Today's activity was to visit the Garden of the Gods.

We set off early as recommended as the parking lots full up pretty fast. As suggested by one review, we went straight to the overflow parking. Turned out we could have parked in one of the two Visitor Center parking lots as we arrived just after the Visitor Center opened at 8am.

We started with a visit to the Visitor Center. The park was a gift from the family of Charles Elliott Perkins, the head of the Burlington Railroad. He died in 1907 before he made arrangements for the land to become a public park, although it had been open to the public for years. In 1909, Perkins' children, knowing their father's feeling for the Garden of the Gods, conveyed his 480 acres to the City of Colorado Springs. It would be known forever as the Garden of the Gods "where it shall remain free to the public, where no intoxicating liquors shall be manufactured, sold, or dispensed, where no building or structure shall be erected except those necessary to properly care for, protect, and maintain the area as a public park."

The Visitor Center had a number of exhibits on the geological and human history of the park. We also watched the park video, which unlike National Parks was $6/person. The video was a time-travel setting of the geological history of the rocks that form Garden of the Gods - very well done.

Photo from the Visitor Center balcony:

We hiked the Perkins Central Garden Loop, which seems to be hike that most people do. The path is paved, and an easy hike, 2.5 miles total from the Visitor Center.

It is hard to see, but Pike's Peak is visible in the haze between the Gateway Rocks, just to the left of the evergreen tree.

Gateway Rocks

The haze made the lighting sub-optimal - the rocks were quite a sight even with the haze.

We also added the Upper Loop Trail which took you to the only rock where they seem to permit climbing in the rocks. Elsewhere, signs said not to climb on the rocks, although we saw dozens and dozens of people ignoring the signs.

Kris by Sleeping Giant Rock

After our hike, we returned to Sprinty and broke out the eBikes. We rode the road loops in the park.

As the roads are quite hilly, having eBikes made a huge difference. For those without eBikes, there are EBike tours you can book at the park, starting around $100. In all fairness, the tours are more extensive than the short 6.5 mile/36 minute ride we did.

We enjoyed going to balanced rock, one of the most iconic rock formations in the park.

Balanced Rock

Wednesday, 11 August

Today's activity was golf at Cheyenne Shadows Golf Club located on the Fort Carson Army base only a couple of miles from the campground. We got paired up with George, an Army retiree from the area. He enjoys playing this course because as a single golfer, they work to fit him in. We were delighted to have George as a playing partner for nine holes.

Kris started off with her usual drive in the fairway (she went on to hit 14 of 14 fairways), while Darrell decided to test the trees on the left. Then back-nine Darrell showed up and started making pars and a birdie to lead at the turn at three over par. On the back nine, front nine Darrell showed up, and he went par-less. He managed to hang on for honors on the day. In all fairness, the ladies tees were 5,759 yards putting Kris at a severe disadvantage.

Thursday, 12 August

The morning started off with a beautiful sunrise, thanks to the wildfire smoke.

We saw five hot air balloons taking off in the morning still air in the valley below. Then tragedy struck. We pressed the "on" button on the coffee machine, the button lit up as usual, but NOTHING happened. No gurgle, no hot water dripping into the filter basket, no drip of the black, magical elixir that takes "morning" and makes it a "good morning".

Desperate situations call for desperate measures. Boiling water in the microwave, we poured the hot water over the filter basket in the coffee maker like the pour over method. Black elixir appeared in the carafe. Voila, crisis averted.

First up this morning was to take Sprinty to a local mechanic to just check things over before we start the caravan next week and are likely to be in places where an experienced Sprinter mechanic may be hard to find. As a result of the loss of Alde hydronic heating system fluid several times, we have been watching the temperature gauge more than usual. It is not a normal default gauge, so one has to cycle through some menus to bring it up. We took Sprinty to Kleemann USA in Colorado Springs (which we found via a Google Maps search) just to have an experienced mechanic take a look and verify everything was as it should be.

With a clean bill of health, we headed to north Colorado Springs to ride the New Santa Fe Regional Trail which runs for 17 miles north to Palmer Lake. We knew from the reviews that it was an unpaved trail - but we were surprised at the hills and loose sand/gravel surfaces in areas. We were grateful for the eBikes as we enjoyed the electric assist to navigate the steep hills and soft sections of the trail. Originally, we had planned to ride north about 10-12 miles, stop for a snack and ride back. The combination of a strong headwind, soft gravel surface, and hills caused us to change the plan to riding north for about an hour, then returning. The soft sections were intimidating enough that Kris gave some serious thought to waiting at the turn around point while Darrell rode back to Sprinty by himself, then drove back to pick her up.

In hindsight, we should have accessed the trail at the north gate to the Air Force Academy and ridden north. The last couple of miles we rode up to the north gate (of the 8 miles we did ride) were former rail bed - fairly flat and with a good trail surface.

Friday, 13 August

Today was a reposition day. Before heading out, we broke camp and took Sprinty up to the Camper Services building where the laundry machines were located. After starting the wash, we then did our breakfast in the parking lot.

Last night we had some sort of squall come through - just wind that rocked Sprinty pretty good. The skies were the clearest we have seen in quite awhile - maybe the squall moved the wildfire smoke somewhere else for awhile.

Our first planned activity was in Divide, CO, about an hour west. As we cruised up (from 6,000 feet elevation to 8,500 feet), we enjoyed a mostly crystal clear view of the mountains including Pike's Peak. We stopped in Woodland Park at the hardware store for a couple of items, and saw there was a market going on in the town park. With extra time, we enjoyed wandering the market, and got a cinnamon roll as a treat, and a cheese-olive pastry for lunch later. We enjoyed the live music as we slowly ate our delicious cinnamon roll.

Yesterday morning, we managed to get the last two spots on the 12 noon standard tour at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center (https://www.wolfeducation.org) in Divide, CO. The mission of the Center is to:

• Educate the public through tours and programs about the importance of Wolves, Coyotes, and Foxes to our eco-system.
• Educate the public about the importance of Preservation and Conservation of the forests, land, and water that supports wildlife, flora, and fauna for future generations to enjoy.
• Provide natural habitats and exceptional lives for the animals entrusted to our care since they cannot live in the wild.

The standard tour is a one hour guided educational tour. The tour showed us many of the wolves, coyote, and fox which have been rescued. Our guide talked about the history and current issues they face today.

As somewhat expected for the middle of the day, most of the animals were taking naps.

With a lot of day left, we decided to check out Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument just a few miles away. 55 to 34 million years ago, the area was a warm, temperate forest which included giant redwoods. 34 million years ago, volcanic eruptions from the Guffey Volcanic Complex, about fifteen miles to the southeast, mixed ash, water and possibly snow to create massive mudflows called lahars, which covered today's Florissant. Many things became fossilized, included the mudflow-covered stumps of the redwood trees.

The buried portions of the redwood trees slowly turned to stone - became petrified.

One of the unusual stumps was the three trunks that came from a single tree.

The Big Stump is a sad reminder of how things like this used to be. Early tourism resulted in thousands of "souvenirs" being removed. The Big Stump even has the remains of a lumbering saw embedded as an attempt was made to cut it into pieces to transport to the Chicago World Fair.

Another interesting exhibit along the Petrified Forest Loop Trail was called Reading the Rocks through Time. Using the calendar metaphor, the earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago on January 1st. Fossils of the Florissant Formation would have been encased in stone on December 29th (34 million years ago). Homo sapiens would not have evolved until approximately 36 minutes before midnight on December 31st.

Both of us appreciated the contrast between the huge petrified redwood stumps and the petrified wood logs we saw last month at Petrifed Forest National Park in Arizona.

Sprinty's home for the night is Eleven Mile State Park near Lake George, CO at 8,600 feet elevation. Eleven Mile State Park has about a dozen campgrounds scattered around Eleven Mile Canyon Reservoir, a lake operated by the Denver Water. The 6-mile-long reservoir was constructed in 1932, is second largest in Denver Water's system, and one of the largest bodies of water east of the Continental Divide.

As we were driving down the rather rough road to get to the campground, we saw a sign for "Icy Road". We kind of smiled as it was mid-August, and ice did not seem likely. About 30 seconds later, we hit a ferocious thunderstorm and the windshield was peppered with hail as the temperature dropped about 20+ degrees.

Sprinty's home for the next two nights is Rocky Ridge Campground on the north shore by the marina. The exposed boulders give it a little bit of City of Rocks SP, NM; Jumbo Rocks at Joshua Tree National Park, CA; or Alabama Hills, CA feel. Sprinty takes delight in being able to make those comparisons.

Saturday, 14 August

Woke up to 39 degrees, sunny and much less haze. Sprinty enjoyed a nice view of the lake.

Today's activity was golf at Shining Mountain Golf Course in Woodland Park, CO. It is the only golf course within an hour's drive of the campsite. The earliest we could get a tee time was 12:06pm. So we had a leisurely stroll through the campground and took care of dumping and filling tanks.

When we arrived at the golf course to check in, they advised that they had a tournament this morning which got off to a late start (frost delay?) and they had no carts until people finished the tournament. We knew the golf course was cart path only - not just today, but all day, every day.

We warmed up on the range, met our playing partners, Roger and Mary Beth from north of Denver, and finally teed off about 30 minutes late. Play was very slow, and the course was very challenging with very narrow fairways on many holes. Missing the fairway exacted a high penalty. Neither of us played well. In fact, we were so disgusted by the end of nine holes, we both agreed to add this course to our list of Top 10 Golf Courses Never to Play Again. As the list already had 10 entries, something got displaced.

On the back nine, Darrell decided to put his fairway woods in time out (his driver has been in time out for months) and play the back nine using his 6 iron for tee shots to have a better chance of hitting the fairway. We both played the 10th hole poorly, and Darrell almost called it a day. And as often happens in the game of golf, he then made three pars in a row - helped by lucky bounces on two of the holes.

Kris stayed consistent - but was frustrated with the course and her score. We both started paying more attention to the black-tailed prairie dogs that seemed to have burrows on every hole. At the time, it seemed to take our mind off the golf for a few brief moments.

In the end, it was a five-hour round - in part because of the cart path only. And narrow fairways. And hunting for lost balls, especially by the four-some in front of us, which ensured a slow pace of play. Roger and Mary Beth were very nice to play with, and their company and the prairie dogs were about the only saving grace on the day.

Although we did not enjoy our golf game as much as usual, we were both glad we played the course. We had such a positive vibe from our experience in town yesterday, we started the day wondering what it might be like to spend more time here, say a month. With golf being a major pastime for both of us, and having Shining Mountain as the only course around, we know we would not enjoy hanging out here for more than a night passing through.

After golf, we headed back to Eleven Mile State Park for our second and final night.

Sunday, 15 August

A relaxed start to the morning cruising into Woodland Park to the Hungary Bear diner for a breakfast burrito. After getting groceries, we cruised down to Colorado Springs to the Amazon locker to pickup a couple of purchases. Our activity for the day was the Red Rock Canyon - Roundup - Contemplative Trail, 3.3 miles. The trails are located in the Red Rock Canyon Open Area, located close to Garden of the Gods.

The land that makes up Red Rock Canyon Open Area was purchased by the City of Colorado Springs in 2003. The five valleys and canyons of the property are undeveloped open space with hiking trails and climbing routes. AllTrails lists 22 trails in the Red Rock Canyon Open Area.

We selected the Red Rock Canyon - Roundup - Contemplative Trail as a moderate trail.

As we started the trail, we enjoyed seeing Pikes Peak in the distance.

Early on, the Red Rock Canyon felt like a smaller Garden of the Gods - the exposed rocks were not quite as dramatic, but just as picturesque. And a lot less crowded. I think it appeals to people who want to recreate, while Garden of the Gods appeals to tourists. As Garden of the Gods has been a city operation since 1909 (112 years), maybe in 50 years or so, Red Rock Canyon (18 years) will be further developed similarly?

Several times, we could see Garden of the Gods in the distance.

As we completed the hike, we were pleased with our choice of this trail combination. The Contemplative Trail through the red rocks was a nice payoff near the end of the hike.

Our campsite for the last night before the caravan is back at Cheyenne Mountain State Park. We had just gotten set up when a severe thunderstorm hit with rain, wind gusts over 40 mph and threat of up to 1/4" size hail. The temperature dropped by 26 degrees in less than 15 minutes.

Monday, 16 August

Woke up this morning to the smoke haze again - the thunderstorms last night did not seem to,push the smoke away.

Today's activity was golf before we checked into the RV caravan this afternoon. From our experience with the last caravan, we hoped to get some golf in on travel days - but without the detailed itinerary, we did not know when we will get to play golf next.

Today's golf was at Silver Spruce Golf Course, on Peterson Air Force base in Colorado Springs. A very nice course in very good condition. Greens were fast, which took a lot of getting used to after the slow greens on Saturday. Darrell had seven good holes out of the first nine, but trailed by three strokes at the turn. He started catching Kris on the back nine, and moved into the lead by hole 14. We stayed close until the last hole when Darrell's ball decided to play hide-and-seek after sneaking under a tree. As is typical, Kris marched down the fairway and managed to make par on a long par 5 to tie for the day. We both played well despite slow pace of play, enjoyed a beautiful course in good weather. Another course to definitely play again.

After golf, we headed for Garden of the Gods RV Resort in Colorado Springs for our caravan. Deets in the next blog posts.