Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak

Garden of the Gods

Gray Spires

It's Saturday and we are off to Garden of the Gods in the Colorado Springs area, which is about a 45 minute drive from our campground.  We stopped at the Visitor's Center to get some information and a map.  First stop is the Main Garden Area which is a paved walking path through some very unusual red-sandstone rock formations which were sculptured some 300 million years ago.  The park has many dirt trails and is a hiker's paradise. 

 

The entire park was donated by a fellow named Perkins whose only desire was to keep the park entact and available for public use.  After that, we drove through the remainder of the park and exited at the Balanced Rock. 

 

Kissing Camels

George checking out the rock climbers

 

Balanced Rock

Next on the agenda is Pike's Peak.  George has been chomping at the bit to drive the Jeep up the 19 mile road to the Summit, and what a breath-taking drive it was.  The only other option is to take the Cog Railway, which takes several hours.  However, there were several bicyclers making their way up...bless their hearts.  Anyway, it's a beautiful day with a big blue sky - perfect for the drive and the scenery was gorgeous. 

 

Waiting to get into Pike's Peak

Almost to the Summit





Here we are...at the Summit

View from the top

PIKE'S PEAK ELEVATION:  14,115 feet above sea level 

 

I say this because, once at the top, we both got very light-headed from lack of oxygen so we just stayed long enough to get some good pictures. 

 

Once at the bottom, we were in Manitou Springs, a very cute artsy-fartsy little town.  We didn't stop because we were too winded to do any more walking just now but I may come back here later in the week.

 

Next stop  was Cripple Creek , which was a mining town in the 1870's but, modern-day Cripple Creek, boasts Casino's on every street corner and everywhere in between.  On the way there, however, we saw at least a dozen mountain goats crossing back and forth across the street stopping traffic in both directions.  People were getting out of their cars (me included) to take pictures.

Cripple Creek, CO

Downtown Cripple Creek

 



 

Victor Hotel

Old Abandoned Mine

Victor was the next town and it, too, was an old mining town but its only claim to fame now is the Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad which takes you through past abandoned mines and the Anaconda Ghost town.




 

 

Lastly, George wanted to take the Jeep off-road on a dirt path that would ultimately lead us back to the campground.  When we got to the turn-off, the road was closed and he was terribly disappointed.  Not only that, but he had to re-route us back home as we were on "the wrong side of the mountain" which took twice as long to get back to camp.  Even though the scenery was beautiful, I napped a bit as this girl was very tired.

Once home, we relaxed for a while then had a quick dinner and very early to bed.