It was a short drive down from Golden, so we rode over to the Garden of the Gods after getting settled in our campground. These 200+ acres were bought by a private individual, who wanted them to be free to the public; when he died, the City of Colorado Springs granted his wish, so now anyone can drive through for free.
If you know what you are doing, you can get a permit to climb the outcroppings. Here is one lady doing that:
Since we don't know what we are doing, here is what we are allowed to do:
and also this:
Saturday, August 20
Today we drove down to Royal Gorge. In 1929, folks built a bridge over the gorge (we never did figure out why--it's in the middle of nowhere--maybe it was a boondoggle) and now you can drive way out there and pay $20 to check it out in a variety of ways, which we did. Here are some pics:
first by aerial tram...
...then by foot...
...then by knothole...
...then by incline railroad.
At the end, before the storms began, Katie got to ride the burro and the carousel. Here she is:
Leaving the gorge, we could just drive back north the way we came, or we could try a dirt backroad, so we stopped and bought gas and I asked about the backroads. Everyone at the gas station (where they were just preparing to change the price of unleaded from 2.59 to 2.65/gal) said not to take the backroad. But Mark disregarded them, and good thing he did. We drove up a little dirt road toward Cripple Creek, CO. Here are some of the things we saw on the way:
The last one is the pilings from a huge goldmine or goldmines. Apparently, this area was a gold extraction area until the late 1940s. It looks like they created a whole mountain of tailings.
We got to Cripple Creek and found a POW/MIA bike rally just ending (they had gotten not only rain but hail in the last hour--somehow we missed it). We looked at the bikes and I bought a POW pin.
Sunday, August 21
Today I wanted to see a local pottery factory, and Mark was willing to take Katie into Colorado Springs. This morning, we got news from our Portland friend Judy that the NY Times is predicting that the housing bubble is about to burst, and of course that affects us. I got a little stressed and Mark did a good job of relaxing me, then took Katie to go sightsee. I rode my bike over to Van Biggle Pottery, where in 1902, Arnus and Annie Van Biggle won honors in Paris for their pottery, and then won honors in St. Louis for the 1905 Exposition. They were hot hot hot a hundred years ago, leaders in Art Neuveau pottery. Unfortunately, the founder died in 1904 from TB, just after discovering how to replicate the Chinese matte glazes from the Ming dynasty.
I bought an Art Neuveau style flowered tile from them, from their seconds lot. It will be pretty in our home, wherever we settle.
Monday, August 22
Today we went to the top of Pike's Peak, one of the many 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado. You can hike up a hiking trail from Manitou Springs, drive up the dirt road, or take a cograil train. We took the train. It cost us $100 for the three of us, for tickets and bag lunch (the ride is three hours, and they don't let folks bring their own lunches). They pack the trains with people, and unfortunately we got seats looking backwards at three strangers who didn't seem too chatty, so it was a long way up, with our necks craned to the side windows. When we got above the trees, the views got good, though. Here we are at the top:
It was 36 degrees at the top, and about 80 degrees at the base of the mountain. The air at the top of Pike's Peak has half the oxygen that we're used to at sea level, but I didn't climb around enough to notice a difference. Some folks ride up on the train and hike their way down, or vise-versa. And some bring their mountain bikes and bike down from half-way up.
Here is one of the other trains, in front of us, on the way down. The grade is about 30 percent at its steepest. The teeth in the middle of the track keep it from sliding down the mountain.
After the train ride, we drove out toward Florrisent Fossil Beds National Monument, to see their petrified sequoia trees. On the way, we hit a hailstorm that we kept driving into and out of. The hail was only pea-sized but made it hard for Mark to see out the windshield. Katie of course slept through the whole thing. The rain ended a mile or so before we reached the fossil beds. They hadn't gotten any of it at all. Here is Mark standing near one of the big fossilized sequoia stumps:
The ranger at the park taught us all about how the trees were preserved in volcanic ash from a volcano that had been taller than Pike's Peak. It erupted the way Mt. St. Helens did, with ash and mudflows, rather than liquid lava. The ash, made of silica, replaced the contents of each cell in the trees, and preserved the look of the tree perfectly.
There used to be petrified wood all over the valley--settlers here complained about how hard it was to walk or ride across the fields without stumbling over it. Now you can't find any at all, and if you do, it's illegal to take it, it has all been gathered by rock collectors over the years. Only about a hundred stumps are still protected. Also they have found lots of fossilized insects, including 15 butterflies (of only 45 worldwide--I guess butterflies don't fossilize often).
Tuesday, August 23
Today we head west, out of the foothills and into the Rocky Mountains. We plan to stay in Leadville, altitude 10,000 feet, and in a national forest if we can. We might not have Internet coverage for a few days, but it should be pretty. Mark plans to do some mountain hikes, and even try for a 14,000 foot peak.