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| Seeing Mount Evan's Mountain Goats was one goal |
On July 8, I headed up to DIA, which always
takes a bit longer to reach than I anticipate, to pick up mother-in-law Betty and grandneice Lindsay.
I got there, parked and
was at the entry point just as the plane from Atlanta landed. We grabbed
luggage (including Lindsay's huge bag, which I think included some heavy
jackets her mom insisted she bring) and headed back home. It's a long drive, so
we stopped for a minute at Castlewood Canyon to look at a unique Colorado
landscape (Lindsay obliged to pose). Betty was already having some difficulty with the altitude (both she
and I had oxygen canisters to help), so we just snapped some pictures and
headed home.
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| Lindsay enjoying Colorado |
The next day, we visited the absolutely
gorgeous Elevenmile Canyon, Scott's favorite fishing spot.
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| Betty and Lindsay at Eleven Mile Canyon |
We also visited Florissant National Monument,
which contains one of the richest and most diverse fossil deposits in the
world, including 34-million-year-old petrified redwood stumps up to 14 feet
wide. Somehow I managed to lose all the pictures I took; not sure if I
formatted over them or put the card in the old camera I gave to Betty (this is from an earlier trip).
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| Petrified tree stump |
At Florissant, Scott bought Lindsay a
National Park Passport. A great start to what I hope will be a lifetime pursuit
of National Park experience.
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| My "bible" |
Wolves!
Then we headed on to the Colorado Wolf and
Wildlife Center, which is located in Divide.
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| Left, Betty and Wolf from a previous visit; right, Lindsay |
Through tours and programs, the
Center educates the public about the importance of wolves, coyotes and foxes to
our ecosystem and about the importance of preservation and conservation of the
forests, land and water that supports wildlife, flora and fauna for future
generations to enjoy. It also serves as a sanctuary providing natural habitats
for animals that cannot live in the wild. Certified by the Association of Zoos
and Aquariums, the Center participates in the Species Survival Program by
providing a home to Mexican grey wolves and swift foxes.
Scott, Betty and Lindsay did the Alpha Tour,
which includes going in the enclosure with wolves. I didn't. I have done it
before and don't really crave getting licked in the face. I just sat in the sun
and read.
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| Making a new friend |
When they finished - and
Lindsay LOVED it - we had a quick picnic just before it started to rain.
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| Lunch |
Back in Town
Then, back to Colorado Springs for a quick
tour of Garden of the Gods, a registered National Natural Landmark and city
park featuring 300' towering sandstone rock formations created millions of
years ago during a geological upheaval along a natural fault line.
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| Garden of the Gods |
Archaeological evidence shows that prehistoric people visited Garden of the
Gods about 1330 BC. At about 250 BC Native American people camped in the park.
Starting in the 16th century, Spanish explorers and later European American
explorers and trappers traveled through the area, including Lt. John C.
Freemont and Lt. George Frederick Ruxton, who recorded their visits in their
journals. The area was first called Red Rock Corral. Then, in August 1859, a surveyor
who helped to set up Colorado City, M. S. Beach, suggested that it would be a
"capital place for a beer garden." His companion, the young Rufus
Cable, exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the gods to
assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods."
In 1879, Charles
Elliott Perkins, a friend of Colorado Springs Founder William Jackson Palmer,
purchased 480 acres of land that included a portion of the present Garden of
the Gods. Upon Perkins' death, his family gave the land to the City of Colorado
Springs in 1909, with the provision that it would be a free public park. Palmer
had owned the Rock Ledge Ranch and, upon his death, it was also donated to the
city.
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| Scott and Lindsay at Garden of the Gods |
The outstanding geologic features of the park
are ancient sedimentary beds of deep-red, pink and white sandstones,
conglomerates and limestone that were deposited horizontally, but have now been
tilted vertically and faulted by the immense mountain-building forces caused by
the uplift of the Rocky Mountains and the Pikes Peak massif.
The following
Pleistocene Ice Age resulting in erosion and glaciation of the rock, creating
the present rock formations. Evidence of past ages can be read in the rocks:
ancient seas, eroded remains of ancestral mountain ranges, alluvial fans, sandy
beaches, and great sand dune fields. The resulting rocks had different shapes:
toppled, overturned, stood-up, pushed around and slanted.
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| The "Kissing Camels" |
Then, off to a quick tour of Cheyenne Canon,
a beautiful canyon in Colorado Springs ...
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| Helen Hunt Falls in Cheyenne Canyon |
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| The Broadmoor Hotel |
The next morning, off we headed north. First stop: Mt. Evans to see baby mountain goats.
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| A great summer destination (it's closed in the winter and spring) |
Mt. Evans is one of Colorado’s 54 Fourteeners (mountains over 14,000 feet in elevation) and the closest one to Denver.
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| Still a fair amount of snow |
It boasts a paved road to the summit that opens in late June or early July and closes in October. It's a winding narrow road that is not for the faint-hearted. I have driven it many times.
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| Near the summit (you have to hike to the real summit) |
Mount Evans is populated with Mountain Goats, which were introduced to the mountain in the late 1950s.
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| A first for Lindsay |
Our trip up was delayed by two (!) serious accidents on I-25, but we finally got there and were rewarded with very close contact with a group of goats including a few babies.
Not quite as cute as when we have seen them a few weeks earlier, but still adorable.
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| We saw a lot and many were close |
And, lest we forget, we also saw some Bighorn Sheep.
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| Another first for Lindsay (female Bighorn Sheep) |
After the Mount Evans trip, we had bison burgers for lunch and then headed north, visiting the Chapel on the Rock, which is currently devoid of its surrounding lake due to flood damage ...
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| Chapel on the Rock |
... and the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park, where we saw NO elk. None! Never had that happen before.
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| A nice intro for Lindsay |
I was a smidge worried about our animal prospects.
We had a lovely dinner at The Kitchen in Fort Collins. A very funky menu that concentrates on local, organic ingredients. Caty and I split a lovely cheese platter (the Spanish blue cheese was incredible) and we had salads. Betty had a lovely halibut with fumet and Lindsay had gnocchi and fries (that girl loves her potatoes!). Dessert included a lovely lemon pie, chocolate cake and strawberry/black pepper ice cream.
Trip date: July 8-16, 2014
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