Colorado Springs, CO–Part 1

My original plans were to be in Colorado Springs for one month (mid-August to mid-September).  But I liked where I was, so I stayed until the end of September at Mountaindale Cabins and RV Resort which is about half way between Colorado Springs and Canon City.  It has a Colorado Springs address, but I was about 25 minutes from the closest grocery store and 30 minutes from a Walmart (my judge for how far out in the boonies I am!). 

As I mentioned in my previous blogs, I was there during the floods that messed up many places in Northern Colorado.  My campground was in a hilly area, but didn’t have much flooding.  In my spot a lot of water washed by my RV.  My water hose was completely covered with water and mud.   The picture below was taken from the route  I walked most mornings.  It is a drainage ditch, but a local man I talked to a few times said he had not seen water in it for 8 or 9 years. 

Much flooding occurred because the culverts (like the black one in the bottom left corner of this picture) became blocked.  This one became partially blocked and the water flooded over the dirt road creating big ruts in the road.  The road was unusable for a couple of days until the campground and local people fixed the road and culvert.  Below was taken from the other side of the road.

During my morning walk, I would walk a loop around the campground and back roads.  I would usually walk 3 to 4.5 miles.  In September the flowers were great.

On my morning walks, I passed a small farm that had a goat in a little house.  I would talk to the goat when I passed by and most mornings he would answer.  I’m glad nobody was around to see or hear me say “Good morning, Goat – BAAAAAH”  (Is that how you spell what a goat sounds like?).  I don’t know if when he answered he was saying “Good morning” or “Leave me alone”, but I decided it was Good morning!!

The first few weeks I was in Col. Springs, it was rather warm.  As I have gotten older the heat seems to bother me more.  One day, I went for a walk along the Tunnel Drive trail in Canon City (pronounced like Canyon).  I walked about 4 miles, ending around 11:00 am and it was in the mid-80’s.  When I got back to my car I was so hot that I had to rest a bit before driving off.  The trail was in full sun, but I should have known better and started earlier  -- I did have water.  The trail has 3 tunnels that you walk through and on the way back, I slowed down while walking through the tunnels and enjoyed the shade.  In addition to the heat, the bugs were quite bad.  Notice in the picture below you can see some type of bug on the left side of the picture!  It kind of looks like a bird, but if you click on the picture you can tell it is a bug. The picture was taken trying to get 2 of the 3 tunnels and the river, the bug was photobombing!

Also in Canon City is Skyline Drive.  This is just a short one-way road built on the top of some hills, but for a short distance there are just a few feet on each side of the road. 

One of my favorite hikes in the area was at the Red Rocks Open space in Colorado Springs.  This is similar to the Garden of the Gods, but not near as many people. 

In the picture above, you can see the formation of red rocks goes for a distance and surrounds a road which leads to the Garden of Gods park.

And of course, I visited the Garden of Gods park a few times.  This park has both paved and unpaved trails.  I enjoyed the paved trails on days after rains to avoid muddy trails.  

 

Above is one of the entrances to the Garden of the Gods, with Pikes Peak in the background.

Several times, I enjoyed walking along the Riverfront trail in Canon City.  Below is one of the views from that trail --

When it was too hot to hike or walk, I enjoy scenic drives. The main road through Canon City leads through the San Isabel National Forest, I really enjoyed it.

I stopped and watched the boaters for a while.

Occasionally I see RV’s painted a bit differently than normal.  The RV below was in the campground and it appears on some type of tour for Breast Cancer Month (October).

Stay tuned for part 2 of Colorado Springs.