3 of 12 – 2024 Fall Trip West Series. This post covers 6 days in Colorado on our way to Utah.
If you look closely at the horizon, THERE ARE MOUNTAINS! After long drives across the flatlands of Kansas and eastern Colorado this was an exciting sight. We stayed 3 nights at Garden of the Gods RV Resort which is very close to the rock formations. We visited several times.
Garden of the Gods is a registered National Natural Landmark. Visiting the park is free because of Charles Elliott Perkins and his family. Perkins was head of the Burlington Railroad and died in 1909. Two years later his children donated the land to Colorado Springs under stipulation that visitors would not be charged and it would be left in it’s natural state as Charles had wished.
Group photo taken by kind passerby as we stood in the red sandstone.
Above: The Garden of the Gods Visitors Center is a nice place to visit. They have some nice exhibits. This is where they collect $ from people visiting the free Garden of the Gods. Good coffee, hats, t-shirts, etc. Below: The following photos from our drives and hikes at Garden of the Gods are some favorites. It is a beautiful place to visit, especially at times of sunrise and sunset.
The rock formation at the top of the middle photo is known as the “Kissing Camels”
Pikes Peak is visible from Garden of the Gods. This sign at the Garden gives some history of Zebulon Pike. A visit to Pikes Peak was our next Colorado Springs activity.
View of Pikes Peak from our campsite at Garden of the Gods RV Resort.
The Manitou Incline shares the same parking lot as the Pikes Peak Cog Train so we saw it. 2,750 steps (originally railroad ties left after the tracks were removed). 2,000′ elevation gain in less than a mile. There were lots of people hiking the Incline. Here in Manitou Springs, CO it was a very hot summer day. When we were on top of Pikes Peak it was freezing with a 21 degree wind chill.
MANITOU AND PIKE’S PEAK RAILWAY. The world’s highest cog railway, and the highest railroad in the United States. Trivia: The idea for a railway to the top of Pikes Peak came from Zalmon Simmons who was inspired to find an easier way after experiencing a two day mule trip to the top. Zalmon Simmons was the inventor of the Simmons Beautyrest Mattress Company.
Deanne and I at the very ‘peak’ of Pikes Peak 14,115′. It was crazy windy and freezing cold up there. The cog train goes almost all the way up but there is still some uphill walking and distance to get to this spot. There is very little oxygen. Becky was having a hard time making progress but she made it.Tourists. After this we headed straight to the heated Visitors Center to hang out until the train was ready to take us back down.
Breathtaking views.
The Visitors Center.
View upon entry to the Visitors Center. There is a big quote on the wall “The summit of the Grand Peak, which was entirely bare of vegetation and covered in snow… I believe no human could have ascended to it’s pinnacle.” Zebulon Pike.
I think we did well at the top with 40% less oxygen than we have in Indianapolis, IN (at 600′ altitude). Roni taking pics.
Looking down, the red sandstone ‘fin’ outcroppings of Garden of the Gods are easy to pick out.
Looking East from Pikes Peak. Amazing to be standing on top of a 14’er mountain on the edge of dry prairie lands stretching out toward eastern Colorado and Kansas.
We left Colorado Springs and headed west again, stopping at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument on our way toward Glenwood Springs KOA where we would stay the next 2 nights.
There is a small Visitors Center at Florissant and some huge nearby petrified tree stumps. After viewing the stumps outside, and interesting insect fossils inside, we went on to an 1878 historic Homestead cabin that is also part of the Florissant park.
The 1878 Adeline Hornbek Homestead Cabin. Adeline came to the Florissant valley with her 4 children claiming this area of land through the Homestead Act and built it into a prosperous ranch.
Charlotte Hill married at 13, had 7 children, and collected fossils in the fossil rich Florissant valley.
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