Our trip to Pike’s Peak (Saturday, August 18th)

On the 18th we headed down to Colorado Springs - approx 70 miles South of Denver - with the intention of visiting Pike’s Peak after a hike at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, which is known for it’s petrified redwood stumps and thousands of detailed fossils of insects and plants. (The picture above shows Mike looking at one of the fossilized redwood tree trunks)

This weekend’s hike was very different from the one we took last week in the Rockies. The terrain flatter and not quite as interesting, but none the less we walked approximately 4 miles.
We started out around Noon and at 90 degrees, it was nice and toasty out there. But with our camel backs and protein bars, we mad it through just fine!

After our hike, we headed down to Cripple Creek as we heard that they had a steam engine that took you on a 45 minute ride up the mountain. Little did we know that the city was hosting the mobile Vietnam Veterans wall. I’ve never seen so many bikers in my life!

We looking for a parking spot for five or ten minutes, Mike was ready to give up and head home, but I convinced him to give it another try and low and behold…we found a spot. During our train ride we learned that hundreds of millions of dollars in gold has been (and continues to be) extracted from the surrounding mountains.

After leaving Cripple Creek we decided to head back to Colorado Springs for dinner. With no direct route back, we decided to take a back road which ended up being an old railroad route.

The road was narrow and the turns were tight, here’s a pictures of what we experienced.

After reaching Colorado Springs we used the GPS to find Phantom Canyon Brewery. We made it in time for happy hour for $2 pints. We reminisced about Grizzly Peak as we enjoyed our beverages.

On the way home we stopped at the outlet mall in Castle Rock…have I mentioned how great the shopping is here? If not, I promise to take anyone who visits to any one of the new out door malls that they have here. And if you’re looking to spend a little money, I’ll even take you to Cherry Creek and you can buy me something from the Louis Vuitton store.