Green Mountain Falls Waterfalls

Saturday morning, we slept in a little and had another fantastic breakfast at Innhale and then checked out.  Our first stop was at Rainbow Falls Historic Site just up the road.  We managed to get a parking space and started hiking down the short paved trail.  There were some little cascades along Fountain Creek.

The paved trail ended under the Highway 24 bridge with a nice view of Rainbow Falls.

A rock-hopped into the creek for a nice view of the falls, despite the sunny conditions.

On the short hike back, we followed a path down to the river to see an old dam on the creek.

Then we made it back to the car.

Next, we drove to the town of Green Mountain Falls and parked at the lake.  We then hiked up a couple roads to the Thomas Trailhead and almost immediately came to Crystal Falls.

It was mostly frozen and pretty cool, but the lighting was terrible for pictures.

We then started hiking along Thomas Trail.  There were some really nice views of the little town from the trail.

The trail was only a mile, but an adventure in all the snow.

Near the end of the trail, we took a spur to Catamount Falls.

This one was mostly frozen too and the lighting had not improved.

We then had to cross Catamount Creek at a particularly icy spot, but managed not to fall.

We hiked a little ways on Catamount Trail and then turned back.  At the end of the trail was another small waterfall on Catamount Creek.

From here, we followed Belvedere Trail back to the parking area.

We were hungry by now, so stopped for a late lunch at Blue Moose Tavern before leaving.  We started making our way to the airport but made one more stop in Colorado Springs at Austin Bluffs Open Space for a hike to Pulpit Rock.

The trails weren't marked but it was easy to follow the path up towards the top.  There were nice views of Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak on the hike up.

It got very rocky as we got closer to the top and the rocks had eroded into some fantastic shapes.

The top of Pulpit Rock almost looked like a castle.

The rocks were very steep but there were obvious paths to get further and further up.

The views from up here were great.

Near the top, I spotted some very interesting looking mushroom rocks.

One seemed to be balanced precariously.

These mushroom rocks were as impressive as Pulpit Rock I thought.

We hung out at the top for a while and enjoyed the view.

As it got later in the evening, we made our way down.

Driving into Denver, we met Sandy's friend at Bull & Bush Brewery and then returned the rental car and headed to the airport for the red eye flight home.

North Cheyenne Waterfalls

Friday morning, we had a fantastic breakfast at Innhale then headed out to North Cheyenne Cañon Park southwest of Colorado Springs.  Parking at the visitor center, we first stopped for a picture of Helen Hunt Falls.  The lighting was poor and the water level was low, but still a scenic little falls.

Then we got on Silver Cascade Falls Trail and crossed the creek above the waterfall.

There were some nice cascades above the falls.

Continuing on the trail, I took a short detour out to an overlook with distant views of Silver Cascade Falls.

Further up the trail was a closer view of the falls and the spout in the rock face.  Unfortunately, the water level was pretty low.

At the top of the waterfall, we noticed some snow on the tributary coming down and climbed up to see the snow.

Eventually, we came out on Gold Camp Road.

From here, we got on Saint Mary's Trail (#624) to continue following Buffalo Canyon Creek upstream into Pike National Forest.

In another mile and a half, we came to Saint Mary's Falls.

There wasn't much water, but the falls was a beautiful in the snow.

Hiking back, we took a connector trail back over to Gold Camp Road.  I had noted another waterfall marked on the topo map just southeast of Saint Mary's Falls.  When we got close, I bushwhacked off the road down to where the waterfall was marked.  There was absolutely no waterfall but I did find part of an old truck.

Since there was no falls, we bushwhacked back up to the road and started heading back.

There were a lot of nice views from Gold Camp Road.

And there were even a few patches of snow.

When we got back to the tunnel, we headed back into the park.

We followed Silver Cascade Falls Trail back to the parking area.

We were pretty hungry by this point, so stopped at Colorado Mountain Brewing for a late lunch and drinks.  Before heading back to the hotel, we swung by Red Rock Canyon for a short hike.

Red Rock Canyon is similar to Garden of the Gods but much less crowded.  But still lots of gorgeous red rocks and cliffs.

We hiked down Sand Canyon and Contemplative Trails and scrambled around on the rocks for some views of the open space and Garden of the Gods in the distance.

This park seems to be much more popular with locals than the tourists.

There were some prickly pear cactus growing along the cliffs.

Some of the potholes in the cliff faces had some really unusual shapes.

At the end of Contemplative Trail we turned around and started heading back on Sand Canyon Trail.

There were a few more opportunities to scramble on the hike back.

We made it back to the car and then headed back to the hotel.

We had a special dinner at the hotel and hung out with the staff and other guests, watching videos and playing games.  Breakfast in the morning wouldn't be until 10, so we stayed up pretty late so we could sleep in.