Apache Falls

Thursday morning, we had one more breakfast at the lodge and then started heading east.  We got off the highway near Rye and headed to the Bartlett Trailhead in San Isabel National Forest.  Bartlett Trail  (#1310) headed up and soon we entered Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness.

There was snow on the trail in places, but in others it was starting to look like spring.

Bartlett Trail climbed up for more than 3 miles, but it wasn't too steep and there were a lot of spots to stop and enjoy the views.

There was more snow as we got higher up, but enough footprints on Bartlett Trail that it was easy to follow.

After about 3 miles, we turned left on South Apache Trail (#1311) and started heading down a ridge.  There were nice views of the ridge.

This trail is not so popular and there were some snowy patches with no footprints to follow that made the going slow.  But soon we rounded a bend and the trail was dry again.  There were some cool cliffs we could see from the trail.

The trail continued heading down until we reached South Apache Creek.

Here we turned right on Apache Falls Trail (#1357) and followed the creek up.  This trail was also very snowy and hard to follow, but we kept following the creek up and then followed a tributary up to Apache Falls.

It was a really spectacular waterfall.

Although the waterfall was flowing, a massive ice formation that resembled a castle had formed at the base.

The gorge around the falls was really beautiful.

We had lunch down here and enjoyed the waterfall.

Then we started making our way back.

It was a very steep climb back up South Apache Trail but we stopped a few times for the views.

Once back up to Bartlett Trail, it was all downhill from here, though a rather long 3 miles with a few patches of deep snow.

We made it back to the car around 630, so the entire hike took almost 8 hours.  It was more difficult because of the snow, but that ice castle at the base of the falls was really spectacular.

From here, we drove to Colorado Springs and checked into Innhale.

Bishop Castle

The first week of April, we headed to Colorado for a week of adventure in the Rocky Mountains.  We flew to Denver Thursday evening, arriving about 930.  After picking up our car, we checked into the Tru and went to bed.  Friday morning, we woke up and had breakfast.  Before leaving the Denver area, we made a stop at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.  On the drive in, we saw some mule deer along the road.

We parked at Lake Mary and had a nice view of the Rocky Mountains.

Hiking around the lake, there were a number of Canada geese.

We also spotted a lone cormorant.

Finishing up the loop, we got on Prairie Trail and headed towards Lake Ladora.  A western meadowlark with a beautiful song as in the brush.

There were a lot of ducks and coots on the lake.

From here, we hiked the closed road back to Lake Mary and crossed the floating boardwalk.

Across the boardwalk, a couple of noisy starlings were up in a tree.

We finished our hike up back at the car.

As we were leaving, there was a large herd of deer grazing right along the road.

We left the Denver and drove south on I-25 to Colorado City.  For lunch, we ate at Three Sisters.  It was a great meal and we ate outside with lovely views of Greenhorn Mountain.

After lunch, we drove to Bishop Castle.  As we parked, there was a beautiful Steller's Jay on a branch along the road.

The most impressive castle towered over the road.

Walking up to the castle, we ran into Jim Bishop who built the castle by himself over the past 50 years.  A very interesting man!  Then we started exploring the castle.  Narrow, steep, winding stairs led up the towers of the castle.

There was even a metal dragon on top.

We spent some time exploring up and down the castle's towers.

The stairways were all steep and narrow, some metal and some made of stone.

This would not be a great place for those with a fear of heights.  Here's a video descending one of the stairs.

The main room of the castle had beautiful stained glass windows.

Before we left, I climbed all the way to the highest tower with great views of the surrounding national forest.  Sandy didn't want to climb all the way up here.

I headed back down and we got ready to depart.  We said good-bye to Mr. Bishop and made a small donation - such a fun place.

From here, we drove back on CO-165 and made a stop at Lake Isabel in San Isabel National Forest.  At high elevation, there was a lot of snow on the ground and the lake was mostly frozen.  We first parked on the north side of the lake with a small viewing area of the lake.

The partially frozen lake was just gorgeous.  Then we drove to the south end of the lake to a small parking area and hiked across to the lake.

There is a trail around the lake but it was impossible to see beneath all the snow.  We followed some footprints, but soon the snow got pretty deep.  We fell through in a couple spots that were more than knee deep.  Not making much progress, we headed up to the road through a beautiful aspen forest.

We followed the road to the Lake Isabel Picnic Area.  It was pretty snowy here, but we found a way down to St. Charles River.

It was a pretty area in all the snow.

We had a little snack here then started hiking back.  Near the road, we followed the sledding path back to the lake.

From here, it was another 2 hour drive to Alamosa.

We checked into the Holiday Inn Express and got a little snack pack as Guest of the Day.  They also had a coupon for local vendors so we went to Colorado Farm Brewing for dinner.  We got a pizza from the food truck and had some drinks before heading back to the hotel for the evening.

Mount Elbert

Thursday, we woke up before 5, packed up and checked out of the hotel.  We stopped at a 24-hour gas station to grab breakfast and then headed north to the trailhead for North Mount Elbert Trail.  Mount Elbert would be our first 14er; in fact our first mountain higher than Mount Mitchell.  The Rocky Mountains are notorious for afternoon storms in the summer, so we wanted to start early and arrived at the trailhead just after 6.  A spur trail lead to the Colorado Trail (#1776), where we turned left towards Mount Elbert.  The first part of the trail was only moderately steep as it headed up through a forest.  In a little over a mile, the trail split and we went right on North Mount Elbert Trail (#1484).  The trail got a little steeper, but still not too bad and it was still forested.  In about 2.5 miles, we reached 12,000 feet and got above the tree line.  At this point, the trail got significantly steeper, but we had great views.  It wasn't a great view of Mount Elbert, but we had clear views of Mount Massive.

The headwaters of Elbert Creek had snow in it.

The best views were around 12,800 feet where we had a clear view of Mount Elbert and snow near the summit.

Snow in July!  It was also clear just how much further we had to go up.  As we got closer to the summit, it got really steep but there were still some hardy wildflowers blooming amidst the loose rocks.

Hairy goldenaster have bright yellow flowers.

Soon, we made it to the top, getting there just before 10.

Quite a few people were up here as well as dogs.  The view looking east was really hazy from the wildfire smoke, but it was clear views in all other directions.

We spent some time up here enjoying the panoramic views from Colorado's highest point.

It was really beautiful here from the high point of the Rocky Mountains.

We had a light lunch before heading back down.  The first part of the descent was tricky as it was so steep down loose rocks and gravel.  Stopping to view the wildflowers provided a couple much-needed breaks.  Sticky polemonuim had really pretty little blue flowers.

Moss campion is an arctic species that can grow at very high elevations this far south.

Shrubby cinquefoil was probably the most common wildflower way above the treeline.

Eventually, the slope decreased and it was downhill, so the going was fast.  Soon, we were below the tree line and made it back to the car a little after noon.

Our next destination was Colorado Springs, so we drove back to Buena Vista and took US-24 east.  We passed the road that was closed due to the fire.  A little over half-way to Colorado Springs, we made a detour to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.  In the visitor center, they had some nice displays of fossils that had been discovered in the park.

No dinosaurs or large animals, but lots of plants and insects.

The insect fossils were surprisingly recognizable - orb-weaver spiders, wasps, beetles and other bug fossils in stone.

Outside the visitor center, were some of the petrified stumps protected from the elements under shelters.

These massive petrified tree stumps were from redwoods that grew in Colorado millions of years ago when the climate was warmer.  The Trio were three huge stumps right next to each other.

Next, we hiked the Petrified Forest Trail towards the Big Stump.  A few patches of bright red Indian paintbrush were blooming in the dry terrain.

We also saw some penstemon flowering.

Soon, the trail led to the Big Stump.  This was a truly massive redwood tree that had left a petrified stump so large.

Just past the stump we could see the Hornbek Homestead in the distance.

Continuing on the trail, we spotted some white thistle flowering.

A few more petrified stumps were along the trail but none as large and impressive as the big one.

We finished up the loop at the visitor center and headed back to the car.  From here, we drove back towards the highway and made a quick stop to check out the Hornbek Homestead.

The homestead is a replica of a typical Colorado ranch from the late 1800s.

It is named for Adeline Hornbek, a pioneer woman who raised four children here.

As we were walking around, the weather was getting worse and a storm was rolling in, so made for great pictures.

But rains were coming so we didn't linger long.

Driving away, we spotted a mule deer along the road.

On the way to Colorado Springs, a hail storm rolled in and the temperature plummeted.  At one point, we had to pull over as visibility dropped to zero.  After the storm passed, we stopped in Manitou Springs for dinner at the Loop and then continued to the Hilton Garden Inn to check in for the evening.  After a very long day, the hot tub was very relaxing.