Pikes Peak

We slept in a bit after an early morning yesterday and had breakfast at the hotel.  Then we headed to North Cheyenne Cañon Park for some waterfalls in Colorado Springs.  We parked at the Helen Hunt Falls Visitor Center and could see the waterfall from the parking area.  Even with last night's storms, the water level was pretty low, but it was still a nice waterfall.

From here, we hiked up the Silver Cascades Trail.  The trail passed over the top of Helen Hunt Falls and there were more cascades upstream on North Cheyenne Creek.

A spur trail led to an overlook with nice views.  The rock face we could see was actually Silver Cascade Falls - and not much water.

We climbed up to the top of Silver Cascade Falls and had a nice view of the canyon even if there wasn't much waterfall to see.

A little further down the trail at one spot, the water spout was visible even in pitiful water flow.

We next tried to park for St. Mary's Falls Trail, but the parking area was completely full.  It probably wouldn't have been worth it, since St. Mary's Falls is upstream of Silver Cascade Falls.

So we decided to head to Pikes Peak for another 14er.  This one would be a lot easier as we could drive to the summit.  After paying admission, we first stopped at Crystal Reservoir for some nice views of the lake in the shadow of Pikes Peak.

Next, we made a quick photo stop at Brown Bush.  Driving as far as Devils Playground (mile 16), we had to park.  Due to construction at the summit that limited parking, they were only allowing a few cars to drive to the summit.  The rest had to take a shuttle.  It was a bit of a wait, but we saw a bighorn sheep passing by as we stood in line.

Finally, our shuttle arrived and took us to the summit.  We got some of their famous donuts that flatten at lower elevations due to the pressure differential.  Then we hiked around a bit at the summit to get some pictures of the great views from the top of America's Mountain.

When we were done up here, we took the shuttle back down and spent a little time climbing, scrambling and playing around at the Devils Playground.

It was a pretty cool area and we were still at rather high elevation.

Looking down, we could see Pikes Peak Highway snaking up the mountain.

After climbing a bit, we started heading back down the mountain and made a couple more photo stops at some of the scenic overlooks.

Near the exit, we stopped at Camera Point with a nice view of Ute Pass and Colorado Springs.  Then we left the mountain.

It was still fairly early, so we made a stop at Red Rock Canyon Open Space.  We started off hiking along the Sand Canyon Trail, passing beautiful red rock cliffs.

The hogbacks - narrow ridges of bright red sandstone - were really beautiful.

Not as big and impressive as nearby Garden of the Gods but a lot less crowded.  Shortly, we got on Contemplative Trail where there was an occasional view of Pikes Peak.

This trail ran right alongside the hogbacks.

Unfortunately, rock scrambling is prohibited.

This was my favorite part of the hike as the rock formations were really beautiful.

At the end of the trail, we turned on Quarry Pass and then Mesa Trail to make a loop back to the parking lot.  Along the way, we also had a great view of Garden of the Gods.

That was our destination for tomorrow.

It was starting to get late and we were getting hungry so we stopped for dinner at Colorado Mountain Brewing for our last dinner in Colorado.  Then we retired back to our 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.