MistyCastle

Archive for the ‘Trail Journals’ Category

Unless you have a case of blindness you’ve noticed that I “winterized” the look and feel of the site. This seems appropriate since it looks more wintery around here at the moment. Ronda twisted my arm this weekend and we went hiking. I wasn’t overly excited by the prospect since all I have to put on my feet are my trail runners, which are awesome in warmer weather but not worth a hoot on icy surfaces. I’ve put off buying any “gear” as we have more important things to spend our limited funds on at the moment.

So… off we went to Waldo Canyon which is just west of the Springs up Hwy 24 a bit. Abby was thrilled to no end as she has been stuck in the house quite alot lately. The early portion of the trail climbs up along the highway so there is a noise factor but fairly quickly you turn the corner and head in towards Rampart Range and the traffic noise disappears. The sun was shining and temps were in the low 50′s with a mild breeze now and then. The trail was anywhere from 50-100% snow and ice covered but was well packed down. There were already 8 or 10 cars in the parking lot when we got there and it was full when we returned.

My shoes did not turn out to be quite the disaster I was thinking and I got along pretty well. The trail winds around a bit and after a few miles descends down into the canyon which is fairly broad at the bottom. There are plenty of trees and boulders to keep things interesting. The trail splits and forms a 3.5 mile loop at that point. We decided it would take too long to hike the whole loop so after consulting the map decided to take the more arduous right fork which climbed up to a very nice scenic overlook. We went off-trail aways, stomping through some knee-deep snow to get to some exposed rocks out on a point.

Abby developed an interesting plunge-leap-plunge technique which got her past the deeper parts. She was not about to be left behind and gets annoyed when she is not “out-in-front”. We relaxed on the rocks, soaked up some sunshine and had a little snack before we turned back. The return trip was uneventful. The picture of the snow-covered Pikes Peak at the top of the website was taken along the trail.

It was good to get out into nature again and I have to remember not to get complacent.

I was going back through my trail journal and realized I never got the Crags trip up on the website. There were actually two trips to the Crags. One successful and the other not quite so. It was our neighbor Jerry who first told me about the Crags. The trailhead is located on the Crags Campground which is off Hwy 67 a few miles south of Divide, CO. There is a long access road from the highway that runs up to the campground. It is pretty rough and narrow at spots but a 2WD car would have no problem getting up there.

Our first attempt at finding the trail was a bust. You actually have to go through the campgrounds to get to the trailhead. The map I had was a little vague and we went past the campgrounds and started out on a different trail that runs down through Putney Gulch. We hiked for an hour or so and finally decided that we must be on the wrong trail so we turned around. After making a little more detailed examination of the map I figured out where I went wrong and we went back to the campground.

We had lunch at the campground and I convinced everyone that we should at least check out the real trail even if we didn’t go all the way to the end. This wasn’t an overly popular decision but we all went far enough to see the beauty of the area even if we did not make it to the end where the “awesome view” is supposed to be. That would have to wait for another day.
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Kristina and I went on a hike with Abby last Sunday. We went to the Saturday night service at church so we could skip out on Sunday morning. 10 o’clock found us cruising through the gates at the Air Force Academy and heading for the Stanley Canyon trailhead. This is one is rated difficult. It did not disappoint either.

The trail does not fool around. It maintains a steady climb up through rocks and loose granite. You don’t walk up this trail, you climb. There are a few places along the way that provide a nice overlook of the Academy grounds but mostly you stay in the trees. Towards the top you start running parallel to the stream coming down the canyon. Abby promptly laid down in the cold water and and had a big drink.

After climbing 1,200 feet or so you reach the top and it levels out as it winds into the foothills. You pass through a small meadow and finally reach the reservoir. We had just caught up with a group of people when another group caught up with us so there were three groups of people, all with dogs, that arrived together. We all went different directions at the reservoir so we were quickly alone again. We decided to head off-trail, up a little valley, and then followed a ridge line looking for a place with a view to eat our lunch.

We eventually found a nice granite outcrop with a view of Pikes Peak and had our lunch. We wandered around in the woods for awhile taking in the beauty and shooting a few pictures. We took our time going back but continued to run into more groups of people coming up. Overall, I think we met or passed 10 or 12 different groups. The trip back down the steep trail went much faster but in all reality was almost worse than going up. My knees were hurting by the time we got back down and several times we barely avoided a nasty fall. I don’t know that I’ll be going back to that trail real soon.

I am pleased with the photos I got, well at least some of them, and I continue to get a little smarter each time I go out.

Several of the neighbors have been suggesting we take a drive over towards Cripple Creek and see the aspen trees in their fall colors. We decided to incorporate that idea with a hike I have been wanting to make on the western slopes of Pikes Peak. South of Divide along Highway 67 almost to Cripple Creek is the trailhead for Horse Thief Falls (HTF) and Pancake Rocks. HTF is the more popular hike but I’ve seen plenty of falls lately and since it seems to predominately stay in a narrow valley I didn’t figure there would be much of a “view” and I was definitely after a “view” so I could try out my new telephoto lens.

The Pancake Rocks trail veers off to the right about 2/3′rds of the way up HTF trail and commences a steady steep climb up the north side of the mountain. The trail is in good condition, pine needle covered, and it makes you think of the Energizer bunny… it just keep going and going and going. Up that is!
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We have made several trips down to the Cheyenne Mountain area to go hiking. There are quite a few trails in the area including the Gold Camp Road hike detailed earlier. One of my favorite journeys is a combination trail that starts at the top of High Drive.

Cap’n Jacks is a multi-use trail that climbs rapidly up the east side of Mt. Buckhorn. It is a single track that is heavily used by mountain bikes and dirt bikes. You have to be a little careful going up since it is difficult to get “off-trail” should you meet up with a bike coming down (ask me how I know). The trail provides some nice views of the city off to the east until the trail goes around the south side of the mountain. Thereafter the views are dominated by the smaller mountains surrounding Pikes Peak.

It becomes Jones Park Trail as you leave Mt. Buckhorn and begin heading south along the side of an un-named ridge. After a while you reach a saddle where you can see down into Bear Creek Canyon and also see Josephine Falls. If you backtrack up along the top of the ridge you come to some very nice observation points. From here you can see the Tenny Crags and a gorgeous view off to the north of the Garden of the Gods, and all of northern Colorado Springs. The day we were there the visibility was quite good and we could see way out onto the eastern plains and all the way north up to Monument.

The aspen trees were begining to turn in the higher elevations and there was a little snow on some of the mountain tops. We have travelled a little further up the trail during an earlier hike but I have yet to see if there actually is a Jones Park or not. This trail was one of the early “tourist” hikes to Pikes Peak before the completion of Barrs Trail.

[Update - I made another trip to Queens Canyon with Ronda and Abby and got some decent pictures]

Queens Canyon is located just behind the Glen Eyrie Castle on the Navigators site here in Colorado Springs. I have yet to visit the Castle but would like to do so. The castle was built by General Palmer who was also responsible for the founding of the city of Colorado Springs and many other notable achievments in the local area. The Glen Eyrie site is at the northern end of the Garden of the Gods and Queens Canyon extends up into the foothills of Rampart Range.

I got an early start on this solo hike with the intent of using the early morning light for some photography. I headed up the trail at 6:30 am thinking the canyon would be illuminated by the forthcoming sunrise. This turned out to be a bad assumption. Because of the twists and turns in the canyon, sunlight does not arrive until much later in the morning even though the canyon is aligned on a mostly east-west line.

The canyon is quite narrow and the sides are very steep and rise several hundred feet or more. Read the rest of this entry »

Gold Camp Road was built in the 1890′s for a narrow gauge railroad to connect Colorado Springs to the Cripple Creek mining district, about 20 air miles to the west. Eventually, the railroad was scrapped and the road bed was converted to vehicle use.

There are several narrow tunnels along the road, and in 1988 a fortuitous partial collapse of tunnel #3 precluded further vehicle use over a road section about 8 miles long. A new trail goes around and over the collapsed tunnel. This 8 plus mile segment of the road is now used mostly for hiking and biking.

On Wed, July 28th, Ronda and I took Abby and drove down to the Cheyenne Mountain area to pick up the Gold Camp Road Trailhead. The weather was overcast and the temps were in the 60’s but the prospects for the clouds clearing off were good as it looked pretty sunny off to the north. We left the trailhead and proceeded up the gentle switchback that makes a big detour around the canyon. Read the rest of this entry »