Day 12 - Garden of the Gods Hiking Day 2

Today we wanted to arrive at the park earlier to have cooler hiking temps and most importantly to get a parking spot for the day. 

We left at 8:35am. Last night Rob decided there must be a better way to get to the park instead of the 30-minute convoluted detour involving the highway and other busy roads at rush hour. He found a better entrance at the south side of the park near the Trading Post, right by our picnic spot yesterday, and using all back roads from Manitou Springs. It wasn't even 10 minutes, we couldn't believe how fast we arrived. We found a good parking spot, changed into our hiking gear (today we took the camelpaks), and started hiking at 9:10am. 

Rob's routed hike was to be 4 miles. We had trouble finding the right direction on the various connector trails, probably taking us an extra half mile or so back and forth and in circles. The Columbia Trail and Columbia Road were the culprits. The silver lining was that we met three groups of horseback riding tours beginning their morning walk. One group had several kids, and a girl about 10 years old had the biggest grin on her face! We eventually got our bearings at Hamp Hut Trail, which is a camp used by the Girl Scouts.  

The route walked the entire perimeter of park. We didn't know what to expect and it wowed us. We had plenty of elevation change from flat trails, then up onto a bluff overlooking the park and parts of Colorado Springs, then down into the rock formations, through grassy open fields, through pine tree groves and up the side of a mountain. 

This rock formation is gesturing a bit rudely.

Rock formations outside the park and in the neighborhoods. Lucky people have these views!

We made two reptile friends along the way. 

Check out the fossil imprint below and to the left of the lizard. We learned this is limestone. Maybe it is an ancient sea creature?

Decide for yourself what this cactus looks like. 

The last part of our hike was the Palmer Trail on the West side of the Central Garden area (the biggest cluster of large rocks). It was even more scenic. 

Michele calls this the Garden of the Gods yoga pose.

It overlooked the Central Garden Trail area and was an interesting hike with boulders, elevation change and steep cliffs. Here Rob told Michele to get closer to the edge for the photo.

 

It was also the most strenuous portion so we felt like we got in a legit hike for the day.

We returned to the parking lot at 12:45pm and got our picnic lunch ready. Michele couldn't find a table in the shade, so Rob said he'd bring the big golf umbrella for shade. Or, that we might need it for rain since a dark cloud appeared right above us. We were about halfway through our sandwiches when it started raining. Rob held up the umbrella and we just scooted our stuff under it, including us, and kept eating. The temperature dropped dramatically, from about 85 degrees to the low 70s within minutes. Not so bad except the rain was dripping down Michele's back from the umbrella. She moved to sit next to Rob and then the thunder started. At Florrisant the other day we saw a sign "When thunder roars, head indoors!" After the second thunder crack, we packed up and walked over to the bathroom area that had a large roof overhang. We waited there for about 15 minutes until the rain stopped. It stopped around 1:15pm and we packed up the trailer, geared up, and wiped down the bike's seats. By the time we were heading out at 1:30 the roads had completely dried up. The air is so dry here it is amazing how quickly things dry up after a rain. 

We made the short 10 minute trip over to the visitor center. We got lucky with a parking spot in front of the building. As we were walking into the visitor center it began to hail and a few minutes after entering the building, the skies opened up and it began to pour. We really lucked out with timing today not to get soaked or have to put on our rain gear.

We walked around the visitor center and looked at the various displays that explained the history, geology, animals, and settlers of the area. Michele was fascinated by the animation showing the earth through time, in one million year increments. It animated the continent movements from 400 million years ago to current. It had Colorado highlighted so we could see how it moved around the earth based on the plates and continent changes. No wonder during the time of Florrissant Fossils it was a tropical climate--Colorado was below the equator then! 

After about 30 minutes walking around there, the rain stopped. We left and wiped down the bike again and made our way back to the apartment using the same route as this morning. We got back at 3pm, which gave us plenty of time to relax for the rest of the day. Michele wanted to walk around town a bit but her toes were feeling blistery. Good thing because around 4pm the rain began again for the third time today. It rained steady and heavily until about 5:45pm. There was a heavy flow of water down the paver path beside our house.

We ate dinner leftovers from yesterday and relaxed watching a movie on TV (Thirteen Lives on Amazon Prime, it's good!)

Other animals we saw today:

We believe this bird is a juvenile spotted towhee, due to the red iris eyes. Often mistaken for black headed grosbeak, common in the west, but they have black eyes. We've not seen one of these before and it was scrapping about in the underbrush of bushes while making high pitched noises.  

These animals don't count as they aren't breathing, but this is one of the most beautiful displays Michele has seen. It was in the Visitor Center. They did a really good job preserving them and making each look so regal.

We also saw a lot of dogs of all breeds out on hikes and walks with their owners. One in particular, a beautiful white shepherd-like dog, had a PTSD service dog vest on and was so well behaved it didn't need the leash. Michele told its owner that she liked his pup and he replied, "I do too!" 

Tomorrow we head to Estes Park, home of Rocky Mountain National Park. Temperatures look to be much cooler, so we'll switch from our summer clothes to warmer options.