Our trip today was up into the mountains, out near Cripple Creek to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. This was a place where, 34 million years ago, a lake/creek area was buried by volcanic activity — all these giant redwoods were buried to about 15 feet or so, and what was buried got fossilized while what was above rotted away. (All sorts of other plants, as well as fish, insects, and small mammals, were fossilized as well.) Fast forward to about 50 years ago, and this area was saved from development and the national monument was born…
OverviewPike’s Peak From The RearFossil Weathering ResearchFossil Redwood StumpFossil Redwood StumpFossil Redwood StumpsFossil Redwood StumpThe Back Of Pike’s PeakAnneThe Big StumpSemi-Arid PlantFossil Redwood StumpAcross the FieldThe largest Fossil Stump, MaybeGround Squirrel HolesPasque FlowerHow To Find StumpsDesert FlowerAnt Hill (Thatching Ants)Fossil PlantsFossil PlantsFossil Fish And InsectsFossil InsectsFossil InsectsThree Connected Redwood Stump FissilsKyle, Anne And EmmiPredator (Coyote? Bobcat?)ScatTiny WildflowersGround SquirrelSawmill TrailHigh PlainsKyle & EmmiWildflowersWildflowersInsect DamageAnne And Burnt TreeAnneMeDesert Ball CactusPike’s Peak From Sawmill TrailElk Damage To BarkSawmill TrailAnt Hill (Harvester Ants)
This was a really fun and spectacularly beautiful way to spend the day, and afterward we stopped for a late lunch on the way home.
This is our last night in Colorado Springs; tomorrow we head back up to Denver for the final leg of our trip.
It was a bit warm yesterday so we decided to do some indoor exploration: we went downtown to the arts/historic district (Old Colorado City), got some lunch, and then visited the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. They had several exhibits going on, including one reexamining John James Audobon and his prints, and one room filled with Chihuly works.
Audobon’s Yellow WarblerAudobon’s Ivory-billed WoodpeckerAudobon’s (imaginary) Sea EagleChihuly ExhibitStudy For A David & Goliath, Very Clockwork OrangeUndated Tin FrameLegend of Our Lady Of Guadaloupe
We finished our day with a visit to a coffee-shop/bookstore, where we all ended up getting several books.
We got here Sunday, and did a little bit of walking around Monday, but things got real yesterday when we got up early and explored The Garden of the Gods. This is a spectacular park (and National Natural Landmark) on the edge of town, which features the same kind of up-tilted sandstone formations we saw near Red Rock. There really isn’t much of a narrative here, we just walked around, admiring the views and and taking pictures:
Pike’s Peak and Garden Of The GodsAnne At Garden Of The GodsMe At Garden Of The GodsKyleEmmi & AnneKyle, Emmi & AnneKyle And The Rock FormationGarden Of The GodsKyle, Emmi & Anne At Garden Of The GodsRock FormationsHiking To The Next FormationRock FinsPike’s PeakKyle With The Rock FinKyle And EmmiRock Fin Up CloseAgainst The DayUnstable RocksRock FormationsAnneA PigeonJuniper BerriesKissing CamelsRock CarvingsKyle, Emmi & AnneThe ScotsmanScotsman TrailKyle And The ScotsmanYou Are HereColorado SavannahArid Landscape And Pike’s PeakSemi-DesertPrickly PearsAnne And EmmiThe Hole In The WallMore Rocks
Right about that last photo is where I somehow managed to change my camera settings to a sort of “focus” effect, which made these last few a bit odd but hey, these are the photos I got:
Balanced RockKyle And EmmiKyle & EmmiBalanced RockKyle At Balanced RockKyle, Anne & Emmi
And finally, one last shot of Pike’s Peak, from our table at the pub where we had lunch:
Here are a bunch of photos from our first days in Colorado…
Our first day in town we had some time to kill, but not a whole lot so we just went for a walk around the lake at Belmar Park. There were plenty of flowers and trees starting to bloom, and an enormous number of birds.
EgretEgretFlowersBlossoms (Apple?)Nesting CormorantsBlossomsNesting CormorantsA BirdStriking A PoseBeautiful PlumageTurtlesTurtles On A Log
This museum was based on Colorado artist Vance Kirkland and his work, but had a whole collection of furniture and other decorative arts objects in various styles (Arts & Crafts, Bauhaus, Art Deco etc). The place was awesome.
Thursday was nice, so we went to Boulder and hiked the trails near the Flatirons. We started at Chautauqua Park, and hiked over to the NCAR Mesa Laboratory (where we’d hiked on our last visit). Dinner was at a brewpub in Golden, a place called Cannonball Creek. They had some really good beer, and were in the process of winning an international beer competition while we were there — it was on the TV, some guy droning out the winners of all the various styles like the most boring Academy Awards ever, but the bar was going nuts like it was the Superbowl, cheering and groaning for local favorites or rivals, and they went absolutely crazy whenever Cannonball Creek won. We sat outside, away from the noise, and got nachos from the food truck.
The FlatironsAnne At The TrailheadBoulder (And Denver) In The DistanceBlooming PlantBluebell Road And The FlatironsMore BlossomsAnne On Mesa TrailWalking On The TrailVistaMore SlabsMetro Denver In The DistanceA Pothole In The RockVistaLooking At The MountainLooking At BoulderTree TrunksMountain Peak Above The PinesA Well-Earned Pint
We got to see Emmi and Kyle on Friday, which was awesome — we hadn’t seen them in person for more than two years. The first thing we did together was go to the plant sale at the Denver Botanical Gardens.
Emmi & KyleFlowersTulipsFlowersInside The FlowerMore TulipsBlue Flowers And BeesBlue Flowers
Yesterday Anne and I did a little exploring between meeting Emmi & Kyle for brunch and meeting them for dinner. We wanted to get a hike in, someplace that wouldn’t be too crowded even on a Saturday, so Emmi suggested Red Rock Amphitheater and away we went.
Red RockMeAnneSome Slanted RocksThe StageAmphitheaterLooking DownThe Stage From The TopDenver In The DistanceVistaLife Amidst The SlickrockJohn Denver
And finally, here are a few photos of a robin eating berries at Belmar Lake this morning:
We’ve been in Denver since Tuesday, but a COVID exposure scare — someone who’d been in physical proximity to us texted to say they’d got it — well, that kept us laying low until we tested negative.
Since then our days have followed a pattern: we occupy ourselves with hikes and coffee shops in the morning, then meet Emmi & Kyle for the afternoon and for dinner. Today we all leave together for a long weekend in Colorado Springs.
So I’m starting to get ready for the next set of Road Scholar rides. I’ve done the (now deprecated) Bethlehem-Easton towpath ride over and over again, and I think I have a good feel for trail conditions in this section. I’ve also done the section from Lehighton to Cove Road, which is the replacement for the Bethlehem-Easton section, and I did the Cherry Valley ride with Anne and Julie just the other day; that leaves the Allamuchy and the Lehigh Gorge rides to do in the next week or so, and then I should have a good idea of what to expect.
I’ve been trying to ride more and more lately, and not just recon rides — I need to bring myself up to summer fitness, and I’m also trying to lose weight (again). Anne and I have both taken up the practice of intermittent fasting, where we skip eating two days each week. We fast on Mondays and Thursdays, and we’ve been at it for maybe three weeks now. it’s both easier, especially physically, and harder (psychologically) than I expected: hunger pangs are no big deal, but that whole late-evening-check-the-fridge snacking out of boredom or nervous energy is a whole other ball game…
Anyway, here’s the weight loss saga for 2022 in graph form:
My fluctuating weight, winter 2022
Yesterday was a hike with the old Chain Gang crew (Doug & Lori, Eric & Kris, Joe & Cindy, Greg & Judy) up at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, and today I’ll be tooling around on the new bike, dialing it in.
Wow, so much for one of my resolutions: I’d hoped and expected to be blogging multiple times a week, maybe daily, but definitely a lot more frequently than I have. I guess February was a pretty short month after all, eh?
So today was a cello duets make-up day: I was down visiting my parents on Tuesday, and Donna was busy with something as well, so our usual date wouldn’t work; we would usually just let it roll over to the next week, but since they’re going on vacation for the next few weeks, we thought we’d better get some playing in…
Meantime, my cello/bassoon ensemble met on Sunday, for the first time in probably two years. There were a few people missing, and a few new faces as well — I’m no longer the greenest cellist in the room. A milestone: our bassoonist Milt just celebrated his 93rd birthday! Anyway, it was a fun evening, and I felt I played well — all of us did, really.
Mud season looks like it’s coming to an end — we never really had a “snow season” this year — and Doug and I got in a pretty decent towpath ride yesterday. Spring isn’t here, but it’s just around the corner.
That was us, Anne and me after our long-postponed eye exams. It was last Thursday, and the day was snowy and overcast when we walked over to the eye doctor. On the way home, with our pupils dilated after the exam, the sun came out and the brilliance was overwhelming…
Yesterday was a hike with Doug & Lori. Our planned hike was basically Bake Oven Knob, but the final section of mountain road to the trailhead — straight up, “not maintained in winter” — was too icy and treacherous to drive. We conferred a bit, and went instead to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center and walked some of the trails there. None of us remembered to bring our Yak-Trax or any other winter hiking gear except warm clothes, and the trails — surprise! — were pretty icy. We had an interesting climb up, and an even more interesting hike down at the the end, but it was a good day out, and good to hang out with those guys.
I kept at it, and am now about a quarter of the way through the trails — the motorway parts, at least — in my IndianPaths of Pennsylvania project. I have a pretty good idea of how the book is organized now, and came up with a pretty decent workflow that gets me through a single path in just under an hour. I do one or two a day. It’s pretty easy to get absorbed, trying to find the tiny old roads and landmarks based on their descriptions in the book, and I’ve been totally sucked into the history of that Colonial-Revolutionary era. (I picked up Mason & Dixon again, since it goes right through the middle of that time and place.)
I also think there will be some epic rides this summer, based on these routes — I’ve been drooling over some of the scenes I see in Google Street View.
