Kastle's Journey: Colorado Springs Part 1 - October 14 & 15, Garden of the Gods and Manitou Cliff Dwellings

Headed out and refueled first before hitting the road at 9 am. The Conoco on the outskirts of Salida is the cheapest at $4.99 for Diesel and $3.89 for Gas.

Back on Highway 50 East. What a beautiful drive, although very windy and narrow for the first hour. We followed the Arkansas River through the mountains until Canyon and then it was more like the "plains".

Then into the canyon. There were recreation sites all along the river for white water rafting and fishing with some having campsites.

If you blow this picture up you can see a guy fishing on the bend.

As you can see a very windy road until you get through and hit the "Plains".

We arrived at the Peak RV Resort in Colorado Springs and were all set up by noon, only a 2.5 hour drive today. After set-up we headed out to a barbeque place fairly close here. B'Z BBQ and Rocky Mountain Brewery. It was delicious!

Ribs and a brisket sandwich. The beer is good too.

Before heading back to the coach, we stopped at Camping World on the off-chance they have a set of stairs, but nope. They did say they were still having real supply issue problems, so things still are not back to normal down here either.

Saturday morning Ray had us out the door at 6:45 am to make the sunrise at the Garden of the Gods. A balmy 42F outside. Unfortunately the route he chose is filled with road work and detours so we could not access the park in the south the way he thought and had to reroute to the highway to come via Gateway Road. The sun was up by the time we finally got there. Oh well, Ray was able to take a lot of great pictures and now knows where to get the sunset shots another day.

Long before Garden of The Gods was a park, geological features began to form. It all begins in the Pleistocene Ice Age, which resulted in the erosion and glaciation of the rock, creating the present rock formations. The ancient sea remains of mountain ranges, alluvial fans, sandy beaches, and sand dune fields can all be found in the rock.

The outstanding geological features of the park are the highly visible sedimentary rock formations. These rocks were created as ancient mountains eroded and were buried in their own sediments. Massive sand dunes moved across the land, and shallow seas and deeper oceans encroached and retreated.

Each environment left behind gravel, sand, and ocean deposits that formed horizontal layers over millions of years. The multiple formations were then uplifted and slowly brought to the surface by a series of mountain-building events.

The resulting rocks are stood-up, pushed around, and slanted. “Balanced Rock”, at the south end of the Park, was formed as erosive processes removed the softer layers near its base, eventually leaving the precarious-looking outcrop seen today.

In August of 1859, two surveyors started out from Denver City to begin a townsite, soon to be called Colorado City. While exploring nearby locations, they came upon a beautiful area of sandstone formations. Surveyor M. S. Beach suggested that it would be a “capital place for a Biergarten” when the country grew up. His companion, Rufus Cable, a “young and poetic man”, exclaimed, “Biergarten! Why it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods.” It has been so-called ever since.

By the 1870s, the railroads had forged their way west, and in 1871, General William Jackson Palmer founded Colorado Springs. Later, in 1879, General Palmer repeatedly urged his friend, Charles Elliott Perkins, the head of “the Q” Railroad, to establish a home in the Garden of the Gods and to build his railroad out to Colorado Springs.

Although “the Q” never reached Colorado Springs, Perkins did purchase two-hundred and forty acres in the Garden of the Gods for a summer home. He later added to the property but never built on it, preferring to leave his wonderland in its natural state for the enjoyment of the public.

Perkins died in 1907, before he made arrangements for the land to become a public park. Although it had already been open to the public for years, it was his children’s decision that sealed the park’s fate. In 1909, Perkins’ children, knowing their father’s feeling for the Garden of the Gods, conveyed his four-hundred eighty acres to the City of Colorado Springs.

It would be known forever as the Garden of the Gods, “where it shall remain free to the public, where no intoxicating liquors shall be manufactured, sold, or dispensed, where no building or structure shall be erected except those necessary to properly care for, protect, and maintain the area as a public park.”

We started the drive and stopped at the P3 parking lot

Here is Ray's take on the Iconic Shot everyone tries to take.

Cathedral Spires and the Tower of Babylon

Tower of Babel and Kissing Camel Rocks

Keyhole Window

Keyhole Window and Sleeping Giant

North Gateway Rocks

Here is another take on the signature picture everyone takes of North Gateway Rocks.

Kissing Camels Arch. The camel on the left lost his hump decades ago.

Giant Footprints

This is a fallen rock beside this formation. Really interesting colours. Ray calls it a "Frog Fish" Rock.

Yes it's still cold outside.

The back side of the Giant Footprints

The views from this formation are outstanding looking towards the mighty Pikes Peak. You can see the windy road to the top of this 14143 ft tall mountain that we will take in a couple of days right up to the top of the grey peak to the right.

That zig zag road goes all the way up to Pikes Peak.

View looking back at the Northgate Rocks

Beautiful fall colours

P10 View

We parked at the P14 lot and did a bit of a hike up to the Siamese Twins. Getting warmer, we've peeled off a few layers of clothes. lol

Looking at Pikes Peak through the arch.

There was a bike gang of about 50 cyclists pedaling through the park.

P10 Views, Sleeping Giant

Looking back from the Highpoint View.

The Scotsman

Balanced and Steamboat Rock

We headed out of the park and stopped at the Trading Post to pick up a park map. The Visitor's Centre wasn't open when we arrived, so we just guessed at what we were doing. lol The picture below is their courtyard. Very pretty. Being a "tourist trap", they had tons of things to buy, but I thought quite a bit overpriced so we kept our money in our pockets. :)

Once we drove and hiked around, we decided to visit the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, a short distance away.

Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum are styled after the Ancient Puebloan cliff dwellings found in the Four Corners region. The Anasazi lived in the Four Corners (where Colorado borders New Mexico, Arizona and Utah) from 1200 B.C to A.D. 1300.

The ruins are authentic Anasazi cliff dwellings dating 800 to 1000 years old. They were relocated to Colorado Springs from Mc Elmo Canyon in the southwest corner of Colorado near Mesa Verde. Their relocation took place from 1904 to 1907. Part of the reasoning for moving them was to preserve and protect them from vandals and artifact hunters of the time.

We've walked quite a few ruin sites in the southwest, but this display really gave you a sense of how it was back then. We found them really interesting. We arrived around 9:30, which is great (other than good light for pictures) because when we finished, the place started filling up and it would have been hard to get any great pictures. We walked through the dwellings first and then down to the gift shop and museum.

We were waiting for the sun to come around to get a full picture of the dwellings, but even though we waited for 1/2 hour, it was going to be too long and tons more people arrived. So this is the best we can do in the shade. Amazing that they found a site to move the settlement to under a cliff.