Trip report, CO 2/28/10

[jesus_man]

We met in Southern CO Springs, where we jumped on hwy 115 south. We stopped in Penrose for a ***** break before heading west on Hwy 50. Once in Canyon city, we got off on dozier ave and followed it around until it connected to field ave and then with Cnty Rd 9. This road becomes Shelf Rd and we followed it's winding path thru the mountains overlooking a great stream. Made me want to go fishing, but it appeared to be all private.

We slowly made our way north and I wanted to stop for a few poser shots. I was hoping to get a picture showing how steep and deep the canyon was below us!

As we made our way further north, my wife spotted a hole in the rock.

Shortly there after, the other party in our convoy, Aaron, wanted to stop and take a look at a mine shaft. We walked in a few feet to find it had a wet bottom, and I was trying to get my camera to flash so that we could see deeper into the shaft, but it would no cooperate. Still got a good picture.

 

[jesus_man]

As we exited the cave, we could see the other side of this hole in the rock. It doesn't look like your run-of-the-mill erosion hole.

We continued on our journey North and stopped in Cripple Creek, which is now a gambling town, with a rich history in precious ore mining. We were surprised to find that they were having their annual ice fest and many sculptures were on display along the main street. Here are my favorites.

 

[jesus_man]

A neat ship, with broken mast:

 

[jesus_man]

We then walked down to a restaurant called Ralf's Break Room. I was soooo looking forward to their woodfired pizza, but since Aaron's co-pilot needed to back to the big city, and the pizza took too long to cook, I settled for taco's and a cold beer. Both were excellent. It was in Cripple Creek that we parted ways so that Aaron could take the faster hwy back and my wife and I would continue on the backroads.

We drove down hwy 67 towards the town of Victor and along the way, took these awesome shots of the Sangre De Cristo Mountain Range. I grew up just on the other side of those, but it was amazing that we could see them that far away.

Past Victor a few miles is our turnoff to Gold Camp Rd. As we traveled East, there was a cool tunnel along the way.

 

[jesus_man]

Here is a short video of our drive after the tunnel.

Finally, we needed another ***** break, so I drove up a spur road that I had been on the week prior, Eagle Rock. I knew we could drive in enough for privacy before the road got rough. We did our business and I took pictures prior to turning around.

 

[jesus_man]

Then a couple more poser shots on the way out of Eagle Rock.

The road from here was no longer unfamiliar as I had been up here three times in recent past. However, it was still new to my wife and she enjoyed the scenes. I stopped at a famous overlook with a neat view of Colorado Springs. This is a great spot when it's dark too as the city lights are nice from this vantage point. You really can't tell there is a city there in these pictures.

My goal was successful, in that I took my wife for a nice drive that she enjoyed and it wasn't too ******* her, being pregnant. What a great way to spend a day!

J.D.

-Whew, only 4 images per post?

 

[RvDUB]

FANTASTIC PICTURES AND WRITE-UP!!!!! I used to live in Colorado Sprigs and have been on good 'ol Gold Camp Road a couple times years ago! Now I would liek to try it again in the LR!

Congrat's to you and your wife on your new child! Is this your first? We had our first baby boy 20mo ago...

 

[jesus_man]

Thanks! I like it here a lot. We lived in TX for three years, but other than that, we've always lived in CO.

yes, our first child and a boy as well!

J.D.

 

[RvDUB]

Ahh a boy! Congrat's to you and your wife! Boys are fun! You get to relive your childhood and play trucks as long as he will go! Plus, the three sunroofs in the Landy really stimulate our boy and he jsut loves looking around adn around! Better then our old Touareg!

 

[jesus_man]

Thanks! We're very excited. Looking forward to buying Tonka again, and playing right along with him.

J.D.