We got up early this morning, cooked breakfast and packed up our campsite in dry weather. It's really amazing how much more fun camping is when it's not raining! The weather is great. In fact, Phill's realized that he has the beginning of a sweet farmer's tan on his left arm from the truck window.
We drove back into Colorado Springs to do some exploring. At the foot of the mountains, our first stop was Manitou Springs Cliff Dwellings. Protected under a red sandstone overhang, there are authentic Anasazi cliff dwellings, built more than 700 years ago. The Cliff Dwelling Indians that resided here roamed the entire Four Corners area of the Southwest from about 1200 BC to AD 1500. In fact, a three-story Pueblo (where the gift shop now is) was later built by the Pueblo Indians and was inhabited all the way up to the 1980s. The dwellings themselves were an architectural wonder. We were astonished to think that their only resources was what the earth had already provided, yet their dwellings are amazingly advanced.
There was nothing off limits in there. We brought Bailey in with us and explored the entire thing. You can touch anything and climb in and out of their tiny windows and doors. The dwellings included rooms, kitchens, storage rooms, water basins, watch towers, etc. The majority of the second floor timbers have since fallen down, but you can see how the original construction worked.
Our second stop was Garden of the Gods. I think it might be the most stunning park that I've ever been to. It is, by far, my favorite place on this trip so far. I grew up surrounded by mountains, but this was even more than that. At the foot of 14,000 foot mountains, there's also these spectacular red rock formations – some of which are over 300 million years old. There's almost nothing that looks natural about the formations, but they're entirely created by the forces of nature over many, many years.
The first stop when you enter is Balanced Rock. It's an entirely bizarre-looking rock that seems to, well, balance precariously on the rock below it. Over 300 million years ago, the Rockies were carved through erosion. Streams were full of sediment that was eventually pressed and cemented into solid rock formations. Those rocks were either sandstone, shale or conglomerate. Balanced Rock was formed when the more delicate shale below was eroded away much faster than the harder sandstone and conglomerate above. Amazingly, the narrow pedestal that it sits on has held the 700-ton weight for thousands of years.
From there, we just drove around and explored the park. Some of the rock formations we saw included Kissing Camels and Cathedral Spires. From the visitor center, there's an incredible view of Pike's Peak situated perfectly between giant red rock formations. Apparently the view from Pike's Peak inspired the song “America the Beautiful.” The peak was named for Lt. Zebulon Pike, an American explorer and Lieutenant in the army. He and his men attempted to reach the top and failed due to a snowstorm. He noted in his journal that he believed no human could ever reach its pinnacle. Despite the failed attempt, the peak was still named after him.
Once we left Garden of the Gods, we headed toward the road to Pike's Peak summit. When we got to the entrance, the sign said that only the first 16 of 19 miles were open because of snow. From what we had heard, the spectacular views aren't until you get to mile 17. We figured it would be a 2-hour round trip and we weren't sure the view would be as great as we hoped. So...we decided against it and continued on our way to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.
Interesting little factoid: The air at the top of Pike's Peak has only 50% of the oxygen as the air at sea level.
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