The Incline

Heading north and avoiding interstates when we can, we took the pass through the mountains on our way to Manitou, Springs (just outside of Colorado Springs, CO).  Beautiful drive through the mountains and following the Arkansas River part of the way.

Manitou Springs is a cute little town and another great walkable place.  


The "springs" are not hot springs like in Pagosa, but mineral springs.  They are located all over town and several right in the middle of downtown.  Known for their healing qualities, they have a sweet taste.

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Our RV park was nice and our spot was right on the creek, which was great.  

The only time you don't want to be that close to the creek is during a flash flood warning, which happened the second day we were there.  The trend of rain continued during our time in Manitou Springs and the day the flash flood warning came through it had been raining hard all night.  We each packed a little bag in case we had to make a run for it, but otherwise just kept an eye on the creek behind us.

Manitou Springs has a massive hike called The Incline.

The Incline seen from the parking lot at the bottom.

It gains over 2,000 ft in elevation in less than one mile.  Holy macaroni.  I geared the girls up and off we went.  At the trailhead, along with all the regular warnings, it mentions that this is an extreme hike.  Please be advised.

Getting started.

It was crazy tough and people were patting the girls on the back left and right for how far they had made it.  They should have been patting me too, but they didn't.  We made it to the 2/3 mark before Sofia refused to go any further.  They call that the "bailout" or "wimp out" spot because the Barr Trail joins the Incline at that point and you can take it down to the base.  Luna really wanted to make it to the top and Sofia wasn't willing to push herself any further, so we compromised and got off at the Barr Trail and took it all the way up the top of the incline.  It was still a tough climb, but not quite as steep.  There was a lot of moaning and groaning, but we made it.  The misty cold weather actually helped out that day because I don't think they would have made it so far in the heat.
Very cool experience.

Starting to feel the burn.....photo break.

Taking a "photo break" with the trail behind us.

Made it to the top!!

Garden of the Gods....... Amazing rock formations that sit on land that was once privately owned but was donated so the public could enjoy.  Very cool and after a muscle recovery from the Incline hike a few days before, we took to these trails.

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Flourrisant Fossil Beds National Monument was about 45 minutes away and is a site with petrified red woods and many other plants and animals including mammoths.



Volcanic eruptions and mud flowed down covering a large part of the redwoods.  The tops of the trees died, but the bottoms were petrified when the substance that covered them entered the tree's cells and "mummified" the trunks.



I don't know if the pictures can do it justice because these trunks were huge.  Especially when you see them next to the trees that are currently living in the area.  The ranger explained it that when an environment changes a species (plant or animal) either dies out, adapts, or moves.  In this case she said the redwoods essentially, over time, "migrated" west to a more suitable environment.  They used to exist in much of the US.

Beer must be the state drink in these parts.  Philly was a big beer city, but I must say that Colorado is a beer state.  Every town, even the little ones, have breweries and many times multiple breweries. We felt we needed to pay our respects :)

We had several evenings of barbecues and firepit talk with our neighbors and new friends John and Monica.  Great people :)

Sweet Lokie

Ended our week with an afternoon in Old Colorado City at their arts and crafts festival.



We watched Native American dances performed, saw beautiful crafts, and learned how to pan for gold.  Sofia heard "gold" and her eyes lit up like you wouldn't believe :).

Girls panning for gold.

Fleck of gold Sofia found in her pan.