VACATIONING IN COLORADO SPRINGS

We arrived at Colorado Springs on September 26 staying at Garden of the Gods Campground for about three and a half weeks. There is so much to do in this area. This is a very central location. We have posted our favorite pictures of some of the places we visited while here.







Our Campsite was only a mile from one of the entrances into Garden of the Gods. This free city park is a great place for picnics and hikes. The rock formations are surreal.


www.gardenofgods.com






PIKES PEAK


After watching Pikes Peak from our campsite, we picked a beautiful day to drive up to the top. We also caught the fall foliage in full color. The next time we ascend we thought we would try the Cog Railroad.












SEVEN FALLS
We enjoyed a day of climbing and hiking at beautiful Seven Falls in Colorado Springs. Look close at the left side of the falls to see two long flights of stairs to the top.


www.sevenfalls.com




You can see Virginia's knee is back to normal. She would have never managed 224 stairs and three miles of trails at Seven Falls a year ago.




BISHOP'S CASTLE
Jim Bishop began building this castle 43 years ago. The Castle cannot be described, you will need to see it for yourself. Visitors have full self-guided access inside and out. Climbing the shaky 160 foot tower is quite an adrenaline rush.









www.bishopcastle.org

(free admission)










MANITOU SPRINGS CLIFF DWELLINGS



CRIPPLE CREEK
Virginia hit the $20.00 Jackpot on a penny slot in the morning but wound up in jail by afternoon.




ROYAL GORGE

The bridge across Royal Gorge is the highest suspension bridge in the world. We drove our car as well as walked across it. We also rode the Incline Railroad to the bottom of the 1,053 foot deep gorge.



We enjoyed our ride across the Gorge on the Arial Tram. It is the world's longest single span aerial tram at nearly half a mile.






www.royalgorgebridge.com



SHELF ROAD DRIVING TOUR
This is one of Colorado's many well maintained gravel roads. We have driven hundreds of miles in and around the state touring on these back roads.







BIG HORN SHEEP











While in the Colorado Springs area we also visited Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, The United States Air Force Academy, U.S. Olympic Training Complex, Cave of the Winds, World Figure Skating Museum, Miramont Castle, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Will Rogers Memorial Tower and other miscellaneous state parks and attractions. We had fun keeping quite busy each day. We are headed South.

SUMMER PICTURES

We enjoyed touring on our days off. One of the near-by places we liked to visit was Rocky Mountain National Park. After crossing the park from Grand Lake to Estes Park we returned to the Alpine Visitor Center via the nine mile one-way gravel, Old Fall River Road. There are many points of interest along the way including the Chasm Falls.







Old Fall River Road begins in the Endovalley and ends at the Alpine Visitor Center, at 11,796 feet.











GEORGETOWN NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD




On our second visit to Georgetown, Colorado, we decided to take the narrow gauge railroad ride from Silver Plume to Georgetown and back.






We had a choice of sitting in an open or closed car. We chose the open car and sat in the back for the best views.



Included with our ticket was a tour of an old silver mine, the Lebanon Mine, one of the mines that established these towns in the 1800's.



One of the treats of living on a National Wildlife Refuge is the critters we saw on a daily basis. These Sage Grouse stopped by once or twice a day to visit. The Refuge staff nicknamed them "Lunch" and "Dinner".
Other frequent sightings: Moose, Elk, Badgers, Magpies, Bluebirds, White-tailed Prairie Dogs, Pronghorns, Ground Squirrels, Ducks, Geese, Beavers, Coyotes, and ever present Swallows



The Three months passed all too quickly. When the Aspen changed color, we decided it was time to go find out where the Swallows went. We are headed South.

WORKING AT ARAPAHO

Our work truck, a 2011 Ford F250 4 X 4
Once a week we take the truck out and get it REALLY muddy doing water flow readings (CFS) at the many flumes located within the Refuge irrigation network.



North Park Phacelia is an endangered plant found only in Jackson County, Colorado. It is found in less than 10 locations with two sites having significant numbers, both found within the Refuge.
Our project was to conduct the annual plant survey. To accomplish this we located 100 preset monuments using a Garmin GPS unit along with a metal detector. Once the monument is located we lay out a PVC grid. We then count the phacelia as well as all other plants within the grid.



We spent a morning last week helping the biologist capture and band song birds. Several kinds of birds were captured in large suspended nets. To the left is a Yellow Warbler.







The birds are measured, weighed, sexed, banded and released.






To the left is the biologist holding a Warbling Vireo


Just outside our kitchen window is one of many Refuge Tree Swallow houses. We have enjoyed watching the birds raise their babies and now the family enjoys sitting on our hanging flower basket.

ARAPAHO NWR, WALDEN, COLORADO

We arrived at Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge on June 22. This 23,000 acre Refuge is located in an intermountain glacial basin south of Walden, Colorado. This high desert basin, situated at 8400 feet, is approximately 35 miles wide and 45 miles long. From our site, we can see mountains in all directions. The primary focus of the Refuge is providing environment for nesting and migratory birds.


REFUGE HEADQUARTERS OVERLOOK

During our first two weeks we made repairs to the boardwalk on the half mile nature loop. Over the winter boards become loose and the boardwalk was in general need of sprucing up. We also learned and have begun to help with the annual vegetative sampling. This project is performed in June and July of each year. The task involves locating transect monuments placed randomly about the refuge using a Trimble GPS running TerraSync. We then record the type and size of vegetation found within a 30 meter tape.

LUPIN

Walden is the moose capital of Colorado. We visited the Moose Viewing Visitor Center located within State Forest State Park.

COLUMBINE - COLORADO STATE FLOWER

Fish Creek Falls just outside of Steamboat Springs.

Alpine Visitor Center at the top of Rocky Mountain National Park.

BACK ON ALL FOURS

We returned to Wichita Mountains NWR on Tuesday, April 5. Virginia's knee surgery on April 11 in Oklahoma City to reattach her ACL and repair the damaged meniscus went well. They kept her overnight to make sure there were no blood clots this time. She is getting around pretty good on her crutches and leg brace. She seems to be recovering fast with the help of three times a week physical therapy. Kurt is keeping busy driving the invalid around.

To help add to the drama, Wichita Mountains was in the midst of a wildfire accidently set by Fort Sill practice bombs the day we returned from surgery. We had a couple days of strong south winds that blew straight at the headquarters, village and RV pads. We hitched up the truck and we were anticipating evacuation. Fortunately the winds switched as the fire bore down to within a mile of us. They brought in helicopters and fire crews from all over the country to battle it. The fire is now out, but the whole state of Oklahoma is on standby, since there has been no significant rain in six months. The long dry grass is just a fire waiting to happen.