Castle Rock and Vicinity

Castle Rock, Colorado was named for the small prominent butte just north of the town. A butte is a small isolated hill with steep, often verticle sides and a small relatively flat top. Castle Rock is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located 35 miles south of Denver and 40 miles north of Colorado Springs on I-25 just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The butte is visible from I-25. This particular butte has a rocky top that, from a distance, looks like a castle.

After stocking up on groceries at where else but Walmart, we took a short drive northwest and took a back road back to the campground. We passed the little town of Sedalia which, in the 2000 census had a population of 211. There are more horses in Sedalia than people!

The ride back along the Front Range took us past numerous small, and not so small ranches with an abundance of horses. Most of them sit back off of the road. You can also see houses dotting the hillsides.

The range is turning a lush green with the spring rains. You can see the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in the distance.

GARDEN OF THE GODS, CRIPPLE CREEK 5-2-09

After being confined to the campground for several weekends because of snow or rainy weather, on Saturday, May 2, we headed south to Colorado Springs and Garden of the Gods. We had visited it back in '99 and I've always wanted to go back. We stopped at the visitors center first for a map of the gardens.

Garden of the Gods is the crown jewel of the city of Colorado Springs extensive park system. This is a view of one of the entrances to the park taken from the visitor's center.

Its stunning red sandstone rock formations have attracted attention for thousands of years. American Indian people considered it a very special part of their home and it was one of the reasons city founder General William Jackson Palmer selected this place to begin his dream city.

Filled with the wonders of nature, the Garden of the Gods was dedicated in 1909 as a free city park. An abundance of plant and animal life can be found throughout its 1350 acres, as well as the magnificent red sandstone rock formations that have made it world famous.

The garden offers the best hiking, biking, picnicking, and horseback riding in the region.

No trip to Colorado Springs is complete without a stop at Garden of the Gods.

There are numerous trails throughout the park, from easy to moderate, with many accessible by wheelchair or "scooter".

We left the Garden of the Gods and headed, first north on Route 24 to Woodland Park, west to Divide, the south on Route 67 toward Cripple Creek. This is a view of Pike's Peak looking south from Route 24. (We plan on visiting Pike's Peak on a clearer day)

Our next stop was Pikes Peak Heritage Center at Cripple Creek. In the late 1800s, thousands of fortune-seekers made their way to Pike's Peak. Gold had been discovered and the discovery started the country's last great gold rush. Visitors can learn about gold mining yesterday and today, geologic and human history and view displays that showcase the unique mountain environment.

The new state-of-the-art interpretive center overlooks the town of Cripple Creek. For nearly 15 years a cowboy ranch hand named Bob Womack scoured the southwest slopes of Pike's Peak in search of gold. In 1890 his hunch paid off when he found gold in Poverty Gulch-soon to become the boom town of Cripple Creek. Between 1890 and 1910 the world's greatest Gold Camp was the home of up to 50,000 residents. More than 22,400,000 ounces of gold was extracted from over 500 mines in the Cripple Creek and Victor area. Three commercial railroads were established.

Today the town of Cripple Creek is home to numerous casinos, but the old store fronts are still evident. I guess people still want to "get rich quick."

The Molly Katherine mine was the only mine in Cripple Creek that was owned by a woman. The miners would come out of the mine and not work when she was there so much of the overseeing of the mine was left to male members in her family.
You can take a tour that takes you 1000 feet down into the mine.

There are still gold mines in the Cripple Creek - Victor area. They are much different that the mines of the 1800s. This is the Cripple Creek - Victor Gold Mine, located about halfway between the two towns.