09/19/01:
Yesterday I drove back into Colorado Springs to do some chores and then came back to the Eleven Mile Canyon Recreation Area vicinity. I started down the dirt road to the reservoir. It's 16 miles long and I gave up after 6 miles. Camping is in designated areas (for pay) only so I knew I wouldn't stay and the washer board road was rattling the truck to pieces.
Temperatures dipped into the teens last night. The night before was the 20's. I drove the 10-15 miles down CO 67 to check out Cripple Creek. This is the site of the largest gold producing site on earth with hundreds of mines and mills. Or at least that's what I read.
The Kathleen (I think) Mine was the first one I passed. They offer tours 1000 feet below the ground. Cripple Creek itself is a quaint tourist trap. Many storefront casinos and the men I saw on the street all seemed to be sporting big bushy prospector type beards. I just kept on driving. I did see a couple of scrap heaps on some of the hills but no excavation.
Next I tried Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. That turned out to be a bust. The only fossils are in a little museum. The only other thing of interest were some petrified redwood tree stumps. Other than that just a few 1-2 miles trails through the woods.
So I continued west on US 24 and soon found myself back in Salida. When I hit US 285 I had some of the best views in Colorado since several 14000 foot peaks are on the other side of that highway.
I'm camped on the east side of Salida on (I think) BLM land on the edge of the San Isabel National Forest.
The section of the Pike National Forest west of Colorado Springs didn't have much to offer me. Little free camping, hiking or things of interest. I'll have better luck when I go back up to Castle Rock area with Pikes Peak, etc. (Oops, Pikes Peak is just west of Colorado Springs. I'll have to get back there for that drive).
After finishing this report I pushed my chair back from the tailgate. It fell over and I fell into a patch of small prickly pear cactus. Everything you ever heard about cactus is true. I got most of them out but I can't reach a bunch of them down on my right shoulder blade. I don't know how infectious the needles are. I guess I'll find out. Should be fun sleeping tonight too.