Yet another of my favorite rides. Takes me about 2.5-3 hours to ride this loop of about 10 miles. 2.5 if Luke is in any kind of shape, 3 hrs to take it easy-ish and take lots of photos, which I did yesterday. It was gorgeous out, hot, clear, sunny. A perfect day for this ride. Most folks are sitting in their air-conditioning, I take off and go find a cool spot to ride. This one offers a nice long climb to the top of the world where you can see 360degree peaks surrounding meadow covered hillsides and pine and aspen covered mountains.
DOME ROCK! There it is, stately and proud against the blue Colorado sky. The ride to this spot is great! Heres a shot of some purple asters clustered against the hillside. I took this from the saddle on Luke.
This is a really fun trail for some minor technical spots, rock hopping, knee banging even some toe twisting. I ride it backwards and forwards quite a bit so can cruise along in high gear once Luke gets rid of his hay belly. Its probably not going to happen this year! ha ha ha!
I warn ya now that you might only see horse ears. I take a lot of shots of Lukes ears! Look closely in the shot below; the aspen tree has an Arrow that SOMEBODY carved into it many moons ago, perhaps as a trail marker cause this used ta be a mountain goat path back in the
day.....leads to some beautiful single track, aspen groves, springs, cool grassy meadows. Used to be an old line or miners cabin along this route, but that has since fallen and been taken by Ma Nature.Well, gotta run. I have lots more photos of this ride and will try to get back to edit before the week is out. Check back often, or email me with questions at carrie@goldcountryco.com
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Happy Trails!
Thats it for now, I am waiting for the Trail Riders to come off the hill at about 10,000 ft elevation and its lightening and raining out, and the train whistle is a blowin and echoin through the mountains and valleys! Its another beautiful day in the High Country!
Donkey Derby Days the last full weekend in June. We have a great parade, kids activities and street vendors and Donkey Races and lots of other foolishness that goes with a towns summer festival! This year promises to be awesome with a new line up and a healthy injection of funds into supporting the event, starting off with a Chile Cookoff June 20 2008 then the Donkey Derby Days starting June 27 2008 then ending 
with a BIG finale of Fireworks on the 4th of July. We have awesome fireworks and great visibility! 
To the left is a photo of the Train Depot. That train runs a short 45 minute guided tour up the mountain on narrow gauge and open cars, with a coal fired locomotive every spring and summer. We all know it is spring when the smell of coal drifts through the air and we hear the whistle blow! The middle photo is of our County Courthouse, built in the late 1890's and housing our valuable records, it is great to walk inside and check out. The building had some renovations last year to the interior. The courtrooms are authentic, the Assessors, Clerks, and Treasurers office are all authentic with some minor modifications for the computer age! This is right across the street from my office! Upper Right Hand corner is the District Museum. This building houses many archival pieces of interest for you History Buffs, all original to the District. Well worth the visit and the minor donation it takes to tour the place, you will see many photos, pieces of equipment, clothing and more original Cripple Creek pieces!
