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Over an extended Memorial Day weekend, Bob and I traveled to Colorado Springs, Colorado, for some vacation time. Three members of our MountainWest Motorsports (MWM) NASCAR online racing team live within ah hour of the Springs, so we planned on visiting with them as well as playing tourist and taking in the sights.
Our first day's plans included driving to the top of Pikes Peak. However, a blown tire on the rental car rearranged those plans for us. Instead of taking in the vistas from Pikes Peak, the peak itself became a vista from Garden of the Gods.
Garden of the Gods is a Registered National Natural Landmark in Colorado Springs consisting of a myriad of sandstone formations. The park was bequeathed by the children of Charles Elliot Perkins in 1909 to Colorado Springs on specific conditions. In Charles Perkins words, 'where it shall remain free to the public, where no intoxicating liquors shall be manufactured, sold, or dispensed, where no building or structure shall be erected except those necessary to properly care for, protect, and maintain the area as a public park'.
We spent the morning on the main trails which are easy and take you past the majority of the significant red rocks. Above left, are the South and North Gateway Rocks; on the right, the Kissing Camels rock formation.
Other formations include the Three Graces, below left, and the Giant Footprints, right.
For our afternoon activities, we drove out to Seven Falls. Boasted as 'Grandest Mile of Scenery in Colorado', the canyon features seven waterfalls carved in the granite.
Before beginning our trek, we stopped at the cafe for some lunch and were visited by very curious, and hungry, ground squirrels. Speedy Gonzalez from the Looney Tunes cartoons would have nothing against these little guys!
Let me premise the next part of our adventure with the fact that I am terrified of heights. With that said, off we go.
To venture to the uppermost waterfall, Midnight Falls, you must first climb the staircase pictured at left to access the trail. This stairway encompasses 224 steps, divided by only one platform. An average home staircase has 13 steps, and by my math, 224 steps equates to over 17 stories! To make it more nerve-wracking, the siderailings are open, as were the gaps between steps. I don't claim to be in shape, and stopped about halfway up the first flight to catch my breath. I turned to look over the scenery, at which my husband exclaimed, 'Don't look down!', fearing I would freeze from fright (which I nearly did).
I managed to make it to the top (with my heart pounding for a number of reasons), hike the trail to Midnight Falls and return for the trip back down the stairs...which proved even more daunting. Bob isn't affected by heights and being chivalrous, offered to go first, leaving no more than two to three steps between us so I could focus on his back and not the drop. When we finally made back to solid land, he admitted it was intimidating for him as well!
So proud of myself for conquering my fear (at least temporarily), I stopped by the gift shop for a T-shirt. My reminder of 'been there, done that'!
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