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We really enjoyed our stay in Colorado Springs at Cheyenne Mountain State Park but our next destination was calling. We didn’t have far to go - just back north to the Denver area. We had already spent 23 nights near Denver, so heading back might see a bit strange. But as we were making our travel plans for Colorado over the winter months in Florida, we had booked several private campgrounds for later in the summer up in the higher parts of the Rockies and much of the early summer was in the front range at Colorado state parks. It worked out that we had 5 days to cover in between early and late summer. Chatfield State Park is on the southwest side of Denver so it would be a slightly different area to explore. We had avoided attractions and hikes near Chatfield when we were nearby in Cherry Creek State Park - which is less than 15 crow miles away.
The drive from Cheyenne Mountain to Chatfield was about 70 easy miles. We made it in relatively early and got set up by mid-afternoon. Normally on travel days we take it easy and don’t go do much once we arrive at a new spot. We knew we had many things we wanted to check out in this area and most of them were not hiking related so we thought a short hike this evening would work well for us to stretch our legs a bit. The trails in Chatfield SP seemed to be a bit dull so we looked for other nearby options. Roxborough State Park was just a 15 minute drive to the south and looked to be a rather interesting place to explore. The Fountain Valley Loop Trail seems like the most popular and is only 2.6 miles with several hundred feet elevation gain. It should be perfect to get the blood flowing.
As we were driving to the park, we could see it in the distance. It had very similar sandstone rock formations like Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. I think we are going to like this place. Being late afternoon on a Thursday, we pull in and the parking lot was practically empty. The trail starts out to the north with a short spur trail called Fountain Valley Overlook. When we get to the loop portion of the trail, we head to the left simply to avoid the group of 3 ahead of us that went to the right.
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View at Roxborough State Park |
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Nearly Vertical Rock Wall |
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More Odd Formations |
This path took us down between two lines of rock formations. Those to the west are tilted out of the ground at about a 60 degree angle and are quite reminiscent of those in Garden of the Gods. To the east are the steeper sheer walls of other formations thrust out of the earth. It is a very beautiful place and the late day sun helped to highlight the colors.
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There's a Notch Missing |
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Looking Back Up the Trail |
As we got to the northern end of the loop, the trail passes by Persse Place. This building was constructed in the early 1900’s by Henry S Persse who planned to develop a resort in this area. I guess it’s fortunate he never got the resort off the ground so we can have the beauty preserved in this state park. The building was closed but might be open at other times of the day. |
Persse Place |
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Looking Through Window |
The trail then heads back to the south. This portion of the walk is quite different even though we are walking past the same formations on one side of us. The side slopes are not sloped nearly as much and it is mostly covered with grasses and wildflowers. One of the more unique flowers sort of looked like a poppy flower on the stem and leaves of a thistle. We discovered it’s called the southwestern prickly poppy - a rather fitting name. As we continued up the trail, I caught motion in the tall grasses to the east. It took some time before I realized it was a turkey making her way through the field. We watched for a few minutes and when it got to an opening with shorter grass, we saw she had at least 5 chicks with her. Mom was being quite alert for danger but apparently we didn’t seem threatening to her.
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Southwestern Prickly Poppy |
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Mother Turkey and 5? Chicks |
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Looking Back Down Valley |
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Pretty Flower Along Trail |
At about the 1.8 mile mark is another spur trail. This one is a more of an uphill climb but well worth the effort. Up top on the west side of the overlook is a large platform built on the side of the cliff. We had seen people up there earlier and wondered how they got their - now we know. We are able to see the valley we had just walked down a little more than an hour earlier. The views from here are excellent and I even setup to do a selfie with the camera on a section of the railing. It wasn’t too far back to the car from here. There is a nice gardens outside the visitor center with a wide assortment of flowers. This is a wonderful park and we will need to consider a return trip to check out more of the numerous trails here.
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Approaching Overlook Platform |
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Looks Like I'm Being Flipped Off! |
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Say Cheese |
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Bright Flowers at Garden Area |
The next day we head to a very popular tourist destination - Red Rocks Amphitheater. It’s less than 15 miles north of the campground. Over the years, we have heard of all sorts of musicians performing at Red Rocks and likely had an album or CD of somebody I liked playing there. We checked the schedule for the days we were in the area and even though there were tickets available, nobody we wanted to see (or even heard of) was playing. Red Rocks is free and opens an hour before sunrise everyday. On days with an event, it closes around 2 PM so we figure we could go check it out in the morning and get to really explore. |
Red Rocks Museum Entrance |
The parking lots are huge and while they weren’t full, there were several hundred cars and a couple of large tour buses of people. So we weren’t the only ones with this idea. We first head to the visitor center to see what we could learn about the place. Much of the museum is dedicated to the hundreds of acts that have performed here over the past 80 years. There are advertising posters from many of the bands and one area with some very creative artwork. It was interesting to explore and if you’re a real music fan, you could spend hours. |
Allman Brothers Band Poster from 1998 |
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Great Painting |
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More Concert Posters |
Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930’s, the seating area was carved into the sandstone hill between two large rocks and in front of another rock that is behind the stage area. On the upper deck overlooking the seating and stage is a vending area with lots of tables. A crew was on the stage getting setup for the that evening’s performance. |
Seating on Upper Plaza |
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View from Plaza |
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Stage |
We worked our way down one side of the amphitheater just taking it all in. There were quite a few people using the stairs and benches as their gym. There are 193 steps or 70 benched from stage level to the top of the plaza. Lots of people were just walking up and down but a few were doing more strenuous workouts. The guy that was running backwards down the benches at a rather fast speed was pretty impressive although if he slips along the way, he would likely be seriously injured. |
View Near Top |
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Looking Southwest from Below |
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View from Center Near Stage |
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Looking Northwest from Below |
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Another Stage Picture |
There are lots of trails throughout the rest of the park but we just wander some of the closer paths as we head back to the car. Back near the lot we parked in is a tunnel carved into the rock to allow the road to pass through. It’s a rather impressive facility unlike anything we have seen before. Probably better to explore during the day instead of when there is an event, but it would be fun to see a group we like play here.
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Tunnel |
Our next planned stop is in Golden Colorado to visit the Colorado School of Mines. It sounded like an interesting university with most undergraduate programs in the science and engineering disciplines with much of it related to the earth and the environment. We enjoy walking around campuses as we travel and this one is in a very beautiful setting. Plus there is a the Mines Museum on campus which we thought would be fun to check out. We start there since there are a few visitor parking spots nearby.
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Mines Museum |
The museum is free and open most days throughout the year. There are dozens of large display cases showing off all sorts or rocks, minerals and gems from nearby and all over the world. They have over 2000 items on display and so many of them are rather beautiful or just plain odd looking that it took us some time to wander the first floor.
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Inside Museum |
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A Case Full of Minerals |
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Old Mining Helmet |
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Looks More Like Artwork |
Downstairs is another large area with more displays. One area was roped off while the displays are being upgraded. There is a “mine” room that is rather dark with lots of displays explaining how mining used to work in the old days. The one display in here I found rather unique housed rocks that had fluorescent properties. The lighting in the display would alternate on and off. While the light was on, the rocks looked more or less normal but when the light turned off, they would glow all sorts of vibrant colors.
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Mining Artwork |
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Mine Entrance |
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Fossil |
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Composite of Same Rocks Lit/Dark |
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Eerie Rock |
Back outside, we follow a Geology Trail that wanders through campus. Part of our goal was to complete EarthCache located on campus. It was a fun walk that covered a large part of the campus. There is a large white letter “M” on Mt Zion just to the west of campus for the school. One part of the geology walk takes us past a large rock outcropping. There are lots of artifacts in the side of the hill and fortunately they were labeled otherwise we likely would not have realized what they were. We’ve seen dinosaur footprints before and they leave a lot to the imagination. From one overlook portion of campus, we got a good look at the Coors plant about a mile away. School of the Mines was a nice stop in Golden and worth an hour or two to visit and explore.
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Steinhauer Field House |
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M on the Mountain |
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Triceratops Tracks |
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Coors Brewery |
While we were on campus, we discovered there was a Chuy’s Restaurant in nearby Lakewood. It was a bit early for dinner so we found a small park near there to get a walk in, get a geocache and basically kill some time. Belmar Park has a small lake and some trails. What we didn’t realize was there is a historical park called Heritage Lakewood that has more than a dozen old buildings on the grounds. The visitor center for this was closed for a private event but we could still walk around and check the buildings out.
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1929 Ford Model A |
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Lake at Belmar Park |
We had made a reservation for a tour of the Coors Brewery a few weeks ago but we had another day to go before. We thought of other things we wanted to do in the area but decided to head back to do another trail in Roxborough State Park. This time we will tackle the South Rim & Willow Creek Loop. This 2.8 mile has almost 500 feet of elevation gain. Of course had we known how much we would enjoy this place, we would have just combined this hike with the one from 2 days ago for a 5.2 mile hike. We drive in Saturday morning and there is a sign at the entrance station stating the park is full and come back later. The car ahead of me turned around and left, we opted to ask the attendant and he said they now had room for more visitors but hadn’t gotten around to pulling the signs yet! We drove to the small trailhead parking area for the Willow Creek trail and start our hike.
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View at Trailhead |
By starting from the lot we picked, the first mile of the trail is uphill. It’s not too steep or difficult but it will allow the second half of the hike to be all downhill. There is a right hand turn about a 1/4 mile along our route to continue on the Willow Creek Trail but we head straight which begins the South Rim Trail. As we ascent the hill, the views keep getting better. It is easy to see how the fins of the rock formations are all lined up. The prickly pear cactus were in bloom as were other wildflowers.
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Fins Sticking Up |
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Distance View from Trail |
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Lots of Prickly Pear Blooms |
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Another Overview Shot |
Near the high point of the trail was a short spur trail to a bench. The view from here is excellent. We could see downtown Denver. The clouds tried to drop some rain on us but it was minimal and by the time we continued on what had fallen was completely dried up or soaked in.
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Denver in Distance |
We eventually drop back low enough in elevation that the distance views aren’t as nice but we can see the rocky face of the hill we had hiked across above the valley. We get back near the visitor center and since it was open this time, we stop to check it out. This is a wonderful park and the combination of the two trails we did here are some of our favorites.
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Inside Roxborough SP Visitor Center |
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