A National Monument and Ghost Town

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With our train ride and burro race weekend behind us, we head out for another hike just a short distance southeast of town. The Fistful of Dollars and Django Trails Loop is a 3.4 mile loop but only has 350 feet of elevation gain. It’s a multi purpose trail and from the names, it was likely constructed as a mountain biking trail - for whatever reason, we’ve found mountain bike trails tend to have unusual names. The loop has lots of possible starting points since it runs more or less parallel to a dirt road. We pick the parking area at the Collegiate Peaks Overlook since this will have us start at the low point of the loop. This parking area charges a fee but is part of the Colorado State Park system so our annual pass gets us in. There is definitely a great view of Buena Vista and the mountains to the west.

Overlooking Buena Vista

This trail is a decent one to hike. Like many trails for mountain biking, there are loads of twists and turns. I kept evaluating the trail as an option for a bike ride, but quickly determined that it was required much more technical skills than I possess to complete it safely. There are lots of rocky sections but for the most part was in excellent shape. There are good views of Midland Hill which we hike to the top of a couple weeks ago. Partway up the trail, we saw a large white dog trotting along towards us. It didn’t really seem interested in us as it passed us by. We assumed there would be a trail runner or mountain biker coming at any point, but after a few minutes we realized it must be on its own. Ten minutes later, we did come across a woman walking her dog but she hadn’t lost the one we spotted.

On the Correct Trail

Midland Hill

Rocky Trail

At the top of the loop we spot an interesting looking trail. A mountain biker was coming along the trail and we asked him about it. It was the Midland Bike Trail that follows an old railroad line. We put that info away for a future outing. The hike back down to the car was uneventful. We didn’t see many other people out enjoying the trail which was fine by us. Our conclusion - a nice hike with good views but a challenging mountain bike ride.

Looking Down Midland Bike Trail

A few days later, we headed out for a day trip. Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is just over 60 miles east from camp. It would have been closer to visit during our stay in Colorado Springs earlier this year, but the timing didn’t work out. We knew there were several hiking trails there but isn’t have a good feel for what else there was to see. It was a bigger facility than we expected given how out of the way the place is. There were a couple dozen cars but room for a few dozen more. We start at the visitor center to stamp our National Park passport book and get a few pointers from the ranger given we have most of the day to spend here. They start the 18 minute video about the history of the land and the park. It gives us a good background on what is here.

Visitor Center at Florissant NM

We head outside to get in a couple of the easier hikes from the visitor center. The Petrified Forest Loop and Geologic Trail are each about one mile. The first one is likely the trail that most visitors take before heading out. There are numerous petrified stumps of old redwood trees. Prior to becoming a National Monument, this land was privately owned and was setup as a tourist attraction. Lots of the stumps that are visible today were unearthed by the land owners to get visitors to stop. Today, all of the exposed stumps are fenced off and several of them actually have shelters protecting them from the environment. There are weather stations and other monitoring equipment to gather info about the condition of the stumps.

A Triple Petrified Stump

Straps Hold it Together

This One Has Moved 1 MM

Another View of Triple Stump

It was clear enough of a day to be able to see Pikes Peak about 14 miles to the east. Further out along the Petrified Forest Loop is the “Big stump”. It comes in at 12 foot diameter and 38 foot circumference. Back in 1883, the Big Stump was destined to be removed and transported to be displayed elsewhere. A large saw was used in an attempt to cut it into more manageable sizes but the blade broke and is still in the stump today.

Heading Out Petrified Forest Loop Trail

Pikes Peak in Distance

The Big Stump

Saw Blades from Failed Attempt

From the northern part of the trail, we get a good look of the Hornbek Homestead. We had driven by the place on our way in but will wait to stop on our way out. Several more stumps are dug up and exposed along the trail. All of these are remnants of the days where adjacent landowners tried to find better specimens to attract larger crowds. The stumps are definitely seeing the impact of the exposure to the elements with lots of small flakes all around the perimeter of the stump.

Hornbek Homestead to the North

Another Uncovered Redwood Stump

Just before getting back to the visitor center is the side trail to the Geologic Overlook. We head out this path since it’s only about half a mile to the overlook. There is a bit of a climb and we are around 8,400 feet in elevation so it isn’t the easier walk but it was pretty.

Heading Out Geologic Trail

Rock Outcropping

View from Geologic Overlook

Once back at the car, we grab our picnic lunch and find a table to enjoy the weather and views. Like I mentioned, most people won’t explore much of this park and while we won’t explore it all, we do head out for the 3 mile Boulder Creek Loop. The trail started out to be a rather wide trail through a Ponderosa Pine forest but after a mile it starts to head down to the creek and becomes more of a single track as it snakes down.

Boulder Creek Trailhead

Pretty Flowers

At the bottom of the trail, we come upon the reason the trail is named Boulder Creek. There are dozens of very large granite boulders all piled in one small area. It was fun to explore around the boulders before continuing along the other side of the creek thru a large valley. Everything was green and lush and quite pleasant. As we got back near the visitor center, we spotted something we had been on the lookout for during the hike - a black squirrel. They were featured in the video but it wasn’t until we were within view of the building did we see one. They have very pronounced ears. This one didn’t stay still but I did get a couple of pictures of the cute creature.

Lots of Boulders

A Different View

Looking Out Over Valley

Heading Back Along Creek

Big Eared Squirrel

We head back into the visitor center to explore the displays. It is here that we get to see some of the fossils this place is famous for. We were rather disappointed that the only displays outside are the large petrified stumps, but it was the abundance of fossils that used to bring visitors to the area. The lighting wasn’t great for pictures but here are a few of the more interesting fossils.

Displays Inside Visitor Center

Fish Fossil

By now we had spent 4 hours at Florissant Fossil Beds but weren’t up for any of the other hikes. A friend of ours had mentioned how much she liked the town of Cripple Creek and since it was less than half an hour south of us, we decided to go check it out. We picked out two geocaches that sounded interesting and since they were on opposite sides of town, we used that as an opportunity to walk the downtown section. The first thing that surprised us was how many casinos are in town. I won’t say they are the only type of business in town but they do seem to make up the majority of the store fronts. There was a large tour bus in the middle of town dropping off 40 more willing gambling donors.

Donkey Statue in Cripple Creek

Cripple Creek Elks Lodge

Intricate Tree Carving

The one geocache was a multi, meaning the container was hidden elsewhere. So we went back to the car to drive to the final location. We had parked near the train depot and one of the tours had just returned. It looks like this may be a nice ride as well but likely won’t make it back here again. We drove up the hill to the Heritage Center. It is dedicated to the town and its mining past. It was a bit too late in the afternoon to go exploring there so we found the geocache final and looked over the huge mine that seems to still be in operation across the road. There is probably a lot to do in the area but we didn’t plan on spending much time in Cripple Creek.

Mural in Vacant Lot

Cripple Creek Railroad

View of Mine from Heritage Center

On our way back home, we would be going past the old Hornbek Homestead on the northern end of Florissant Fossil Beds NM. We stopped and made a quick look.  None of the buildings were open so we could only look in the windows and walk the grounds. We had a nice day exploring this area but now had over an hour drive back to BV.

Hornbek Homestead

Old Wagon

Somebody had mentioned about the old mining town of St Elmo. It was a bit further up the canyon from one hike we did earlier in our stay but it had started to rain after that hike and we never continued up the road to check the place out. It’s a little over a 20 mile drive from camp and has some nice scenery along the way. St Elmo was described as a ghost town so we were expecting it to be a quiet place with just a couple other people. We were wrong! There were many dozens of cars plus a lot of pickup trucks with trailers and some sort of ATV. Even though the place was bustling, it was still quite picturesque nestled in the mountains. Town is situated at nearly 10,000 feet so it was a bit cooler than at camp.

St Elmo's Fire (house)

There are many of the old buildings still standing and. Few are even running small businesses. I guess there are enough people like us that come up to explore to manage to make some sales. There are other buildings that are run by a preservation society open to the public. One had all sorts of displays on the wall describing the history of the town which we found rather interesting.

Old Hotel C. 1882

A Geocache is Hidden Here

Down one street near Chalk Creek is an old schoolhouse that is open - at least enough to look in through the plexiglass. We walk back into town towards the car and the place seems even busier than when we first arrived. There are ATVs all over the place. When we looked for hiking options out of here, we discovered that the majority of the trails were for off road vehicles. Not that hiking wasn’t permitted but we’ve discovered they tend to not be much fun when a group drives by and dusts us. One section of town had a sign “Chipmunk Crossing” and it was definitely accurate. There were several people sitting on the rocks and timbers feeding what appeared to be at least 100 chipmunks. These are obviously well fed and rather tame since most of the people had one or more of the critters crawling all over them in search of more sunflower seeds.

Creek Runs Through Town

Old Schoolhouse

Inside Classroom

Pretty Cabin Setting

Chipmunks on Each Leg

Feed Me

License Plate Wall

We had picked out one short hike down county road 292 for a few geocaches. The road was in excellent shape and could have been driven by most vehicles but we walked it to get in some exercise at altitude. About a half mile down the road is Iron City Campground - part of the National Forest Service. It was amazingly crowded mostly with tents and small pop up trailers. However the campground host was in their class A motorhome. I’m sure I wouldn’t want to try to get ours in here. Just beyond the campground is an old cemetery which two of the caches were near. All in all our stop at St Elmo was fun if unexpectedly crowded.

Remnants of Old Mining Operations

Chalk Creek View

Old Brown Homestead Building

Iron City Cemetery

We drove back down the canyon partway and stopped near Chalk Lake for lunch. On the north side of the road is a small parking area and the trailhead for Agnes Vaille Falls. The sign at the start of the trail calls it Cascade Creek Trail but it seems to be one trail with two names.

Trailhead to Falls

It is a rather short out and back hike of 1.2 miles and 540 feet of elevation gain. We were closer to 9000 feet elevation but it was still a good hike uphill. The views on the way up gave us opportunities to stop, catch our breath and take some pictures. We get a great view of the Narrow Gauge Trail partway up the opposite side of the valley. We had hiked this trail not too long ago and had enjoyed the views from over there, now we get to enjoy them from here.

View Across Valley and Narrow Gauge Trail

Surrounded by Mountains

We get to a bit of an overlook that provides a good look of the falls. While the sanctioned trail seems to end here, a bit of a trail continues on towards the falls. Since the geocache is still a few hundred feet away, I decide to continue and Chris decided to wait here. It was a challenging hike down from the overlook to the creek level and then up towards the falls. Fortunately the water wasn’t running exceptionally fast so the couple times I needed to cross it to make my way up were uneventful. I looked for quite some time but had no luck finding the well hidden container. Apparently I took too long as Chris was starting to make her way towards the falls to check up on me.

Approaching Agnes Vaille Falls

Getting Closer

There is a Cache Around Here Somewhere!

View from Base of Falls

We had one more stop along this side road. The Chalk Cliffs Fish Hatchery is about 2.5 miles before US 285. We’ve seen the signs many times as we have driven by but never seemed to have the extra energy to stop. We stop by the visitor station at the entrance of the hatchery and talk with the two volunteers working today. They are RVers in a small camping area just across the road from the hatchery ponds. We discuss travels with them and then watch the video about this hatchery. Then we are given a large bucket of fish food and sent on our way.

At Chalk Cliffs Hatchery

There are a series of 7 rather large ponds full of trout. In this type of setting, the fish are not nearly as visible from the shore. It was interesting to stand and watch the ponds because rather frequently the fish would jump out of the water and splash. I didn’t have much luck getting a picture of one mid-air. There are also  numerous long raceways next to the ponds. We stop to talk with one of the workers and he told us to look for the large trout they keep in the area between raceways. The larger fish help to keep the grates between the upper and lower parts of the raceway from filling up with algae.

Looking Down Raceways

The fish in these raceways were much more active when we tossed in our food so I was able to get some pictures where it is clear the subject were trout. We spent 45 minutes wandering around and checking things out. We have been to several hatcheries in Colorado and it is clear, the state does put a big priority on trout production to encourage visitors to fish all around the state.

Trout Fight for Food

Nice Views at Hatchery

Looking Back to the East