Back to civilization

Evenin' Campers! It's Silver Cliche' with you again. Tonight we are in the big city... at least the biggest city we'll stay at in this tour. It's Colorado Springs, Colorado which is the second biggest city in Colorado (after Denver) with a population of 445,000. That places Colorado City at #40 of the largest cities in the country just behind Atlanta and just ahead of Virginia Beach and Raleigh.

I wrote last night about how remote we were camping on the shores of Elevenmile Canyon Reservoir in some part of Colorado that doesn't even have a name. One of the few times it wasn't gray and raining on us today was when the sun came up. Here are two panoramas taken in the campground where we spent last night. Each includes our rig and the reservoir. You may note that of the 10 camp sites in this loop there is only one occupied. There are four loops in this park. I believe each of the others had only one patron too. You can call that both remote and sparsely populated camping. I was watching for wildlife...especially bears and mountain lions... when I walked Romeo. I didn't want to come back to the trailer alone and say "Honey... I have something to tell you...".

Here... take a look:

 It's a barren combination of exposed rock and low grasses. The park is pock marked with prairie dog holes and the little critters scamper around steadily. There are low hills (by Colorado standards) around the east and west edges of the park. The reservoir itself is formed by the impoundment of the South Platte River. Keeping track of the various Plattes out here is like trying to keep the Kardashians straight. There are a bunch of them and nobody actually cares if you can keep them straight.

When we did some fact gathering about the topographic aspects of this place we realized it's probably the second highest campsite elevation we've ever stayed at. The campsite was between 8,600 and 8,700 feet above sea level. When we stayed at the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming we were at about 8,900. Us flatlanders can certainly feel the effects of the thinner air... especially when hiking from ridge-to-ridge and scampering up and down rocky outcroppings. I'm not the scamperer I used to be even at sea level. Half way to heaven its even more challenging.

So, we took extra time to read, enjoy our coffee and down some flapjacks. We didn't have far to drive today so we pulled out a bit later than usual... at about 11:00. On the way out we managed to dodge the shakedown team we faced on the way in yesterday. We did, however see cattle, bison and lots of pronghorn antelope. I stopped to take this pic of the road we were on and the local vegetation. This road was over five miles long. The pavement was probably put down in the Reagan years and shows the effect of every winter. The only spot that's not potholed and crumbling is right down the middle. I drove right down the middle for all five miles. No problem.

We moved steadily east and over about an hour dropped to just over 6,000 feet and entered Colorado Springs. This city sits on I-25 which I described the other day is a route that sits on the western edge of the great plains and therefore the eastern edge of the Rockies. Colorado City is on the plains but mountain views dominate. Well, I should say "we hear that mountain views dominate", since the day became more cloudy and included steady, cold rain. We know we drove right past Pike's Peak which is just west of the city and is over 14,000 feet but the clouds, fog and rain obscured it completely.

Colorado Springs is a town with many prominent facilities and organizations. It is home to Cheyenne Mountain -- the home of significant Air Force activity including monitoring outer space and NORAD. There is a major Army fort here (Fort Carson). The US Air Force Academy is here. So is the home of the US Olympic Committee and a major US Olympic Team training site.

I hope to get some pics tomorrow, although the weather is not forecast to improve until Thursday. Our camp site is at Cheyenne Mountain State Park about two miles from the entrance to the Cheyenne Mountain military complex (and its huge blast doors designed to protect those inside in the event of attack). The campground sits on tiers of land leveled out of the mountain side and about 1,000 feet or so above the valley floor. Our specific site is on the edge of one of those tiers and overlooks the plain and the city below.Its a great view and, weather permitting, I hope to share it with you tomorrow.

Later!

SC'