We are lucky to be living in a place where many hiking trails are close by. The Dawson Butte Trail is located just 3 miles from the campground and is one of the best ones we have experienced. The five mile loop trail travels through mostly forested areas with open meadows filled with wildflowers and views of the Front Range Mountains. There is also a bridle path that includes over 60 horse jumps.
We have made it a point to only include wild flowers that we have not shown in previous blogs over the years. This trail provided a smorgasbord of new flowers. First, Silver Lupine plants.
Dwarf Lupine flowers.
Blue Flax flowers.
This dead tree appears to be home to some woodpeckers. Look at all the holes in the tree.
The "Woodpecker Tree" from a different angle with Dawson Butte in the background.
Geyer Larkspur. We had no idea the town we are living near for this summer is the name of a flower.
Western Spiderwort.
This large rock appears to be lava frozen in time. We thought the "flow" of the rock surface looked like lava.
We enjoyed this view of Dawson Butte from the lowest point of the trail. You can see the Ponderosa Pine trees, Douglas Fir trees and the scrub oak. Obviously, this is common in this part of Colorado.
Looking the opposite way we could see the town of Larkspur nestled in the valley.
This Trogopogon Dubius flower was about three inches in diameter. It does look like a dandelion plant but was much larger.
These Scarlet Bugler flowers were the only red flowers along our hike. We were impressed by the vivid red color.
The trail has begun to wind back towards the trail head. Dawson Butte has a soft white cloud behind it that looks like a feather laying on top of the butte.
These Yellow Stonecrop were vibrant in color.
Perhaps the most colorful flower was this Canadian Thistle Flower.
Butter 'n' Eggs flower. We thought this was a clever name for a flower but you can easily imagine sunny side up fried eggs with the yellow yolk, except in miniature.
Finally, Standing Milkvetch flowers.
We shared this five mile trail with many horseback riders. In fact, when we got back to the trailhead, there were only 7 cars in the parking lot while there were a dozen pick-up trucks with horse trailers attached. We did see parts of the horseback trail with the jumps for the horses. Not being equestrians, we can only assume this is one way the riders can exercise the horses.
Even though this trail is named the Dawson Butte Trail, it does not lead to the top of the butte. The trail looped around the butte and we were able to enjoy spectacular views along these five miles. The weather stayed dry, which has not been the norm so far this summer. The temperature probably was about 80 degrees when we finished the hike around noon.
One morning, with a brilliant blue sky overhead, we traveled south about 8 miles to the area that used to be the town of Greenland. Greenland was a small cluster of commercial and ranch buildings which acted as a central shipping point for farm products and lumber for southern Douglas County, with a post office and two railroad depots. The school opened in 1892 and was closed in 1957, as the town had too few residents to warrant their own school.
Cattle were held in this corral before being moved about 75 yards to the railroad siding.
This was the loading area where the cattle were loaded onto the train cars for shipment to a slaughter house.
We enjoyed this view of Pikes Peak taken from the parking lot at the trailhead. There is not nearly as much snow on "America's Mountain" now in mid-June as there was when we first arrived in Colorado in early May.
Here is a view of Spruce Mountain from the trailhead. Yes, we are going to climb up above the limestone rock areas you can see in the center of this photo.
As we hiked upward through the trees along the side of the butte, we knew that the view from the top was going to be spectacular.
We are almost there.
Paul at the top of the mountain at the Upper Loop Lookout! Yes, the snow-capped mountain in the left background is Pikes Peak. You can tell the weather has warmed up since we are wearing shorts. The long sleeved shirt is for protection from the sun. We had a great view of the Palmer Divide to the east (Paul's right). The Palmer Divide separates the Arkansas River basin from the Missouri River basin.
Our hike took us along some shaded parts of the trail. The shade came from tall Ponderosa Pine trees and Douglas Fir trees. There was lots of scrub oak for a ground cover. Not a cloud in the sky.
We headed back down off the mountain and walked through meadows of brilliant wildflowers at the end of our hike. We saw two new flowers on this hike. First, these Orange Paintbrush.
And, Columbines, the Colorado state flower.
We could see the rocky Raspberry Butte as we journeyed down the mountain. There are limestone buttes rising from valleys all over this part of Colorado, the foothills just on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. We thought this view looked like a miniature Castle Rock.
This hike had an elevation gain of about 600 feet and was about 4 1/2 miles long. We are acclimated to hiking at 7000 feet now and enjoy the challenge of getting up and back down the hiking trails. Lots of great views of the scenery but no wildlife on this day.
It was another cloudy and overcast day so we decided to stay close to the campground to hike. We have passed the entrance to the Columbine Open Space many times on our trips to Castle Rock and wondered what was down the road with a single lane bridge.
Open space is crucial for the survival of all wild animals in the populated areas of Colorado. Herds need plenty of room to feed and migrate safely. Douglas County, where we reside in the campground, does a great job with designating ample open space. The local communities often build hiking trails through open space for the enjoyment of outdoor enthusiasts, whether they be hikers, mountain bikers, bird watchers, or just plain folks who like being out among mother nature.
The Columbine Open Space, located only a few miles from the campground, is the combination of two separate historic properties. One of these properties was owned by the Maytag family, which has links to the founders of the Maytag washer company. In June 1999, Douglas County dedicated Columbine Open Space and Columbine Trial in remembrance of the tragedy at Columbine High School.
This old rustic red barn gave clues to what life may have been like over 100 years ago. Was this part of a cattle ranch or some other type of farming?
This one-room stone house also gave us clues about the life of the early settlers. There was one room and a small area in one corner that went down about 5 or 6 steps into a cavity in the dirt floor. Could this have been where they kept their perishable food? We also noticed that both buildings had metal roofs.
We did find evidence of wildlife along the two 1.5 mile loop trails we traveled. There were footprints of deer and elk in the hardened mud along the trail as well as scat from both animals. We kept a watchful eye for wildlife but were amazed at the beautiful flowers we saw. First, this white Prickly Poppy.
These Salsify flowers were a vibrant yellow while in full bloom.
What was unique about the Salsify flowers was that they always were bent towards the sun and followed the sun as it rose higher in the sky..
These white flowers for the yucca plant open only at night for the small white yucca moth to feed and lay eggs inside the plant.
There were flower buds on the Prickley Pear cactus as well.
Rain was forecast for mid-day. Looking to the west, we could see the clouds forming. No blue sky visible in this photo.
Looking to the east, we could see blue sky with few clouds.
This view through the pine trees towards the creek and pond to spot wildlife was to no avail.
But, we did spot this small green frog thanks to its croaking. You need to look closely to see the frog. This was the ONLY wildlife we saw on this hike.
Our solitude was interrupted by this train heading north to be reloaded. Every day we see loaded trains heading south past our campground with coal and other cargoes. The coal comes from Gillette, Wyoming.
We did take a drive up past the campground to explore the west side of I-25, looking for several trails that have been suggested to us to explore. We came across this small herd of bison. We don't think this is a wild herd, since they are on fenced in property that belongs to the large home in the back left of the photo below.
This photo of a bison and a tractor gives you an idea of just how large these bison grow.
Our hike was a good way to wind-up our two days off before we go back to work. We will definitely explore the trails in this area in the weeks to come.
We enjoy hiking because of the peace and tranquility we find being close to mother nature. With the threat of rain in the weather forecast, we picked out a short 2 mile hike in Colorado Springs at the Blodgett Peak Open Space. The challenge to this hike was the elevation gain from 7,054 ft. up to 8,184 at the end of the trail before we turned back to the starting point. We were serenaded by some song birds most of the time. However, we were not far from civilization, so we did hear the sound of propeller airplanes that were towing gliders from the nearby US Air Force Academy.
The trail was fairly wide consisting of packed dirt which made for safer traction. The collection of boulders part way up the trail caught our eye.
Here is a close-up view of these boulders. You can almost see a sad face on the boulder on the right. The boulders were a reddish color similar to the rock formations at Garden of the Gods, which is only about 10 miles from this trail. Viewing these geological rock features made the hike enjoyable despite the gloomy weather.
We were surprised to find these Iris growing in the wild. The purple flowers were vibrant in color.
These White Loco Weed flowers look refreshing like springtime.
We marveled at the different shades of green and blue in these wild grasses. The darker green grass is Wild Ornamental Blue Grass and looks like the color of the needles on a blue spruce tree. We know that Kentucky has blue grass, but it exists in Colorado as well.
As we climbed the trail we could easily see the evidence of the wild fires that burned several areas of Colorado Springs in June 2012. The local newscasters refer to this area as the "burn scar" of the Waldo Canyon Fire. This was the second most devastating fire in Colorado history, with nearly 350 homes destroyed.
At the end of our hike, the clouds were coming in over the mountains. We have begun to get used to the stormy weather coming over the Rockies from the west. The nesting cliffs of Blodgett Peak and Eagle Peak can be seen on the right of the photo below. We did see one soaring bird but could not tell if it was a falcon, an eagle or ____ .
We actually climbed higher than these magnificent homes perched high on the hillside. Could we afford? I think not.
Here is the view the people in these homes have of this large natural rock formation and the valley below, which is the city of Colorado Springs.
The views were spectacular despite the overcasts skies. It did begin to rain as we approached our car back in the parking lot. The windshield wipers were on full speed within 5 minutes of us beginning our drive back to Larkspur. It felt like we had a victory over mother nature today.
