HIKING IN COLORADO SPRINGS

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.