Thursday, June 19th – Pike’s Peak & Treasure Falls
Wednesday, June 18th – Long Day of Driving
Today was a long day of driving… We drove from Mount Rushmore to Colorado Springs… It was a very long day in the car…we did make it to the hotel a bit early, so the kids had plenty of chance to swim in the nice heated pool. They had a blast with that!!
Thursday, June 19th –
We chose to conquer Pike’s Peak today, it’s only at an elevation of 14,110 feet!…there are many ways to get up there… Hike, Bike, Cog Railway, or drive your own car…. well the choice was obvious!! HIKE!!!
Just kidding! We decided to take the Cog Railway..it was an amazing trip! We loved it at the top…the donuts are really good too!
For 115 years, the Manitou and Pike’s Peak Railway (the world’s highest cog, the highest Colorado train AND the highest train in the United States) has taken passengers to the 14,110 foot summit of Pikes Peak. For a great description of the train ride along the route, visit the website of the cograilway here: http://www.cograilway.com/alongroute.htm
After our trip at Pike’s Peak, we got in the car for about a 7 hour drive to Durango, Colorado. Along the way, we saw lots of waterfalls, since much of the Rocky’s still had snow on them, but along the highway, we were blown away by Treasure Falls. We had to turn around, and we hiked the short trail to the overlook. What a beautiful site! They had a Mystic Deck that we went up to, and it was a very wet spot!! After sitting in the car for a while, the water did feel good…but quickly became cold, and it didn’t take but a few seconds to become quite wet!! It was a great break to stretch our legs!
This is an impressive waterfall you can see in the distance from a parking lot on Route 160. There is a well maintained trail that will take you close to the base of the falls. It is about a 3/4 mile hike with about 800′ elevation gain.
To view all the pictures from Pike’s Peak, click here!
To view all the pictures from Treasure Falls, click here!
We stayed in Durango for the night, with a short drive to Mesa Verde National Park tomorrow!