2022 Westcliffe

For years, we drove past the valley of Sangre de Cristo Mountains and marveled at the beauty of the looming tall mountain range. This year we booked a stay at the foothill of Sangre de Cristo and ventured into the relative unknown part of Colorado. 

Sangre de Cristo Mountain

Our cabin on Venable Creek is from Sunday to Sunday. To get out of the 105+ heat from Dallas, Will booked a campsite on Davenport campsite -- the oldest campsite for the National Forest Service for Saturday. Two days before our drive, the weather forecast predicts heavy rain on Saturday night. We did a last minute change of plan and booked a hotel in Colorado Springs. 

We booked a night at the Hyatt Garden of Gods location. The agent told me he got me a mountain view room and we did get a mountain view room with Pike's peak as the backdrop. We left home around 8am and arrived at the hotel at 6:30pm. There was a Chick-fil-a in the same plaza as the hotel. We picked up our dinner at Pueblo Chick-fil-a. 

Our plan for Sunday morning is to visit the Garden of Gods, have lunch and drive 2 hours to check in right at 3pm. Garden of Gods proved to be tons of fun for the kids, not for the parents as our two kids climbed everything in sight and caused some palpitations of poor parents. To get the kids out of the hazards, I proposed to go to Cave of the winds. I came across it the night before browsing interesting places. 

We signed up for the cave tour. And waited for the tour at the amusement park section. There is a climbing wall, zipline, bat-a-pult, a maze of obstacle course walking and more. Jackson and Norah couldn't take their eyes off the park. The tour lasted about 1 hour and was educational and fun. We checked out stalagmites and stalactites, and also experienced absolute darkness. Norah got to be the tour guide for a few minutes and she was very serious about her job. 

After the cave tour, Norah and Jackson spent about 2 hours on the park portion and practiced their balancing skills. We delayed our departure to about 3pm and checked in at Alpine lodge around 5pm on Sunday. Somehow the Venable Cabin's own was associated with Alpine Lodge. Our cabin was just as we imagined, right by a babbling brook, hummingbirds weaving their ways around and a painting of forests at every window. Cabin showed its age but it was well maintained. We spread out in the 4-bedroom house and were ready to explore. 

Will chose the music pass to Lower Sand lake trail for Monday. We passed the normal car parking lot and drove another 30 minutes to the jeep road trailhead. A local family was there picking mushrooms. It had just rained and the forest had an abundance of mushrooms. I tried to learn from them but it turned out they don't know much either. We hiked in two groups with Jackson and I hiked ahead. Rain has increased the flow of the creek. When we arrived to cross the creek, it didn't look possible. While waiting for Norah and Will, we explored a fallen log option and crossed the rapid stream! We had an adventure with log crossing and cave crawling. When we were having our lunch, rain started to come down. We decided to abort the lake fishing plan and head back. The coming path looks too treacherous so I took off my shoes and socks and carried Norah over the frozen stream. That water was so very cold! On the way back, I saw 20-30 red with pocket dots mushrooms like a smurf village. This mountain looks majestic and magical. 

Tuesday we planned to drive to Great Sand Dune National Park through Medano Pass. We thought it was a short cut but it took us about 3 hours to reach the national park. The seven creek crossings were at their highest level and we were worried about our jeep's clearance. Luckily our jeep stood the test and we made it safely to the park. Sand had already reached a very hot temperature by the time we arrived. Norah insisted on climbing to the top of the sand dunes. Since we entered through the backdoor, we couldn't rent the sandboards at the front entrance. I borrowed one for Jackson to try it out. It appeared to be too much effort moving the board up the sand dune. The kids spent the rest of the time in the Medano Creek over the sand dune. We had plenty of water this time.

Wednesday we booked a raft tour at Cotopaxi. We hiked near our cabin on the Rainbow Trail in the morning and drove towards Salida for our rafting trip. We drove past the Arkansas River Tour office many times before. We had our own raft with Max. Our rapids were class 2.5. It was a perfect difficulty level for our family and we all had tons of fun paddling and bracing for the seemingly large rapids. Norah now wanted to become a raft guide. 

Thursday we fished at Hermit Lake and Jackson caught a trout! We enjoyed the fresh fish at dinner except for Norah. Will and Norah went camping at the Alvarado Campground. Jackson and I walked over to say hello. There was a deer near the campsite and we found ripe raspberries near the site. 

Friday we played around the house and went to Lake DeWeese to fish. We didn't get any fish.

Saturday we drove to the Wet Mountains. We checked out Davenport Campground, the one we had to cancel last minute. And visited Bishop Castle. This castle is so astounding, especially since it was built by one person for 60 years. It has high towers, fire-blowing dragons and a draw-bridge. We climbed to the highest spot which is 160 feet. Norah was fearless when exploring the chambers and towers. Will saw the builder Jim Bishop talking to visitors. The castle reminded me of  Gaudi's touch. After the castle, we went to Lake Isabelle for some fishing and picnic. Lake Isabelle is a manmade lake and was very busy when we visited.

Sunday we checked out at 8am and arrived home at 7:41pm. Total drive 2010 miles and 42 hours driving on the trip.