Manitou Springs, CO

Trip Odometer: 3920

Miles Traveled: 324
We started off our day with a 1 ½ hour drive down to Manitou Springs to ride the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. It’s the highest cog railway in the world. It’s 1 ½ hours up, 45 minutes at the top, and 1 ½ hours down. The views were very nice once we got above the tree line. Our train had two cars and the track was so steep, there were times when the difference in elevation between the front of the train and the back was the same as a three story building. On the way down, we saw big horn sheep. I think the ride was a bit long for the kids. Manitou Springs looked very intriguing with ice cream shops and other fun places but it was absolutely crowded with people. We also knew we had a long drive ahead of us and decided to skip the town. I’m sure glad we did.

looking up the mountain

at the top, take it from me, you can skip the "famous" mountain top donuts for $3 each

cog tracks

We began our drive to our campsite for the night. What we thought would be a 4 hour drive turned in to a six hour drive. We wound our way along the Arkansas River for many miles through a narrow, red rock canyon. It was very scenic but it slowed us down. There are lots of rafting companies along the river and it looked like something an extremist would really enjoy, lots of rolling white water areas. After we left the river, we began to climb to the Monarch ski area. It was a long steep climb and ½ mile from the summit, we overheated. We’d had the air conditioner on, were pulling a trailer, it was a hot day, it all conspired against us. As soon as I stepped from the car, I could tell what was wrong by the strong smell of anti-freeze. Someone stopped and helped. He had a gallon of antifreeze in his trunk which he poured in to our resevior. Within about 10 minutes, the car had cooled down enough and we were back on the road. The kids didn’t appreciate us blasting the heater but it helped cool the van down. While we were broken down, I was outside and there was a swarm of mosquitoes. I looked down at my arm and had at least 10.

We made it to our campground at 9:45 pm. Just as I was approaching the campground, I saw flashing lights behind me. A ranger pulled me over because I didn’t have any running lights on the trailer. He also inquired if license plates were required on trailers in Washington state. I explained what had happened, showed him my new plate (I can’t figure out how to install it) and he let us go. We stayed at Elk Creek Campground which is on the Mesa Resevoir in the Black Canyon of Colorado.