Anniversary Weekend in Colorado Springs, Part 2

September 28, 2008 at 6:09 pm

So, I’m a bit behind in blogging this, but there are some nice photos from our second day in Colorado Springs up in the Gallery.

Mark and Kate at the Silver Falls overlook

On Sunday morning, Mark and I woke up late, packed up, checked out, and hit the road. We were due to meet my bro Kev in Denver at around 2pm, so we didn’t really have time to climb. The hotel, and many billboards in the region, extolled the amazing, unforgettable, unimaginable, fantasmagoric beauty of the Seven Falls area. We thought that sounded like a fun way to spend a Sunday morning, so we headed up to check out the Falls after breakfast.

Helen Hunt Falls - $18 dollars cheeper than the others!

That’s not a picture of Seven Falls. Nor is it a photo of two of seven falls. No, when we got to the canyon where the waterfalls were, signs lined the road declaring that we were about to drive down the “Most beautiful mile of road IN THE WORLD!” This sounded pretty good.

We rounded the bend and the toll booth appeared in front of us. Ah. Such is the way of tourist traps in the mountains. They wanted us to pay $18 ($9 each) to drive down a mile of road and see the waterfalls. We didn’t think it was worth it.

It reminded me of the classic Grandfather Mountain U-Turn of 2003 (We wouldn’t pay $24 dollars to drive up the side of the mountain), or the legendary Royal Gorge reversal of 2005 (definitely never going to pay $40 to walk across a bridge).

Just another side waterfall in the autumn

So, following years of precedent and tradition, Mark swung the Prius around and we drove off in search of free waterfalls. We headed up the next canyon to the north, which was free and very beautiful. At the top, we checked out Helen Hunt Falls (very pretty, and a pioneer woman). There was a short trail, and we hiked up to Silver Cascade falls and enjoyed the view of the canyon and the long, lovely water fountain that slithers from the top of the rocks.

Silver Falls has a wild little standing wave

After the waterfalls, we headed down the Goldmine Road – a narrow two-way traffic dirt road that winds down the rim of the canyon and back to the Springs. It was a warm, sunny afternoon, and the trip home was too quick.