Today I headed out to do one of my favorite hikes, the Paint Mines. I drove out highway 24 to Calhan, CO. It’s about 35/Miles from Colorado Springs. This isn’t a long hike, today I managed to get 3/miles in. What makes this hike so much fun is that the scenery is so different that what you find in the mountain areas.
You will find it hard to believe that such great rock formations exist just outside in the Colorado plains. The mines have evidence of human life as far back as 9,000 years ago. The colorful clays were used by American Indians. The park features fantastic geological formations including spires and hoodoos that were formed through erosive action that created incised gullies and exposed layers of seienite clay and jasper.
All of today’s pictures can be found here:
I had to trek through some deep snow in the canyon areas. It was pretty slick climbing on some of the rocks. I actually fell a couple times today and need to clean up my camera. It was cold in the shade and the wind was blowing. In the sun wasn’t to bad.
If you like hiking and are looking for something different I would recommend this hike. You better get to it soon as I am sure that at some point they will begin limiting the trails and you may not have access any longer.
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