Old Bent's Fort & Final Look-See at the Rockies

With just two weekends left, I knew I had to get out and experience some new things while I still had the chance. The trouble was that I didn't really know where to go. I had already been to most interesting places in Colorado and only had the weekend to spend. I seriously thought about going to the Dinosaur National Monument which lies both sides of the the North-West Colorado and Utah. However, the Colorado side is closed and with the ever shortening days, it was just too far away.

Pike's Peak seen again between the rocks in the Garden of the Gods

On Saturday morning I set off south and stopped at the Garden of the Gods yet again before deciding where to continue. Pikes Peak? Been up there twice and it's frigging freezing up there now. Manitou Springs with the caves and the Mesa Verde reconstruction? Meh. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo? I actually thought about that quite a bit but in the end I decided to head off to the South-Eastern Colorado to see the Old Bent's Fort.

Old Bent's Fort is a reconstruction of the old trading fort next to the Arkansas river along the Santa Fe Trail. At first it may appear quite small but at the time of its building, it actually used to be the largest building between Missouri and the Pacific Ocean.

A conestoga wagon and a cannon in front of the fort

This is not exactly the peak season for tourism and luckily there were only two of those irritating reenactors who pretend to live in the time period and explain things like we were all living in the 19th century. Even though there were less than ten other visitors in the fort at the time, with some clever planning, I could avoid their stupid presentations and stories.

I saw some pictures filled with dozens of reenactors doing their thing in the courtyard in the peak tourist season. I'm glad I avoided that.

The fort was rebuilt in the original location a few decades ago by the National Park Service based on archaeological excavations, diaries and sketches like the one seen below. If you are interested in history, this is definitely a place worth checking out but if that's not your thing, driving roughly 410 miles might not be the best of ideas.

The Arkansas river flowing close to the fort. This river carved out the Royal Gorge Canyon that I visited back in August.

On Sunday I decided to head off to the Rockies for one more time. I haven't really been up there since it started snowing and as the upcoming extended Thanksgiving weekend was already fully booked up, this was really my last chance.

There's yet another pic of the Chapel on the Rock  with Mt. Meeker (13,911' / 4,240m) in the back

Bear Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was hailing quite a bit when I arrived at the parking lot and it continued on and off for the next few hours

The Nymph Lake is just half a mile away although quite a bit higher up and walking in the slippery trail with my summer shoes was slightly difficult

Air Force Academy, Bishop Castle and Garden of the Gods redux

During the week, I heard from a colleague about a strange castle high up in the mountains that some eccentric bloke has been building for decades. After some brief research in Google, I headed off towards southern Colorado. On the way I stopped at the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs which I had looked at ever since I came to Colorado but wasn't sure if it was open only for US citizens or not. At the gate there was a brief id (and car) check but that's it. Visitors are naturally only allowed in certain parts of the academy.

There were a lot of old and current planes on display like this F-15A Eagle

F-105D Thunderchief

The chapel can be seen from I-25

B-52 with the rainy Rockies in the background

On the way to Bishop Castle, I passed by the United States Penitentiary in Florence. Its supermax high security wing is called the Alcatraz of the Rockies and houses the most dangerous prisoners in the US. Some of the current and past inmates include names like Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, and Timothy McVeigh who carried out the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

I reached Bishop Castle around noon. It is by far the biggest wtf place I've ever been to. The guy who has been building it since 1969 is indeed quite out there as can be seen from several of his hand written notes in and around the castle. You can see the entire thing from every possible angle in about an hour but you'll most likely leave just being puzzled by everything. W-T-F?

One of the towers is about 50 metres tall and you can climb all the way up there

I guess he didn't vote for either Obama or Romney

Umm...

Okay...

Dude.

The second tower. The whole metal cage was shaking quite a bit in the freezing winds

I don't think this would pass all the building codes

Drive carefully

On the way back I decided to stop at Garden of the Gods even though the sun was going down fast and I had already been there back in February. Not many places can boast of having such a gorgeous public park that's free for everyone.

Pikes Peak between some of the rocks

Kissing Camels

Cathedral Spires and Three Graces

Balanced Rock

Devil's Tower

Saturday was a very nice day since I managed to get to all three sites I had planned on visiting during the weekend. Therefore on Sunday I decided to set the course towards Devil's Tower in North-Eastern Wyoming. I had been debating for months whether to go there or not. It's basically "just a rock" and far far away from home. However, now that I had already done most of the trip, I went for it. It's only about two and a half hours away from Mt. Rushmore but in the wrong direction so I knew that the trip back wasn't going to be much fun.

The daylight savings had just ended (a week later than in Europe) and even though this meant I could sleep one more hour before getting up, it also meant that the sunset was an hour earlier. Driving in pitch black is not my idea of fun especially after Saturday when I saw tons of deer on the road during the day and some more after driving back from Mt. Rushmore to the hotel in total darkness.

The first glimpse of the tower with the max zoom on my camera when approaching from the East

The restroom in the visitor center had a scoreboard for the elections. I'm not sure who this Obomma guy is but he doesn't seem to have much support in Wyoming.

 

You can take a quick walk around the tower if you so choose. It was a cold, rainy and a windy day but having come so far there was no question whether I'd do that. The quick walk turned out to be not so quick after all since this just-a-rock is ginormous. Its summit is 1,267 feet (386 m) above the surrounding terrain and it takes a while to get around especially when you're taking a million pictures along the way. It is a popular rock climbing destination although in this weather no one was stupid enough to try.

The foot of the tower is filled with massive boulders that the erosion process has carved from the tower. They might look like pebbles in the picture but that's only because of the giant seen in the background

This is a sacred place for many Native American tribes and many visitors leave prayer cloths in the surrounding trees

Here you can see the column structure. How does that happen?

Seriously, how does that happen?

Oh, ok. Wait... what?

Some of the stake ladder used by William Rogers and Willard Ripley when they first climbed the tower in 1893

There's also some red stuff close by but meh... seen so much of that in Colorado already :)

Why did the turkey cross the road? The upcoming Thanksgiving Day?

Wind Cave, Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore

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November is my last month in the US before I return back to Finland. During the first weekend I finally drove to South Dakota to see Mt Rushmore. On the way I stopped at the Wind Cave National Park which includes one of the largest caves in the world. It's an amazing maze with miles and miles of new passages found every year. Scientists estimate that today only 5% or so of the total cave area has been explored.

The only natural entrance to the caves. Only a child can fit through that.

The Wind Cave is named so because of the barometric winds rushing through the only tiny natural entrance. When the atmospheric pressure in the park area changes, the air rushes through the hole equalizing the pressure in the cave and this "breathing" can create really strong winds.

The Wind Cave includes about 95% of the known boxwork formations in the world's caves.

The first time I've managed to get a closeup shot of a pronghorn

I had originally planned on going to Mt. Rushmore as well as the nearby Crazy Horse Memorial on Sunday but I had enough time to check them out as well. I started with the Crazy Horse Memorial which is a still very much work in progress memorial for the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse. The work began in 1948 and is still far from done. It's done by a non-profit organization without any federal or state funding.

If it ever gets finished, it will be the largest sculpture in the world. Just the head itself is larger than each of the four faces on Mt. Rushmore

A bald eagle

This is what it will eventually look like. Kitsch much?

The drive from the Crazy Horse Memorial to Mt. Rushmore only takes like 20 minutes so instead of waiting until next morning, I decided to give it a go even though the sun was setting fast. Since I arrived so late, I didn't even have to pay anything to get in. Before it got dark, I managed to get some nice pictures from the main viewing area as well as walk around the Presidential Trail where you get to go a little closer and take a look at it from different angles.

After it got dark I waited half an hour for the lights to be turned on. It quickly got really chilly but I guess it was worth it.