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