COLORADO - 2003

These pictures were taken during a trip to Colorado Springs August 29-30, 2003. Photographs were taken with Pat's Fujifilm Digital Camera "FinePix 4700 zoom". Click on the thumbnail photo to obtain a larger version.

GARDEN of the GODS

This picture of Jenn, Pat and Doug Ross was taken on the Balcony Restaurant of the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center, which overlooks the park. On a clear day, you can also see Pikes Peak.

The first two pictures were taken after we parked at the side of the road on The Juniper Way Loop just before the Gateway Road. Doug is looking at the Cathedral Rock in the distance and Jenn is getting her video camera ready. Pat was getting ready for her picture when a fellow drove up and parked his car.

Jenn took this final picture of Pat And Doug at the Three Graces rock during one of our short hikes.

CAVE of the WINDS

A photograph was taken of each group before the tour of the caves began "so that there would be a picture of any missing person at the end of the walk". Jenn carried her video camera.

Pat used a disposable flash camera to take this picture. Battery failure seemed to be the cause of a malfunction of the digital camera.

The tour guide pointed to this sample of an "original" Edison light bulb. I did an internet search and learned that Henry Woodward, a medical student from Toronto, and his friend Mathew Evans, a hotel keeper, patented the first incandescent lamp with an electric light bulb on July 24, 1874. They sold a share of their US patent to Thomas Edison five years later. The electric bulb has been much improved since those early years.

ANASAZI CLIFF DWELLINGS

The cliff dwellings in Manitou Springs date from about 1100 to 1300 AD. They include a balconey home (left), stones with inscriptions, a ceremonial kiva and homes of individuals (including the chief). A gift shop sells native crafts, including a few Ojibway items!

PIKES PEAK COG RAILWAY

Problems with batteries arose with the digital camera during our trip. Even though we were engulfed in fog and mist and drizzle most of the time, Jenn managed to take some fairly good movie shots of the scenery. With the Adobe Premier Elements 3.0 four years later, I was eventually able to salvage a few pictures for this part of the trip . . . beginning with the loading platform at the bottom of the cog railway.

It seemed a very brief time until the train was on a 25% grade, i.e. a rise or fall of 25 feet/metres for every 100 feet/metres forward. A section crew was working as the train approached Mountain View station at slightly over 10,000 feet elevation. No hikers departed the train here.

Colorado was still experiencing the drought of 1971 and 1972. The only natural water here was Moraine Lake, but numbered man-made reservoirs with connecting pipes completed the water supply for the area of Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs. The conductor or guide advised passengers to be on the lookout for marmots in the fields beside the tracks.

The scenery resembled the final scene for The Sound of Music, but clouds began to obscure the mountains in the distance. We noted that the treeline was changing into dwarf evergreens, whose numbers were also decreasing as we entered the tundra meadows.

Baren rock replaces anything of significant interest outside until another train passes ours heading down in the other direction. Everybody waves. Soon there are only the other passengers to look at.

Nobody seemed to be anxious to face the cold damp wind on the walk between the train and the gift shop. However, there was a short line-up for a photo opportunity near the summit sign.