The beginning of August 2021 we hiked to Linkins Lake. The trailhead is about two miles west of Independence Pass on CO Highway 82 which crosses the Sawatch (suh-watch) Mountains, home to some of Colorado’s highest peaks. There seems to be little agreement on the elevation gain over the .6 mile trail to the lake, but we walk up about 550 feet. Not to mention all the rocks, switchbacks, and gorgeous wildflowers! Come on along, but watch your step.
Thirty miles north of home is a new 2,038 acre open space–Sandstone Ranch. Douglas County, the county north of my home county of El Paso, opened Sandstone Ranch to the public in September 2020. They are proud to have secured this acreage for the public to enjoy for generations. This open space has a 3.5-mile common border with Pike National Forest, historic ranch buildings from the original owners in the 1870s, and great plans to make both available to visitors in the future.
Currently, though, Sandstone Ranch has 12 miles of trails with overlooks of the old Ranch and various red rock formations. Today we will explore 3.6 miles of the Juniper Valley Loop Trail. With all the rain we’ve had this year–and are still getting–the flowers and plants should be amazing. This is my first visit here, so join me on this new adventure in beautiful Sandstone Ranch Open Space!
For the last few years we have been hearing Cordilleran Flycatchers in the garden were we enjoy Friday-morning coffee after a hike in Garden of the Gods. Trouble is they are so small, SO fast, and rarely stay in one place for long, making picture taking tough. Suddenly a youngster seemed interested in people and we started to wonder, who’s watching who?
Colorado Springs, high desert with average elevation about 6,000 feet and average annual rainfall of about 7.5 inches. We have had showers nearly every day since early May, some days raining much of the day. We set a daily rainfall record on June 12 and from January 1 to June 13 our rainfall total is 14.71 inches setting an all-time record. Along with the rain we experience hail, lightening, tornado warnings, and flash flooding. Thank goodness I live on a hill–except for the lightening and tornado warnings 😉 . Pikes Peak experienced an unprecedented blizzard on Tuesday with snow drifts as high as three feet and ice layers up to half an inch thick on the roads. Yes, there were people up there but all survived the ordeal. It has been a very long and cooler than usual spring.
Now for the good news.
