FE: More Flat Earth to cover, high-speed freeway driving, many wind turbines and we are leaving western Kansas (well, the photo below is from a day earlier in eastern Kansas).

And on to eastern Colorado, not many changes at first, except for freeway maintenance: great in Kansas, horrible in Colorado. Stopping at the Colorado Visitor Center we get many helpful pointers, but also the news that an important road leading to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison (our next destination) is closed. Good to learn it now, but major change in plans ensue. More on that in the next blog.

We arrive in Colorado Springs early enough to visit the Garden of the Gods, a natural wonder right in city limits…..we are thrilled and much photography ensues.

RN: Garden of the Gods, a National Natural Landmark, is in Colorado Springs CO.  Archeology shows that it was visited by prehistoric people as early as 1350 BC and many native tribes have reported a connection to it: Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Pawnee, Shoshone, and Ute (Wikipedia). It was later visited by various European “invaders” and ultimately purchased (from whom?) in 1879 by Charles Perkins who bequeathed it to Colorado Springs on the condition that it remain a free public park for all to enjoy. Many of the rock formations are confined within a small area that is accessible via a wide paved path.  Since we didn’t have time to hike a long distance (we arrived at 4:30 pm), we stuck to the paved trail but there was a lot to see!!

The incredible rock formations are sedimentary rock turned ninety degrees by a huge upheaval event that also formed the Rockies.  You can see the prominent striations in the photo below…

RN: In the photo below, you can see a newer layer of conventional sedimentary rock behind me (note the gray striations running parallel to the ground), while the older red rocks that got tilted up are in front of me…

RN: As we were walking back to the car in the parking lot, we saw these big horn sheep on top of a rock formation nearby…