Bishop Castle

Located high in the mountains of the San Isabel National Forest, southwest of Pueblo, Colorado, is one of those roadside attractions that just have to be seen to be appreciated.  Bishop Castle is a lifetime project of Jim Bishop.  He bought the land for $450 and has been building his 'castle' since he was 15.  It's truly awe-inspiring.

The tallest tower (so far) is 160 feet.

I liked the dragon guard.

Here's a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Bishop from 1967.

(Quite a hunk, huh?)

He was an iron worker so there's plenty of decorative iron in the castle.

As well as pretty windows that I believe were donated.

In this view from the back, you can see a bridge to an uncompleted tower.

Which I had to walk out on.  (I watched other people do it first to see if it was safe.)

Here's Ron in that iron ball way up on top.

The 72-year-old Mr. Bishop wasn't there the day we visited, but he has lots of signs around so you won't be in any doubt about his strong political views.  I just think it's amazing that one man can devote his whole life to a project.  Not the first time we've seen such a thing, but it's always impressive.

More Hikes

We took two more interesting hikes while staying at Bear Creek Lake Park and one awe-inspiring stroll.  The Dakota Ridge Trail begins near I 70 and quickly climbs to the top of the ridge.

It then follows the along the top of the ridge for two miles,

With plenty of views in each direction.

Including an aerial view of Red Rocks Park.

According to Wikipedia, the Dakota Hogback extends all the way through Colorado from the Wyoming border to New Mexico.  It was formed about 50 million years ago when the modern Rocky Mountains were created.

But we hadn't gotten enough of those gorgeous red sandstone formations, so one day we took Ron's grandson Adam to Roxborough State Park to hike the Fountain Valley Trail.  That's Adam waiting patiently for us to begin.

We did the loop clockwise which took us along the valley floor,

With some close encounters of the formations.

Then we had a climb to the other half of the loop and the spectacular overlook.

(We probably should have done that in reverse.)

Then later that day, we went to Dinosaur Ridge with Ron's daughter Kelli and grandson Harper.  Was he excited!

Dinosaur Ridge, before it was pushed up to a 45 degree angle by the Rockies, was part of a great inland sea.  Ripple marks are common in the sandstone.

As well as trace fossils.

But Harper was interested in one thing only - dinosaur tracks!  The tracks were first exposed during road excavation in 1937 and are from the Jurassic Period about 150 million years ago.  Obviously the scientists have darkened the prints so the average person can see them, but the impressions can clearly be seen once you know where to look.  I was just as fascinated as Harper.

Local Hikes

Besides spending time with Ron's family, we also took advantage of some nearby hikes.  We were staying in Bear Creek Lake Park which is very close to Red Rocks Park with its famous amphitheatre.  With almost 10,000 seats, it is very popular with performers because of the fine acoustics.

It was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC.)

We took the Trading Post Trail which winds among the Fountain Formation red rocks.

Another day we drove to the top of Mt. Falcon and took the Castle Trail.

What's that in the distance?

It's the remains of a magnificent chalet built by John B. Walker in the early 1900s.  Unfortunately, lightning struck the home and it burned down in 1918.

We continued on and enjoyed views of the metropolitan area to the east,

And more of the foothills of the Rockies to the west.

Finally we came to the site of Mr. Walker's grand idea, a Summer White House.  If you blow up this picture, you'll read that he laid the cornerstone in 1914,

 But looking at the foundation, he didn't get very far.

However, it is a nice cornerstone.

Mr. Walker might not have completed his grand idea, but his vision of preserving land eventually became the foundation for the Denver Mountain Parks and Jefferson County Open Space.

Family

I believe I promised some cute pictures and none are better than ones of little kids.  We were in the Denver area for Ron's birthday and his granddaughter Elsie's second birthday.  Elsie's birthday started at Miss Rita's, who runs a small pre-school out of her house.  Elsie has a very expressive face.  I will interpret her thoughts.

"Mine, all mine."

"Oh no, why is Miss Rita setting my cake on fire?"

"Miss Rita told me not to touch it, but can we just get the singing over with so we can eat?"

"I do love my brother Harper, but is he just trying to get my cake?"

"Yippee!"

"I love balloons!"  (Although some of this might be the sugar high.)

The festivities continued another day with a big party.  I was excited to get a picture of Ron with all of his grandchildren.  It's funny to think they range in age from 2 to 17.  Elsie, Adam, Harper, and Shannon were all very cooperative.

And a shot of him with each of his children.  Here's Jim.

And Kim who planned and held the spectacular birthday bash.

And Kelli.

There was a red velvet cake for Ron and his sister-in-law Peg in addition to another cake for Elsie.  By this time she's probably thinking this is going to be a daily occurrence.

She picked the biggest present to open first and dove right in.  Big brother Harper helped out with the later ones.

We were entertained and fed wonderful meals by both Kim and Kelli for 11 days.  I think I gained about 5 pounds.  We've moved farther south now, but I still have more to post from our stay.

On a happy note - I found that I have a natural ability for backyard bocce.  Who knew since I had never played before.  Of course it didn't hurt that my partner was Ron's son Jim.  This was our game winning round.  Notice that all our red balls are closer to the tiny yellow ball than all our opponents' green balls.  I'm sure there are official terms for all this, but I didn't get that lesson.  Now I'm ready to go to the park and challenge some old Italian men.

Poudre Canyon

Before landing in Denver area, we made a brief stop in pretty Poudre Canyon west of Fort Collins.

The river is officially named Cache la Poudre, named for some French trappers who buried gunpowder along the river in the 1820s.

In places, the canyon gets pretty narrow.

Since it was mid week, we had our choice of campsites.

We enjoyed a pleasant hike up Hewlett Gulch.

It involved many stream crossings.

Some of which were easier than others.

And now I'm again way behind with my posting since I didn't blog at all during the 11 days we spent with Ron's family in Denver.  But there will be some cute pictures coming up.