Paint Mines Interpretive Park

Today we “broke out of our neighborhood boundaries” and went off to do a hike at a park located about 30 miles from the house. At least that was the plan when we set out to enjoy a day forecasted to have summer-like temps.

We made it to our destination — the Paint Mines Interpretive Park in Calhan — without a hitch. But then we got so engrossed in the colorful formations that we nixed the idea of the hike to play around the spires and hoodoos instead.

The Paint Mines are named for the colorful clay deposits that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Archaeologists believe that humans inhabited the area for nearly 9,000 years ... the earliest being the Paleoindians who are believed to have descended from the people who migrated to North America over the Bering Land Bridge.

We arrived at the park around 10:00a to find the first parking lot packed. WOW! This on a weekday! That worked in our favor. Turns out the second lot, which leads to the overlook, is the one that is closest to the formations. There was only one other car in this parking lot when we started off, but by the time we returned 2+ hours later, it too was packed.

The good news? There are enough nooks and crannies at Paint Mines to allow for social-distancing from the people we encountered on the trails. Quite a large number were families with small kids. And that brings me to the bad news. Despite signage indicating that climbing the formations is prohibited due to their fragile nature, parents were allowing the kids to clamber all over them. Worse ... there were a number of adults doing so as well ... some with their dogs in tow (also not allowed).

Regardless of the disappointing behavior of fellow-visitors, Mui and I wandered the trails, walking deeper and deeper into the formations to search out the pinks, magentas, purples, and yellows that make the park such a brilliant place to visit. An al fresco lunch at a picnic table overlooking the formations wrapped up our visit to the Paint Mines.

Now that I have my photos, next time we go I’ll leave the camera behind so we don’t get distracted from hiking the rest of the park.

(More photos are in my online gallery: https://eenusa.smugmug.com/North-America-US-Can…)Weiterlesen