Camping @ Farish ... Day 2

I woke up before 6:00a, but snoozed until the sun broke over the trees to shine into the bedroom. That was around 6:30a. It was 32F outside. The cold temp did not come as a surprise really … we are at 9,100 feet here.

A steller’s jay was visiting outside. Alongside were smaller birds. All in search of sustenance. Hopefully they found something to eat. One bird — I believe it was a yellow-bellied flycatcher — was busy carrying clumps of grass for the nest it was building in the eaves of the barn. The sounds of chirping birds wafted on the air, advising us of their presence even if we could not see them. A bunny was scampering in and out of the tree line ... several ground squirrels were scurrying about. No bears or deer … nor any evidence of them having visited overnight.

By breakfast time the temp had risen to 46F … though that might have been misleading since the temperature gauge is on the side of the rig receiving the morning sun. In any event, it was too cold to eat in the picnic shelter which was in the shade of the Cruiser. We’ll have other opportunities for al fresco meals, so no worries.

By the time Mui completed a few of the projects on our “customization” list, it was nigh on 11:00a. Time to have some fun.

Incorporated officially in 1891, the “City Above the Clouds” — as Woodland Park is known —is a home-rule municipality in Teller County. It has a beautiful setting up in the mountains, with views of Pikes Peak and the Rampart Range.

When my family was visiting back in January, we drove up to Woodland Park from Manitou Springs. We didn’t see anything exciting, so we turned tail and went home. Since we were camping so close — a mere five miles — we wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything to see here before we wrote it off our sightseeing list entirely. Plus, we wanted to see if there was a Lowe’s to buy a matching rug for the living area of the Cruiser. So off we went down the mountain.

Somehow, we got ourselves turned around leaving Farish and ended up following a different forest road into town. No matter. This route was neither better nor worse than Rampart Range Road and it took no longer to get into town that way.

Once we were back in the “land of cell signals,” we pulled over to see if there was a Lowe’s nearby. There wasn’t. But we found something unexpected instead.

The road into town passed by Memorial Park … a lovely green space with a fishing pond — complete with three fountains spurting sprays of water. The park was originally dedicated in 1944, but was restored to its present look and re-dedicated in 2017. With its view of Pikes Peak, the place invited us to dally a bit. That it was a good spot to check emails and such was an added bonus.

There were a number of people taking advantage of the beautiful day — it was sunny and 56F by then. A couple of kids were fishing; several were riding bikes … one of them almost took a header into the pond right in front of us; still others were running around under the watchful eyes of their mothers. There were people of our age group as well … pretty much relaxing on a beautiful summer morning. Not a single face covering in sight, but plenty of social distancing.

After a while, we moved on. A drive through town revealed there were a few things to do — a museum about the area’s Ute history … and a Dinosaur Discovery Center. Neither appealed enough for us to shell out the cost of admission or the suggested donation. But the drive did unearth several very nicely done murals depicting the history of Woodland Park, so our time wasn’t wasted. The highlight of our drive? We spotted a wild red fox that had mistaken someone’s front yard as a bathroom ;-)

The jiggled part of our plans for today called for a hike from Farish to the Rampart Reservoir after lunch. But first, we thought we’d drive to the reservoir on our way back from Woodland Park and check it out. The four-mile drive to the reservoir from the Rampart Road turn-off — just short of the Farish gate — was extremely washboardy, but the scenery was beautiful. At the entrance booth, the attendant said we could go in for a look-see free since we weren’t planning to stay long or take advantage of any of the facilities. That saved us $7 … or $3.50 with our America the Beautiful lifetime pass.

The landscape of the park is beautiful … even with the eyesore caused by fire damage here and there. Pikes Peak was visible in all its majesty from a number of places along the road. We stopped at a fishing spot where I got a nice panorama of the reservoir, but we didn’t go all the way down to the dam. At the Promontory Picnic Area, I did a quick wander and determined that the beach was too far down to attempt a walk today … didn’t want to take advantage of the attendant’s generosity in allowing us free access.

As we drove back to the gate, we decided that Rampart Reservoir deserves its own camping trip. So we checked out the USFS campgrounds within the fee area … all dry camping. Doable for a couple of nights … especially if we can get into one of the sites with reservoir views.

Returning to the Cruiser around 2:00p, we had a light lunch inside … too cool to sit outside with the sun hiding more than it was seeking. Mui then set about finishing a few projects before taking a nap. I used the time to catch up the journal. And I also downloaded and weeded through the photos from today. Bonus sighting as I sat working? Two mule deer — bucks with velvet-sheathed antlers — came to graze near our site.

We set out to do a short hike after 4:30p … more for cardio and exercise than for sightseeing. Following the road first and then a trail we found through the trees, we ended up at Lake Leo. By this time, the sun was fully hidden behind clouds that looked like they might be portending rain. So, we didn’t dally.

Before heading back to the Cruiser, we walked up a steep road on the far side of the lake to check out the view. Turns out the road leads to one of the sites of the Falcon Telescope Network. Apparently this network allows for the simultaneous observation of a single object from different geometries. The dome was open, so something was being observed. What? That I don’t know.

Instead of retracing our steps back to the Cruiser, Mui found a non-trail path that dropped us down to Lake Grace. I’m not sure it was a short cut, but it got us home.

The temp is now down to 55F … which feels even cooler with a light breeze blowing. No sitting outside for us. But we did get to see four mule deer come to graze in the grass just on the other side of our picnic pavilion. The does were shy and sprinted away quickly, but the bucks hung around for a bit. I think that’s a great way to wrap up our day.Read more