Article Contributed on: 7/27/2009 11:18:48 PM
Over the 4th of July, we went in search of wildflowers.
We were always told, go here, go there. A friend suggested going up to the Catamount Reservoirs halfway up Pikes Peak. Not only is it a little cooler than down lower, but it is cheaper than going all the way to the top.
At the gate to Pikes Peak Highway just up the mountain from Santa's Workshop, we asked and were told about a path not quite so high up, but one that was sure to have wildflowers-Crowe's Gulch.
The picnic area is about the three-mile marker. We pulled over and nobody was there. People passed us by, heading up to either the reservoirs or the top of the mountain. Certainly, this couldn't be a place of wildflowers. But it was.
There was a sign just past the picnic area (two tables) which said "Trail." It was hardly the kind of trail we were used to, more of a parting of the grasses. But the trail was gentle and the area was beautiful.
Both sides of the trail had hundreds of flowers of all different shapes and colors. Some we knew, some we didn't. While it didn't tax our endurance-or that of our 9-year-old golden-lab mix Chelsea-it was pleasant. No noisy crowds and beautiful vistas. We even found a nice, large, flat rock to just sit on and listen to the wind in the trees.
Later we trudged up to the Catamount Reservoirs. The lakes were nice, but it was going to be a four-mile trek to see the same thing we almost stepped out of our car to enjoy. The rangers did have one other suggestion. Just past the picnic area, near the Bigfoot Crossing sign is a path with a double iron gate. They said that that path not only led to some other places less seen, but to beaver ponds as well. A trip for another day.