Old Ruins

Here are some more photos from a hike in my town last December, here are some ruins. I believe they are from an old stage stop.

It's a different kind of Scenic Sunday entry.

Emerald Valley

Here are the last of my photos from Sunday's hike in the Emerald Valley area, off Gold Camp Road just west of Colorado Springs.

Near the beginning of the trail we found a ruined cabin.

We crossed a small stream a couple of times.

The fallen leaves made for a beautiful trail.

It was a lovely hike, and the photos qualify for both Scenic Sunday and a meme I don't believe I've joined before, Weekend Reflections.

Ruined Cabin

Coming back to Colorado for this week's My World Tuesday post, here is another ruined cabin from a recent hike in the Monument area. I particularly liked the chimney, on which somebody had painted eyes.

Other than that, there's not much left.

This probably used to be a root cellar.

Of course, I had to look inside. It's being used as a shelter by a homeless person.

And of course, because of the last photo, I have to link this to Guest Heart Thursday as well!

Hiking Ruins

Sometimes when hiking I see ruins - Loud's Cabin is one of the best examples of this, and one I've posted on in the past. Here's another example from last weekend, hiking just west of Monument, where there's nothing left but a foundation.

These stairs probably led into the cabin at some point.

Somebody had more recently walled up this section, and it was filled with trash.

There was a much more interesting ruin later in the hike, but I'm saving that for a future post. And that's my entry for My World Tuesday.

Jones Park & Loud's Cabin

I wanted to get all the way up to the aspen meadow, further up the Seven Bridges Trail than we went on last Saturday, so I went back on Wednesday (on a rare mid-week day off work). This time it was just me and the dog. Just past where we turned around last time is a scree field; it looks like the trail may end but it continues. This photograph is looking back at the scree after crossing it.

After turning right on a side trail just before crossing a stream, you come to Jones Park, a large meadow of aspen trees. They had already turned yellow, although the previous week's weather (and the wind on the day I was there) meant that a lot of the leaves had already blown down. Nevertheless it was a uniquely beautiful spot.

Finally I crossed into the next valley and climbed a little further, finally coming to the ruins of Loud's Cabin. I'd make sure I had a topographical map with trails, or somebody who had been there before, as there are a lot of little trails in this area.

This was a little over 6 miles round trip, and made for one of the best hikes of the year.