Gold Camp Road Pictography
Headed west form the city of Colorado Springs, Gold Camp Road is an incredibly scenic way to get to the Cripple Creek/Victor area. It takes longer than using US 24 and SH 67, but the views make up for it quickly. Here's my pictorial essay of the "Trip that bankrupts the english language."
The canyon and a detour
We're heading dep into North Cheyenne Canyon now, about to hit the closed section. We'll then follow the detour back into the city.
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Tunnel #2 lies straight ahead.
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Pitch black in there. Funny story here. Back in my high school days, my friends and I were bored one night. We decided it would be fun to climb over this tunnel. This was a moonless night and we had no flashlights. It was quite dark. We started climbing at the other side and ended up right here, just out of the frame above the tree pictured here. Well, since it was so dark, we thought we were a little closer to the road. With one step off, we all fell the 10 feet down to the road. That one kinda hurt. We laughed it off, though, and went back to terrorizing the neighborhoods and stealing range balls from the driving ranges.
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Looking into the tunnel. I see the light!
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Tunnel interior goodness.
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Heading deeper into North Cheyenne Canyon.
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Here's a sobering thought. All these rock cuts were made by hand and small improvised explosives.
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Looking way up the canyon.
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At first glance this shot may seem to be not much, but let me explain, from right to left. The upper sloping rocks hide Tunnel #3, the tunnel that collapsed. That's the closed section of Gold Camp you see at the top. The drainage culvert just after the rocks carries part of North Cheyenne Creek under Gold Camp. Following that straight down leads us to Silver Cascade Falls, which is basically the creek running down the rock face. Many, many foolhardy people have lost their lives there. Dem rocks be slick, yo. And on the left, that's a tree.
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At the intersection of Gold Camp Road, High Drive, and N. Cheyenne Canyon Road. This has been turned into a major parking/staging area for all of the trails in the area. If someone tells you to meet them at the Cheyenne Canyon parking area, this is where they will be.
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A shot of the older Colorado Springs Parks sign. High Drive is what veers off to the left.
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Looking down Gold Camp Road. This is as far as we can go on Gold Camp Road for now. It's still open to hikers since there's a trail bypassing the collapsed tunnel, but not vehicular traffic. We will have to go back into the city via North Cheyenne Canyon and take Old Stage Road back to the open section of Gold Camp.
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Heading down N. Cheyenne Canyon Road.
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The rock wall on the bottom is right along the road, while Gold Camp is the cut we see at the top. Can you spot the hiker?
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Switching back to get to the floor of the canyon.
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Another switchback. That parking area is for the upper trailhead of the Columbine Trail.
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On the floor of the canyon now. This is the Helen Hunt Falls Visitor Center, which lies at the base of ...
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... Helen Hunt Falls, natch. The falls aren't named after the actress, but after Helen Hunt Jackson.
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Heading down North Cheyenne Canyon. Here's a shot of snazzy blending in guardrail meeting not-so-snazzy plain jane guardrail.
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The bridges and rock formations are quite unique in N. Cheyenne Canyon. The roadkill is not unique however. Who has the squirrel recipe?
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Curse you, blurry shot! This is where the Columbine Trail crosses the road.
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This is a lush canyon. Since it's a city park, there's no logging, prescribed burns, or anything else that would keep the trees in check. This is a good and bad thing, considering how dry the state is right now.
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Interesting rock formation.
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Until a few years back, there used to be an outdoor ampitheatre up there, complete with wooden seating and a large area that could be used as a stage. I never saw it used. The city came through and demolished it and the path leading up to it about four years ago.
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Exiting North Cheyenne Canyon.
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The city decided to install a gate to keep people out of the park after hours. It kinda works.
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The signage greeting you at the intersection of North Cheyenne Canyon Road, South Cheyenne Canyon Road, Evans Avenue, and Cheyenne Road. Seven Falls is one of the tourist traps in the city.
Okay, kiddies, storytime again. Just off of Cheyenne Canyon lies one of Colorado Springs' best kept secrets. Back in the 70's and 80's a sculptor by the name of Starr Kempf made his home on Evans Avenue. He created fantastic moving steel sculptures and displayed them in his front lawn. These sculptures ranged in height from 20 feet to over 60 feet. My grandfather and I would often talk to Mr. Kempf as he was creating his sculptures, specifically the sculpture "Sunrise Serenade." Sadly, in the late 90's, Mr. Kempf committed suicide. One relative, Lottie Kempf, took over control of the estate and tried to start tours of the sculptures, including inviting tour companies to visit with their large buses. Since this is in a residential area, the neighbors complained bitterly. Long, nasty legal wars commenced. Finally the city stepped in and determined most of the sculptures were not in code and forced their removal. What remains today is a remnanat of the fantastic talent of Mr. Kempf and the bitter taste of someone out for a buck. The house is currently being used as meeting space for UCCS. You can see what the estate looked like in its glory days on this site. Below are my pics taken on this trip, showing what is left of the brillance. Kinda fitting my pics were taken on a overcast, grey day.
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Approaching the "Lawn Ornament House."
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Fantastic talent created these sculptures.
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The block in front of the gate gives you some more information about Mr. Kempf.
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Bird in Flight. If I had to pick a favorite, I think this would be it. But I love all of the sculptures.
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The Charger. One of Kempf's first works, if I remember correctly.
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Just imagine what this shot looked like before some of the sculptures were removed.
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Hidden behind all the other sculptures lies Cross and swords
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One last shot of the beauty.
Thank you, Mr. Kempf.
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Heading towards Old Stage Road, we come across one of those new-fangled bicycles behind one of those traditional bikes. Not sure which one I like better.
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At the turnoff to Old Stage Road, we're greeted with this Sign Convention™.
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Climbing up Old Stage Road.
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Follow the line the power lines make: That's the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun.
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That's poorly marked, huh?
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Old Stage Road doesn't stay paved for long. This is a nasty switchback just ahead. The fact that it's dirt made the r-dub-mobile spin out quite nicely.
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This is a tough climb through here, and, since we're on a narrow shelf with a ton of blind corners, it's also a tricky road to navigate when there's a lot of oncoming traffic.
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A shot of how narrow this road gets. That's almost too narrow for one full lane.
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With the combination of the steep grade and the hot temperatures, the r-dub-mobile started to overheat here. I cranked the heater and kept going, knowing the car would be fine once I got off of this grade in about five minutes or so.
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Wider road, but we're still climbing fast.
- Where to next?
- Page 1
- This trip's Index
- Page 3
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with any of the orginizations listed within this site. I'm just a bored roadgeek with way too much time on his hands. All of the picts in this page are mine and mine alone unless otherwise noted. Remember, kids: stealing is bad, mmmm-k? I get quite pissy if things are taken without telling me. I don't like to be pissy. You won't like it either. If you want to link to this page, that's fine. Please shoot me an email beforehand so I can link to your page as well. K? Thanks. --Ryan
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