Colorado 2024 Day Four

 

Colorado 2024 Day Four

Today it’s Colorado Springs, Cave of the Winds, Garden of the Gods, and Seven Falls.  Paul and I were here before, at least once.  Might have been twice.  It never ceases to amaze.  How exactly did those red rocks that weigh 700 plus tons get stacked and balanced on top of each other? How did the labyrinth of caves form far below the surface? I overheard snippets of a conversation two of the guys were having today about all the tour guides saying these were formed millions of years ago.  Bible history only goes back about 6,000 years when it is recorded that God created the earth in six days.  So how is it that scientists are dating rock formations back much further?  There are several possibilities.

There is nothing impossible for God.  So maybe He created the earth in six days, brand new but fully aged. Or maybe the planet has been here for millions of years, but “without form and void” and with rocks already in existence deep within its depths.  Could it be that millions of years ago this place was inhabited by other life forms, destroyed and left vacant, until God brought it back to life again?  Or maybe, all the most brilliant minds with their carbon dating and geological theories are just plain wrong.

Kyle, our tour guide at Cave of the Winds, enthusiastically told us the current theories on their formation.  Supposedly, millions of years ago, this was the site of a lake.  Also at some point an underground river.  These make sense since evidence of water creatures have been found here.

The caves were discovered by two small boys. Bored by the group activity they were involved in, they snuck away and went exploring.  They found holes barely big enough to squeeze through and, with only candles for light, they wiggled on in and crawled through tunnels until the wind whipping through blew out their candles.  The found their way to the outside again and declared they had found “haunted caves” because of the eerie sounds the wind made as it passed through the caves.  I never did hear how the wind found entry.

Tours have been given since 1881, costing one dollar, with only candles for light and many of the tunnels accessible only by crawling. NO WAY.  I was less than thrilled with the narrow spaces we walked through today and the 200 man-made steps that eased our journey were still a bit hair-raising.

At Garden of the Gods our step-on guide wore a name badge emblazoned “Queen” and she did order our bus driver around as if she was accustomed to instant deference.  As we drove through she filled us in on the history of these red-rocked hills.  Pike’s Peak was visible far off in the distance as we listened to Queen tell us the names of all the unique rock formations.  The weeping lady, the screaming witch, the kissing camels, the Scottish man, and so on and so on.   She pointed out a single-seed Juniper tree and told us it was 1100 years old.  And that it takes 75 years for that kind of tree to germinate. I don’t know whether that’s true or not but it sparks the imagination anyway.  Oh, and it turns out Queen’s name is Marti.  Maybe her name tag was a commentary on her self-esteem or her aspirations.  She didn’t explain. We didn’t ask.

Our next stop was Seven Falls.  Last time I was here I was six years younger and so were my knees. Two steep stairways led up the sheer rock walls to balconies overlooking the falls It looked to me like several hundred steps in each set for the brave and able bodied to make their way to the top.  Last time I climbed up both sides with minimal trouble.  Today I took the elevator.  These days I continue to have rude reality checks on aging.  I don’t like it but I am reminded to be thankful of how healthy I am compared to so many others.  Our hike up to the falls was half a mile on a paved roadway at over 7000 feet elevation and the thin oxygen probably had more to do with the heavy breathing than the physical exertion.  The weather was perfect, the scenery spectacular and the falls as beautiful as ever.

The return walk down to the bus was still half a mile long but all downhill which had its advantages.  Another delicious meal at a nearby restaurant, more stretching the capacity of the pants, and we were off to our hotel for the night.