Design Rangers Camp Blog

One of the best parts of being the Design Rangers is getting to drive a Jeep. And where Jeep roads go, there’s sure to be an adventure.

We recently took a trip to the top of Mt. Almagre, Colorado – summit 12,367 ft. If you look up at the Colorado Springs skyline, it’s the big bald mountain just to the south of Pikes Peak.

Winding up into the hills on what used to be a train line to the gold camp town of Cripple Creek, a small sign reading FS379 points the way to the 4WD trail that takes you bouncing up the side of a mountain. As we made our way up, we meandered through valleys full of wildflowers, crossed crystal clear streams, and caught glimpses of the city fading farther into the distance. A mile or two on an exposed shelf road above and you run into a natural spring and snow fed reservoir at 11,854 ft.

From this spot you peer straight down Cheyenne Canyon, which leads to the famous Broadmoor hotel, and out to the horizon where you can see the Kansas border on a clear day. You could spend hours in this spot taking in the views. However, our destination this day was another mile or so up the trail to the summit. At this altitude, one mile can feel like four or five as you gasp for air and trudge up into the moonscape above timberline. Several switchbacks and two or three piggyback rides for our Jr. Ranger son Keagan, and we reached the top.

Wow! Up close and personal views of Pikes Peak, the Sangre de Cristo mountain range to the West, the Seven lakes area below, a 360 panorama of Colorado Springs and beyond. Maybe not Everest… OK, not even a proper 14er, but it feels like you’re on top of the world.

At the top we found a small stack of rocks hiding an army-box with logbooks and a bunch of random items. Turns out that it’s a GeoCache – a box strategically placed at a set of GPS coordinates for high-tech treasure hunters to find. The idea is simple, locate the container, take one item, leave another and write about your search. From the GeoCaching website: Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. We took a carabiner, left some sunscreen and an energy bar, jotted some notes in the log, and headed back to town.

On the way down we picked up Jack, a lost dog who got to live with us for the night. He was a cute Husky mix and friendly as can be, but as we found out on our own and later from his owners the next day, Jack tends to get a little car sick.

Getting off the beaten path can be a blast and can lead you to some amazing places. We try to take that path often as we can – which is to say its not often enough.