Austin Bluffs Park

Bill and I decided to hike somewhere new this morning - Austin Bluffs Park. We could see it on the map - and we had the coordinates where we should park - but finding it was a challenge! It is near the intersection of Austin Bluffs and Union where there has been a lot of construction, so the street configuration has changed.

We finally found the parking area and headed for the trail. The first thing we saw was a warning about Mountain Lions and what to do if you see one. Did I really want to climb here??

We hiked to the top and, naturally, we looked for two geocaches hidden on top. The view of Pikes Peak was awesome.

The first cache was hidden in a rock crevice behind the Pine tree in this picture. We were both searching the area - but Bill found it first. It was too small to leave anything - so we just signed the log and moved on to the next one - further up on the bluffs.

The climb was quite challenging. The trails were not well marked and very hard to follow. We climbed up and over several rock formations on our way. The footing was slippery

This is the tree where the second cache was located. The picture is sideways because I took it shortly after I fell and hit my knee on a stone. I needed to sit a few minutes for the pain to subside and to make sure the bleeding had stopped.

Ouch! The hike back down was interesting - but I made it and am now sitting with my leg elevated and I have ice (actually a bag of frozen blackberries - we didn't have any peas) on my knee. It's swollen and is turning pretty shades of black and blue (or maybe that's the bag of blackberries leaking!) - but I'm sure it will be fine.

Mr. Squirrel likes the new waterfalls. I seem to take a lot of pictures of the squirrels. They have been my adversaries (and pains in the neck!) trying to steal all of the bird food - but now I'm finding them kinda cute.

The chickadees are back. This is a Black-capped Chickadee. According to my "Birds of Colorado" they can easily be attracted to bird boxes and can be tamed and hand fed. I might have to try that - once I'm back on my feet.