It's Sierra's fall break and we opted to head down into Colorado for a few days of exploring in the Castle Rock area between Denver and Colorado Springs. We made the drive south this morning and, after eating a picnic lunch at an empty roadside campsite, arrived at the trailhead for our first hike at Pike National Forest's Devil's Head Lookout.
Fall colors seem to be a little past peak at this higher elevation, but a few aspen trees still held their colorful, golden leaves.
Most of the leaves, however, littered the ground.
As we ascended the trail, intermittent views opened up out across the Rampart Range.
We ascended higher and higher.
Soon enough we found ourselves at the base of the staircase that leads up to the fire lookout.
There is a cabin here for the lookout to stay in.
This is one of the few remaining fire towers that is still staffed during the fire season. Here we took turns making the climb. Noelle and Sierra went first
while I stayed down below with Rosie. Rosie pretty much whined the whole time the girls had left us behind.
After about 15 minutes Noelle and Sierra descended back down the stairs.
Now it was my turn to make my way to the summit. As I climbed, I was struck by just how much the scenery here resembles that of the Black Hills. The hike reminds me a lot of the hike up Black Elk Peak.
I waited my turn to walk the catwalk that surrounds the lookout and even found the summit benchmark.
Then, I headed back down to the girls for our return hike back to the car.
We headed into Castle Rock, checked into our hotel, and then headed out for dinner at Great Divide.
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