This morning we ate breakfast at Jay's Prairie Rose in Laramie and then went for a short walk along the Laramie River in town. After our walk, I headed south into Colorado to use up some Annual Leave while Noelle, Mom, and Sierra headed east to home. It was an uneventful drive into the eastern plains of Colorado and I was excited to finally arrive at Paint Mines Interpretive Park just outside the small community of Calhan. I parked at the Overlook Parking Lot, checked out the overlook
and then headed out on the trail system.
The views in this small park out on the plains are spectacular!
It's like a smaller, more colorful version of Badlands National Park. There are areas of colorful hoodoos.
A well-designed trail system takes you right into the heart of the formations.
After exploring the main section of the park, I hiked a trail up above the heart of the formations with a few nice overlooks of the badlands and some wildflowers.
Then, the trail heads away from the paint mine formations into the prairie. Still, the views are pretty nice, even with the windmills spinning off in the distance.
Wildlife spotted included a garter snake and a small herd of mule deer.
As I started to make my way back to the badlands, I was treated to the sight of a beautiful rainbow in the sky above.
I returned to the car just as the sun was starting to set.
It would be a long drive in the dark to my campsite at the Wither's Canyon Trailhead just outside of La Junta, Colorado.
