Sixty-Six and Primed

That's right...it's my birthday and I'm primed for the future. The dictionary describes a man in his prime as the period or state of greatest perfection or vigor of human life. That sounds pretty good and reflective of the way I feel about the future. So, to commemorate the day, I enrolled in an art class (introduction to precious metal clay) at the Bemis School of Art in Colorado Springs.

I also treated myself to lunch at The Hungry Bear

The Hungry Bear, Woodland Park, Colorado

It was a nice break from my home cookin'.

While I'm here, let me update what has been going on. It's been an interesting couple of weeks since my last post. Last time I reported that we had explored Elevenmile Canyon and it looked like a prime fishing spot. Since then, Elevenmile Canyon has become the site of what is now known as the Springer wildfire and has been closed for the last two weeks.

The Springer Fire smolders Tuesday, June 19, 2012 near its origin in the Elevenmile Canyon area near Lake George. (The Colorado Springs Gazette | Christian Murdock)

The latest news report has the fire at 23% contained. If the wind is cooperative, there is expectation that the fire will be fully contained by Sunday. I'm sure it will be some time before the area is reopened for fishing.

So, with Elevenmile shut down, Leo and I have been doing more exploring to find altenatives. Last weekend we tried Manitou Lake, which is about 5 miles from my RV park, in the Pike National Forest.

Manitou Lake, with Pikes Peak in the background

 As you can see, this little lake gets pretty crowded on the weekend (we were there on Sunday), so we plan to go back some after work on weekdays. It's not trophy waters, but it's close and may be a chance to put some trout in the frying pan.

Last weekend I also enjoyed a concert at the Ute Pass Cultural Center as part of the Colorado Collage Summer Music Festival. The Orchestra performed works by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Prokofiev, Paul Dukas, Modest Mussorgsky and Igor Stravinsky. It was a real surprise to stumble onto such an enjoyable evening (and it was free).

Woodland Park is growing on me as I spend more time exploring. Here is some flavor of the town...

Pikes Peak from Downtown Woodland Park, Colorado

So, tomorrow starts another weekend and we'll be exploring further. I'm hoping to find the Dream Stream, if it hasn't been impacted by fires. At any rate, I'm primed for whatever the days ahead offer.

The Leos Have Landed...

Pappy on the road (taken by Leo)

 I've got to say, I'm diggin' Satellite Radio. Bluegrass music the whole trip without changing stations or worrying with plugging in my phone for MP3's.

After four days on the road, the Leos arrived at our summer base in Woodland Park, Colorado. We are staying at Bristlecone Lodge RV Park, which is in town, but within a short drive of the Pike National Forest.

The Leos' Summer Camp

We spent Friday and Saturday getting our camp set up and making the rounds of Woodland Park for essentials (goceries, oil change, etc.). Since the RV park is in town, everything is close at hand.

Sunday, we began our exploration of the National Forest nearby. Heading west from Woodland Park, we first stopped at a National Forest Visitors' Center at Wilkerson Pass (elevation 9502 ft.). From here the view of Pikes Peak and the surrounding area is great.

Pikes Peak from Wilkerson Pass

I'll work on a better picture of Pikes Peak from downtown. It's closer there.

View to the west from Wilkerson Pass

After crossing the Pass, we sought out Elevenmile Canyon, which contains a nine mile stretch the South Platte River between Elevenmile Reservoir and Lake George.  Sure looked fishy (clicking pictures will enlarge them) ....

Entrance to Elevenmile Canyon

South Platte River in Elevenmile Canyon

More...

and more.

Approaching the "end of the road".

This looks like a good place to start my fishing, since it's close by and listed in Trout Unlimited's Guide to America's 100 Best Trout Streams. Since I'm new to the area, I'd generally start by hiring a guide for a day to save myself a lot of trial and error. But since I have more time than budget, I plan to wing it this summer.


Now, I'm in a work week, so exploration and fishing will have to wait till the weekend. Till then, I'm workamping in the pines.