June 21: Solstice in the Garden of the Gods

I woke up completely flummoxed in Leith's soul-less subrban home in Aurora, CO.  He had already left for work and I set about doing laundry, organizing my gear, and hatching a plan for the day.  I studied the maps and tried to figure out a good plan.  The problem was that I am staying in the burbs west of Denver and slightly south which means any foray into the mountain required a cross city haul which contained more mental obstacles than I could mentally handle.  There were so many options.  This is when I would like to have something as cut and dry as a Lonely Planet guide list of star attractions or a traveling companion to take over the reigns as decision maker. I felt road weary for some reason or another.  Finally, I settled on Garden of the Gods.  Pleased with my plans, I quickly retrieved my clean clothes from  the dryer, folded them neatly and then packed essentials for the day.

It was an uneventful drive and fairly easy to navigate out using my iPhone's GPS.  The Garden itself is a free public park and is lovely despite being overrun with tourists.  I continued on to Manitou and inquired at the Chamber of Commerce as to what would be a quiet hike.  I would like to have scaled nearby Pike's Peak, but that was a two-day commitment and driving to the summit was against my value system. They recommended a nice hike with some elevation gain which was nice despite the heat.

View from the visitor's center

Garden of the Gods

Cactus in bloom

I returned to Aurora that evening.  Leith and I had taken post baccalaureate bio and chem classes about 15 years ago.  He is a military officer stationed near Denver, but his recent relocation here combined with job demands and his location in suburbia have left him without many friends nor the gumption to explore the Rockies wonderland.  He seems very happy to host me and has used it as an excuse for some much needed R and R from his routine.

I decided to spend Wed and Thurs exploring Boulder and visiting friends which also helps me to escape suburbia which I seem to be having a powerful reaction to. The plan is to go to Maroon Bells for the weekend afterwards, followed by a solo foray into Rocky Mountain National Park and continuing westward from there.