Calhan Paint Mines Day 1
Calhan Paint Mines
Day 01 – Wednesday, September 18, 2019 – Drive to Calhan, Colorado; Explore The Paint Mines Archeological District – PART 1
Summer is the best time to stay home and enjoy our home and the neighborhood of Colorado Estates and Elephant Rock. But we had been reading about The Calhan Paint Mines and decided to take a break from the foothills and head “out east” to the high grasslands of eastern Colorado.
Described as one of the best but hidden destinations in El Paso County, the Calhan Paint Mines did not disappoint. We headed out early to avoid the heat of the eastern plains and then the afternoon rains and thunderstorms that can come in September.
We packed a small picnic lunch and our water bottles as all of the El Paso Park information sites remind visitors that there are no places for food or water.
Only an hour’s drive from Elephant Rock, we drove east on County Line Road, then south on Highway 83, and then east to Highway 24 through the whistle stop of Peyton, and then to the small hamlet of Calhan.
In the early 1960’s Calhan was a part of the sports league with tiny Lewis-Palmer so Vic knew this region well traveling here for football and basketball games.
The dichotomy of the McMansions and the old ranches along our route brought to light the changes in the rural communities in the eastern parts of the county. We saw crumbling homestead buildings and old windmills with a background of the gigantic new wind turbines.
Calhan has a population of 780 and sits at an elevation of 6,535 feet, the highest non-mountain town in the United States. Who knew?
Comments
Have taken some low landers to visit the Mines and even at 6,000 feet they had some trouble waling even a small loop. But they really enjoyed the site and to see how an area is pristine and the others is eroded over time. Beuatiful
Post a Comment!Nice and I had no idea! How's Vic's knee? Love you both.
Homestead Windmill
Wind Turbines
Paint Mines Interpretive Park
Trailhead
Park Overlook
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