Prospecting to Prospect or Which Roads are Accessible?

THE GOOD: View of Pikes Peak from the south



Traveling around the south side of Pikes Peak has changed a lot since the 9-11 terror attacks. Many old jeep roads have been closed to public access due to fear of contamination of water supplies. Years ago you could travel just about anywhere you wanted in the National Forest as long as you had a vehicle that could make it around the boulders, trees, bogs on old jeep roads. Today most of these roads have been blocked off much to my chagrin. Unfortunately roads are closed by one agency but they don't tell the map makers so you just have to check things out for yourself. When you look at the messes people have made near the existing open roads, I wonder if the closures are not a bad thing. I thought the bad behavior of litterers was a thing of the 70s, but evidently it's alive and well in some of redneck enclaves of Pikes Peak.



THE BAD: Really, a sign not to shoot trees?

 



THE UGLY: Looks like a firing range, note executed trees. I guess we need no dumping signs too.

Oh well, the purpose of todays trips was to see just what roads were open as well as determine if it would make sense to bring up some ATVs to ride on some of the roads that had been turned into trails. We have an area we want to prospect, but it looks like it will require overnight camping to get there. Our older maps show roads that are now closed to all but hikers. Perhaps I will give this a try some day, but cooler temperatures and no thunderstorms must be part of the forecast.


THE BEAUTIFUL: State Flower the Columbine at 10,000Ft