Bear spray ban?; Waterfall to visit; Bear wants Taco Bell; Scary flash flooding; Wildfire update; & More

[00:00:04] Welcome to another episode of the The OutThere Colorado Podcast. Once again, I'm Spencer here with Seth. Hello everybody. We got Tim over there on the video and the audio for the day. And once again, a lot of Colorado things to talk about. Yeah, let's get into the weekend first. How was your weekend, sir? I had a great weekend. Great weekend. I had a great weekend because I finally went to the Colorado Renaissance Festival. What day? On Saturday. Saturday. All right. In Larkspur. So, you know, I don't know like what day.

[00:00:34] What I was expecting, but it blew away all my expectations. Yeah, I've never been. Whatever those expectations were. Yeah. So like, what's it like? Oh, where do I begin? I mean, you get there, you know, in Larkspur, right? Between Colorado Springs and Denver. Right. Why it attracts such massive crowds because of that prime location, right between the two biggest cities. And like, there's like, even like just the parking lot. There's like this experience of like arrival. You know what I mean? Like you are at November.

[00:01:04] It's like this huge. It's like this huge parking area. Like it kind of has this upland kind of feel to it. So it's really scenic. The view shed up there. And then there's just a massive amount of cars. Like people dressed up, people hanging out, getting pumped to go into this event. Right. And it really does have like this like theme park feel to it.

[00:01:31] Is everyone what I'm getting at? Is everyone dressed up? Everyone's dressed up. Were you dressed up? A lot of people dressed up. I wasn't dressed up. I was the first timer. I didn't really know. I had to get some, I had to scope things out. So like medieval garb. Right. I'm guessing. Right. And then you walk past the gates of this castle facade. Right. And you are in this, again, I keep saying like theme park because it is that kind of size, that kind of scope.

[00:01:56] I didn't realize it was that huge. Right. And you feel like you're like in this, yeah, Renaissance village that feels bigger than a village. More like a city. Right. Between the pines, between these like very dense and stately pines of this part of the state. Like you're pretty much in constant shade, walking between these super tall pines, between these even taller buildings, like shops, entertainment stages, food stands, beer stands.

[00:02:26] And just everywhere you look, obviously the people watching is supreme. You know? Oh, yeah. People dressed up. But everywhere you look, there's also just like, here's a magician. A magician. Here's a witch trial. Here's someone getting a tomato thrown at their face while he's mocking the crowd. Right. Here's jousting people, knights on horseback. Dang. Right. Yeah. Here's music going on. Here's singers.

[00:02:52] You know, just, just a seriously awesome time. Yeah. Wow. It was great. That sounds awesome. I felt like I could have been there a lot longer. Dang. So, still running through August 2nd, I'm seeing. Is that right? I believe, yeah. Let me double check. Try to fit it in, people. I mean. Dang, 12,000 to 14,000 people every weekend day. So. I mean, even just driving in.

[00:03:21] You know, I know it's infamous for like the line of traffic getting in. But yeah, I was really, really impressed. Yeah. I think it's something I want to do every summer now. I think you get. I don't know. I think a lot of people say that. Yeah. I've heard that from a lot of friends. And I don't really know like how nerdy you have to be or not. Right. I mean, that's like the popular association with Ren Faire is like. Yeah. You got to have a flair for the medieval. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe. I mean, Game of Thrones has popularized it, right? For sure.

[00:03:55] The dress up guy, you know, to give you an idea. Right. And I had a blast. What a. Total blast. Did you have any good food? We had some scotch eggs. Oh, nice. You know what those are? Like the beef surrounded by the egg. Yeah. And fried. Kind of sounds gross, but it's really good. Yeah. You know. Nice. And fried, yeah. How was the food priced? Like pretty. And that was the other thing that stood out to me. Like prices were better than you probably think. Yeah. What would you think a beer would be? I mean, I don't know.

[00:04:24] Probably at something like that. Ten bucks. Seven dollars. Yeah. You know, that's fair. Yeah. I remember there's. You get a cup of fries for six bucks or something. You know. I was at one of the festivals down in the Springs and they had turkey legs. I think they were like $22 for a turkey leg. Yeah. I can't remember what the turkey leg prices were, but I don't, I don't think they were that much. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, that's wild. But it's expensive. Nice. I need to add that to my list. I was really just amazed. Like, again, I can't emphasize how cool the scene was. How you feel like you are way, you are far away.

[00:04:54] You are somewhere else. You are in this enchanted forest between Renaissance buildings left and right. Very cool. No. I mean, yeah, that, that really stood out to me. Just the scope of it was a lot bigger. And they've got themed weekends too. I see. Oh. Oh. So last, last weekend was, oh wait. Oh, this is from last year, I guess maybe. I don't know. Huh. It looks like last week was maybe Pirates Invasion. Huh. When did you see Pirates? I saw some pirates, but they weren't invading. Oh wait, I'm looking at June.

[00:05:23] Love and romance was the theme while you were there. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Next, next weekend, Time Travelers weekend. Mm. Where like people would dress up in like Star Trek and stuff. I don't know. Because I saw some Star Trek people. Really? Yeah. Maybe like steampunk. Steampunk people. Mm. Very cool. All right. It was super worthwhile. If you've wondered or been on the fence about it, I would encourage you to check it out. Yeah. I think tickets are like 30 bucks. Yeah. That's fair. Yeah.

[00:05:52] So how was, did you do anything Sunday? Otherwise, what did I do? Oh, met up with my brother Sunday. Yeah. We bumped around downtown here. You watched the World Cup game? I watched the end of the World Cup game. Yeah. Pretty wild game. Yeah. Like it was, I was watching it at Mother Muffs and it was like 20 shots on goal or whatever. From Spain and then zero from Argentina. Wow. At least like until the end. So it was like more. I think it ended like 20 shots and three shots or something. So it was more lopsided than one zero? Oh, it was wild. And everyone in Muffs was cheering for Spain, it felt like.

[00:06:21] So it was like constant, like, I mean, the Argentinian goalie was top notch. Like he was having a performance of his life throughout the game. Yes. I noticed it at the end. And he just kept getting these saves. And it was like, everyone was like, ah. He was on fire, huh? I was cheering for Argentina and Messi personally. I was too. Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to see him. That would be a cool end to his legend. Yeah. That was my thought as well. Yeah, dude. I held some chickens over the weekend. Yeah? We were over to a friend's house.

[00:06:50] They have like 12 chickens. Yeah. And you can hold them, but you got to catch them first. So they're just all in the backyard. Rocky Balboa style. So that was kind of funny. Work out your speed to catch the chicken. Our power went out. I finally got the Starlink hooked up. I was thinking about you. Was very impressed with the Starlink, actually. Like, I got it for camping. I have a little generator, too, that I can plug some panels into. But yeah, power went out. Got this kit set up within like three minutes on the back porch. And yeah, I had full internet.

[00:07:20] I was like, dang, that was super easy to use. That worked. I've never used my own. Yeah. So. Nice. I was impressed with that. Looking forward to some camping weekends with that. Just to. Just to have it if you need it. Yeah. That type of thing, you know? Yeah. I was. Yeah, I noticed that power outage. I was thinking that was around Jamaica the Woods. Yeah. Random. About two hours. Yeah. I think they're doing some work in the neighborhood. Oh, gotcha. To get a wire or something. But yeah. Let's get into some of these Colorado topics. All right. Hmm. What do we start with? All right.

[00:07:51] So this topic's been going viral in recent weeks, months, whatever. And basically at California's national parks, you can't use bear spray. It's a prohibited item. They consider it a weapon. Same with pepper spray. So they essentially, if you're visiting Yosemite, Redwood, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, right? These places where there are black bears, they like strictly prohibit it. So you can't use bear spray. At California's national parks.

[00:08:20] I don't think I knew that. Yeah. And this topic keeps going viral online. It's been around for like, this policy has been in place for quite some time. Right. But it keeps going viral online because people are like, what do you do? And like the information on the site is just like, like try to scare the bear off or like store your food properly. And I'm like, anyone who's been around bears before, you know, like you, you want bear spray, like on the national park service website, it's like bear spray is the recommended approach.

[00:08:49] If you're in a bear country. Yeah. And I mean, even I'm like Rocky Mountain National Park says like bring bear spray, like all of Colorado's national parks, a lot of bear spray. Basically their, their reasoning behind it is that California is only home to black bears. It's not home to grizzlies. Same as Colorado, right? But very different policies, obviously, between the two states. But also that they seem to have concern that the bear spray and pepper, pepper spray will

[00:09:19] be irresponsibly used by people. So maybe like in an attack scenario or something like that. But either way, I came across this and I was just like looking into it. And I mean, it's not like California, you know, it's like their bears are just as aggressive or just have the same potential for aggression as our bears do. I found like a hundred different bear attacks, including a recent one that took place right outside of Yosemite where a couple had to fight off a bear with a hatchet and were severely injured. Whoa.

[00:09:49] So, or they were injured. And another one where a bear came in through some kid's window, like a teenager's window and attacked him. Very recent, both in June. But either way, this is the policy. So if you're going to California, pretty, pretty serious penalty if you get caught with bear spray or pepper spray in one of their national parks. So keep it in mind. I think I read like a crazy story about bear encounters around Lake Tahoe lately. Yeah. How insane that's got.

[00:10:18] And I think that's the word, like it's gotten pretty insane. Yeah. Yeah. Like you see the videos, there was at least that one giant black bear that was going viral a while back, but like we go into convenience stores and stuff. Yeah. I don't know how their other parks are. I think you're allowed to have bear spray in a lot of California, but don't quote me on that. But yeah, so pretty, I was just kind of surprised to see that. It's odd. Yeah. It's odd. Right. I'm like, it's the first line of defense. Also like the pepper spray thing too. It's like.

[00:10:47] There are places in Colorado Springs where it's like, you might want to have pepper spray on you. Like, you know, it's like any, I mean, even in like the wilderness and stuff, it's like still a good, a good self-defense tool. Yeah. Yeah. In the event that something sketchy arises, you know, it's like. Yeah. And I mean. I've never been in the situation where I've had to, but yeah. Yeah. I've never had to, but like, except for that deer that one time. But yeah. It's one of those things where it's like, whether you have a law about pepper spray or

[00:11:15] not, and whether you can use it or not, the sketchy people are still going to be there. Right. For people who missed a podcast about Spencer's crazy story about a deer encounter. Yeah. What was that? The dog? The dog, my dog was ignoring it, but the, my dog like totally ignored it. It was like the deer was invisible to the dog on a leash. But this deer was pretty angry. I was just walking down a paved trail in the middle of Kara Springs. Yeah.

[00:11:39] And this deer, I think it was triggered by the dog probably just being in the same area, but it hopped up from the brush. So it was kind of hidden and then hopped up, probably still had young over there or something like that. And yeah, it came at me like kicking. And I was in kind of like, you know, downtown area. I carried pepper spray. It was during the COVID times. Things were a little bit, a little bit sketchy in this area I was in. So I was carrying pepper spray and I didn't want to spray the deer because I didn't want to like hurt it.

[00:12:09] Yeah. So I'm like trying to like get in the, get in the air around the deer. It was literally like, like it was kicking about a foot or so away from my face. Wow. Like, and I was just like trying to retreat from the scene. Follow me for like 10 minutes. Wow. Yeah. It's like 10 or 15 minutes, like this angry deer, like just very angry. My dog was immediately just like, Oh yeah, we're going home. Like, which is crazy. Cause she's like, has a route. Like, well, like, I mean, yeah, she like barks a deer any other time they're outside, like type of thing. But she was just like, Nope, don't even care at all whatsoever.

[00:12:38] Which I mean, much better than her trying to attack the deer, I guess. Right. I'm thankful. She was like, I was like, if that deer gets you, it gets you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Survival of the fittest. Man, it followed me for a long time. That is sweet. Just like, I remember you saying that. And I was like, what do I do? Like, do I have to like, you see those videos of the dudes in Australia, like punching the kangaroo? Am I about to like get in a boxing match with this deer that's trying to trample me? But anyway. That is a wild. That is my, uh, my wild, uh, yeah.

[00:13:08] Do you say, yeah. So honestly, it's the closest I've been to being hurt by an animal in Colorado, I think. Yeah. Um, haven't been close enough to a rattlesnake or, uh, see, I came like on a similarly urban path in Manitou Springs, like by the fitness center, by the pool and fitness center. If people are familiar, there was a moose. Oh yeah. That would be, I didn't get into any situation there. I saw it way ahead and just turned it. Yeah. Moose I've seen. That probably would have been my craziest wildlife story. I think.

[00:13:38] Yeah. I think I've got, I've been close to bears before. I got shared the Taco Bell story with me. Yeah. Running, running outside with the Taco Bell. Um, they're not running outside. I pulled up to the house real quick, real quick recap on Spencer's closest encounter with the bear, uh, parked my car with a bag full of Taco Bell after work, uh, got out of the car, closed my door, look up and there's a black bear, like 20 feet away from

[00:14:30] me in the driveway. Yeah. I've been in one of those situations. Yeah. The bears don't really like, I'll hear them getting into like the neighbor's trash and I like, I have no problem going out and hazing them away. Yeah. Like in general, like, like, uh, or just like not getting into the neighbor's trash. Don't throw my neighbors under the bus. We are, we are all very responsible with our trash cans at this point. Um, because there are bears and you have to be, but, uh, yeah. Like if they're like around trying to get into the trash, like knocking it over, like all right now outside and yell at them and they'll, they'll run off every time.

[00:14:58] But I told you I saw a bobcat long ago, right? Yeah. Dude. Bobcats are cool. That's a, that's a good sighting, man. That was a pretty cool sighting. I always like, my brain's always like, that's a cat. And then I'm like, that's not a cat. That's a giant 40 pound animal or 30. It was like up on these like bluffs, you know, kind of up the trail, up these bluffs. And like, and I don't think I would have noticed it if these people ahead didn't point them out to, to us. But yeah, you could tell like those ears are very, pretty definitive. At first I was like, Ooh, mountain lion, mountain lion.

[00:15:28] But those pointy ears tell you. Yeah. And the more kind of furry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I see them, uh, see them in the neighborhood in the morning. I'll catch them on my security camera more than I'll see them in person. Like they're, they're very early risers. It's like, if I've last time I actually saw one in person, I think it was like a run at like 6am or something like that. And it was just sitting on someone's driveway. I was like, that's, you're like kind of tired, kind of out of it. And I was like, Whoa. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. Wildlife segment. Yeah. Had a Hawk take a nosedive at me once.

[00:15:57] That was pretty scary. Yeah. That would be scary, man. Not to mention this one. That was like a switch back in this like kind of newly opened trail system. So like my mind definitely went to like, okay, this Hawk has an idea of what should be happening here. And I'm not supposed to be here. Right. Yeah. Like a new, new trail that was going up this forest at Hillside. Just taking the switch back and thank goodness it was a switch back. Cause that's what gave me the eyeline. Straight my cabesa dude. Dang.

[00:16:24] And, uh, I, I can't say if it was going to hit me right on, you know? Yeah. I think it was more above. I think I might be exaggerating. You just get clawed in the side of it. I still like remember ducking. Yeah. And then freaking out if it was going to do it again for a while. They're pretty territorial. Yeah. Like we, people, I don't even know what kind of Hawk it was. I didn't, you know, look closely enough to see. Oh yeah. I had a red tail. Yeah. Probably. That's kind of what I was thinking. But we had one, uh, this is one of the first projects I had with other Colorado,

[00:16:53] but like 10 years ago, uh, we were filming, uh, the terror dactyl. Oh yeah. Cave of the Wind. It's very cool. A little canyon swing. Um, but we had drones in the air above Williams Canyon with permission and everything. Like we were working with Cave of the Wind on this. Um, and we kept having to pull the drone shots away because the Perigine Falcons were dive bombing the drones. Like just, yeah. And it was, it was, uh, and I was the one who was on the terror dactyl, uh, as like the

[00:17:22] model or stand in whatever you want to call it. So I was on the terror dactyl with a friend and we had to do it eight times in a row because they kept out, they kept having to pull the shot out. So I'm like the first two times I was very terrified and then it's like fine for two times. And then the last four times we're just like nauseating because you kind of spin when they pull you back up and I'm just like about to lose it, man. They like, and every time here for a job. Yeah. And every time we get back up to the top, they'd finally pull us back to the thing.

[00:17:49] And then the dude that was like down in the canyon with the drone was like, yeah, we're gonna have to do it again. And we're just like, no, no, no. Oh, that's trippy, man. Have you done that? Have you done that ride? No, it's trippy. I don't know if I got it in me. It's like you're held, like you're in the seat. It's you and one other person and they just start to tip you. They like open this platform before, like underneath you. So it's like a 200 foot drop below you. And then they just slowly tilt you forward.

[00:18:16] And the whole, I mean, it's obviously up to safety standards, uh, but you're held in by like straps, right? Like it's not like, it's not like, it's like, you know, how big is that drop? I mean, it's like 150 feet probably that you swing down into the canyon and you're just like sitting there waiting. And then all of a sudden it's like click. And then there's like, it feels like a second of pause. I know it's not that much, but it's like click and you're gone. You're just like, it's fun. I mean, it's worth checking out and it's absolutely beautiful there. So I mean, yeah. Oh, it is beautiful.

[00:18:46] It's a cool, uh, it's a cool experience. I might be good with just the view from above. Yeah. I mean, it is, it's worth it if you're in Colorado Springs and want a quick thrill that you just pay for it. That's Spencer's kind of place, man. He can get a thrill from the air and from underground in the cave. Underground. Do a serious caver over here. Yeah. Got to do the, uh, Cave of the Winds, uh, Cave of the Winds, uh, what do they call it now? The expedition tour. Expedition tour. Yeah. Yeah. Where you kind of get down and dirty a little bit. Yeah.

[00:19:16] It's like a guided tour where you can pay and, and be on it. It's cool. Yeah. A little intro to that video of me getting stuck and panicking is now over a million views on Instagram. I think it sounds like I'm the only one who hasn't watched it. It's a, Oh, Oh, the, all the comments, man, are just like, what is this person doing? Why are they doing this? And they're all very anti-caving comments, but I have fun. I had fun. Hey, all that matters is that people are talking about what they say. It's that they say anything at all. I keep telling, telling myself that.

[00:19:45] This is the age of viral internet, man. That's all we care about. Yeah. Sadly. Sadly. All right. Well, hey, what else are we talking about? What else are we having here? Oh, so I want to hear about this. Speaking of some like extreme sports, we'll say, or whatever you want to call it. Um, there's something going on with highlining in Colorado Springs, which is when you essentially string that big cord wire highline, highline rope or whatever, whatever they call it.

[00:20:12] Um, slack line, we'll say above two points, like way above a Canyon. And it's usually very long. And oftentimes 99.9% of the people are clipped in. They have a harness on them and they are tied to that rope when they do these highlines. But yeah, tell us about what's going on with highlining. Yeah. So I was recently at a Colorado Springs parks board meeting because I was looking at the agenda and this caught my attention about slack lining and highlining in Colorado Springs. Um, maybe I was not aware that both are illegal.

[00:20:42] There are, you know, there are languages that there, there is language in the code books that say, you know, you can't strap a line between two trees. Um, you can't strap a line between two rocks, between natural resources in the park system and the city owned park system. Um, and so a local highliner and advocate, someone really, uh, involved in the scene, uh, really abroad.

[00:21:11] He was recently part of this, uh, Canyon city, July 4th event. Did you hear about this? We're going across the bridge. Across the bridge. Yeah. Royal Gorge. Royal Gorge. Right. Um, he was involved in another big record attempt in Brazil over like a cityscape there. He's been involved over the years, um, with putting a highline over the flat irons in Boulder. Very cool. Uh, and you know, getting that cleared. Um, so he was there to, uh, advocate for a path forward, uh, to allow slack lining and

[00:21:39] high lining, uh, in Colorado Springs parks. Uh, very, very preliminary. Let me just start by saying that this is hardly even a conversation yet. This was simply a proposal that he made in that parks officials do sound interested in pursuing, uh, a possibility for this slack lining and or high lining what that may or may not look like in the Colorado Springs park system.

[00:22:05] And, um, maybe significant in the sense that when we think about what high lining could be in Colorado Springs parks, I mean, his mind indeed goes to Garden of the Gods. Oh yeah. Think of a scene like that in garden of the gods and red rock Canyon, open space. Um, yeah, red rock Canyon in North Cheyenne Canyon park, perhaps, you know, really? I mean, the way he put it, like, you know, there is spectacular and iconic potential, uh,

[00:22:33] for a high line in some of these landscapes in Colorado Springs. So what's the concern with high lines? Like, why is it not something that's allowed? Uh, natural resource protection is what, you know, parks people would point to. Um, they'd point to, you know, like the way we share these spaces, the amount of recreation that happens up against a major city, right? There'd be concerns there, obvious concerns about safety and liability.

[00:23:00] Uh, but nonetheless, like we, you know, in Colorado Springs, there's a permitting system for rock climbing, right? People can access the air of garden of the gods with a permit of red rock Canyon with a permit to climb. So that's the proposal. Like, is there a route to, um, a permit system that would allow for high lining? And then there's another complicated, foreseeably complicated conversation about bolting, right?

[00:23:27] Uh, to put up a high line that would require like, uh, presumably bolting a line in, right? A route in. So there there's, you know, that, that those conversations happen in the climbing world, right? We see bolts in some of these locations, but yeah, natural resource protection is what ties into that. And then the safety and liability. I could see enforcement too, right? Like, how do you enforce it, uh, for a city park system that, that, uh, is pretty infamously,

[00:23:53] um, cash strapped, you know, uh, resources are what they are in a, in a parks department like that, you know, or, or is there, um, is it feasible to really enforce it? Yeah. You know, I could see protection of the view too. Like, like, and maybe the solution there would just be like certain days of the week, certain times you could have a high line up, but imagine if there was just, you're at guard of the gods and all the time there's just a high line up, you know, or even like. Are people going to be cool with it? Yeah. It is kind of like, you know, it is, it is because like with rock climbing, that's maybe

[00:24:23] a little bit less in your face in that regard where it's like someone's up on the rock wall. You don't even notice them unless you're looking a lot of the time. Um, whereas highlighting, you know, very, very obvious and that's not a knock against highlighting by any means at all whatsoever, but, um, I think it would, I mean, I think it'd be cool to see a little bit of it. Yeah. But like, to your point, you're getting at exactly what probably the conversation would, would develop into, you know, like what are people okay with and not okay with in a place so beloved like that, or a place so beloved like Red Rock Canyon or Northshine Canyon Park.

[00:24:53] It's easy to imagine concerns, uh, coming in a, in the dialogue. Right. But like I said, like, it's hardly a conversation right now. Like there's a proposal and yeah, like I said, parks officials do sound interested in seeing what this maybe could look like, right. What maybe it could look like or not look like, but those concerns that you kind of allude to, um, those haven't come to the surface yet, yet, because I think this conversation is still coming to the surface.

[00:25:20] There's been a proposal in a, in a, at a meeting and, uh, it, it, it could be really interesting to kind of see where, where it might go, you know? Yeah. When you brought up highlining too, it reminded me, and like there is a risk that comes with it, you know? And it reminded me of a story out of Arizona that I covered back in January where a high line was left up across a Canyon, um, more than a kilometer long to like put in perspective how long some of these, some of these high lines are, um, and a helicopter struck it.

[00:25:48] And apparently the high line, uh, according to a statement from the interline international slack line association, uh, they said that it had aviation markers on it. Um, and that was just that initial report. So I, I haven't followed up on that story. It wasn't, it took place in Arizona. Right. But, um, yeah. So kind of one of those things where talking about like shared use of a space, you know? Um, and just how it maybe that it does add a little extra layer of chaos, not chaos might not be the right word, but it's another use. Yeah.

[00:26:17] It's another use where it's like, um, yeah. Yeah. How do you, uh, another use in another, in a busy space already. Yeah. You know? So the official word I got from the local parks director, several factors to consider quote unquote, including public safety, protecting trees and other natural resources, i.e. rock, right. Uh, impacts to other park users and the associated balance of recreational use, practical enforcement, and whether different activities, slack lining and high lining should be approached differently

[00:26:47] in terms of what the regulation regulatory might be. One thing in some people's minds to string a strap, maybe four feet, three feet above, uh, above the ground in a neighborhood park on trees. Yeah. You see it all the time in college campuses. Right. Yeah. Uh, probably a whole other thing to be talking about a high line way above the ground in a place like garden of guts, you know? Yeah. So there was even, I kind of heard some chatter about. A parks board member kind of saying, you know, maybe, maybe we focus on slack lining.

[00:27:16] Maybe we kind of focus on what regulation might be for slack lining instead of high lining. And, um, this person advocating for this kind of politely said, you know, I want to keep high lining as part of the conversation because if it's not, it'll fall by the wayside. So, you know, well, maybe, and maybe it's something where there is like a special event, which is kind of like the Royal Gorge bridge, uh, situation where you, I would imagine you can't normally high line across that, but with an event like that you can.

[00:27:42] So maybe, maybe it's something like that, or even it's, you know, annual or, or something like that where people have that option. Like a special occasion kind of thing. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Like motorless mornings. Right. Right. Yeah. They do that. Uh, what is it once a month at garden of the gods or so where no cars are left? Um, one in the spring maybe. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's, it, it, it struck me because like, yeah, what an image, right? I mean, that would be cool. It would be cool. Highline across Garden of the Gods. It would be cool. But no doubt some concerns with that too.

[00:28:12] So we didn't start off talking about fires today, which people probably noticed. Um, I guess that's a nice change of pace. Good change of pace. Right. Yeah. How are things looking? Uh, things are looking pretty, I mean, they're looking better than they were. Yeah. You know, uh, rain in the forecast, right? Yeah. The one that I've seen the most growth with, uh, is the elk fire, which is a little bit west of the gold or a little bit east of the gold mountain fire. That's by your way. Uh, kind of like by Lake city or so it's 2,300 acres. So not as an exploding growth, but maybe since the last podcast, that's notable.

[00:28:41] But yeah, you're getting, getting a lot of containment on a lot of these fires, uh, which has been good. Um, ask me an acre fires. I think it's up to 61% containment now, according to the most recent watch duty report, uh, gold mountain fire up to 38,000, uh, acres, 13% containment. So containment's still a little bit low on that one. Still kind of increasing a little bit. Um, the crazy thing that I did, well, the first crazy thing I want to mention about these fires, there was a grass fire that was sparked by a squirrel on a power line. Whoa. To kind of show you.

[00:29:11] Yeah. And it, it got under control. I think it was like, I want to say it was like five acres or something, uh, up in Douglas County, if I remember correctly, but to kind of show you just how, how, uh, random these fire starts can be two acres. So yeah, it did, it did, uh, prompt the evacuation of five homes. So, but under control before damage old news at this point, but shows you how random these fires can be. Yeah. Like, um, when you're seeing something that's human caused fire, technically, I think that

[00:29:39] would still be a human caused fire because it's due to, it's due to human infrastructure. You're right. Power line. Um, but yeah, so that was, that was something. No, no news on how the squirrel fared, but probably not. Well, um, so the crazy thing that I did want to mention though, is that, um, three of the fires that have burned this season already are in the top 20 in state history. Yeah. So, uh, that's something that's very notable.

[00:30:04] You have the Ferris fire, uh, gold mountain fire and, um, and the, uh, Aspen acres fire Aspen acres fires, the seventh largest in state history. So, uh, pretty notable. Like, I mean, these are big fires, you know, um, looks like Ferris fires, 10th largest, I want to say. And then, uh, uh, uh, gold mountain is, uh, 19th largest. So, and then maybe you just mentioned that I missed it, man, but Aspen acres, that's seventh now. Yeah. Seventh.

[00:30:34] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. You know, I mean, begs that, that conversation about fire suppression, a long history of fire suppression and the ever expanding wildland urban interface and the way these forests are treated or not treated and the risks that, uh, are posed when a fire does spark. And here we have, uh, an unenviable list of some of the biggest fires. Still about half the size of the state's largest fire. Cameron Peak fire at 208,000 acres. Yeah.

[00:31:03] 209,000 almost. Um, yeah. Yeah. Scary. Scary stuff. But yeah. So we are seeing a kind of a side effect of some of these fires, um, and just recent fires and just, and just in general, just, uh, oh, look, this rain kind of hitting this dry terrain with all these mudslides that have been happening recently. Um, mudslides closed some stuff out at a black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Saw that. Um, some rain came down at, uh, significant rainfall came down around 5.00 PM on July 16th there.

[00:31:31] And then in Telluride, the, uh, Palm Theater, there's been some wild videos coming out of Telluride of this like flooding that's been taking place. Yeah. But yeah, Palm Theater, uh, which is, uh, the local theater there, uh, had about three to four feet of water and mud that accumulated inside the building. Wow. And the photos are wild. Like this, the first row of seats is essentially under water and mud. You can barely see it on top of them. Crazy. Maybe, maybe there's some seats here that are fully under the water in this photo too. Yeah. Wow.

[00:31:59] Um, so yeah, uh, something to pay attention to. I mean, also related to, uh, there's been a lot of flash flooding risk lately because of these fires. Uh, that's something that crews have been trying to work to mitigate, especially with like the Aspen Acres fire. Um, there was a flash flood in, uh, Utah to just kind of show how dangerous and scary, uh, these situations can be five family members were killed and some flash flooding that took place recently there.

[00:32:24] Um, and not bringing that up to like be a downer, but to use it as an example of like the risks, the risks of flash flooding. And also kind of this overlooked risk where people think if it's like blue skies above your head, um, flash flooding is not going to happen when in reality that water can hit somewhere else and travel your way. So it's like, that's kind of what happened when, uh, I think it was like 1935 when the Castlewood Canyon dam broke, um, and all that water hit Denver, right?

[00:32:52] It was, it traveled miles and miles and miles just flooding and then eventually hit Denver with like a 15 foot wall, 15 foot tall wall of water. So, um, something to keep in mind for sure. Like if you're camping, especially, and that was a big issue with the big Thompson, uh, big Thompson river flood that killed 144 people. I want to say, um, on August for, on August 1st, uh, on the centennial.

[00:33:18] So the 76, the 50 year anniversary that's coming up here this year. Um, but yeah, basically a lot of people were camping in this Canyon water just surged down feet, uh, feet higher than the normal water flow. And it happened at night and people, you know, couldn't see it and get out in time and time. And yeah, just a reminder, whenever you're setting up those campsites by water, make sure you're, make sure you one, have a plane of escape to that. You're not in something that's likely to flood.

[00:33:48] And then maybe three that you have flashlights and a headlamp, like right by you just in case something happens. So you're able to see, um, not trying to like track down your white source whenever you're tens floating, you know? Yeah. So, and there's been, we on the front range, you know, people keep wishing for rain, but obviously you're, you're talking about black Canyon and the Gennison and tell you right that part of the state, uh, out West and Southwest. They've been getting rains and it sounds like, uh, front range is going to start seeing that here this week. Yeah. Forecast come true.

[00:34:18] So if talk of, uh, this monsoon comes true. Yeah. I mean, flash flooding could definitely come to the forefront of news. Yeah, for sure. Um, yeah, let's talk about, uh, so maybe to, uh, get into one more like kind of weather related thing real quick. Mm-hmm. Um, so all this dryness. So while we're talking about flash flooding, it's also like very low water in a lot of these streams, a lot of these, uh, rivers around Colorado.

[00:34:45] So there's all these like special rules in place around angling and fishing. Right. Yeah. So kind of maybe important to address that. Um, I thought this was maybe the most interesting takeaway, uh, was the anglers being asked to not take fish out of the water for a photo. So don't take a fish selfie because essentially it pulls them into the heat and when the water is already warm, I think around 70 degrees is when you start to really stress the fish out when the water hits that. And a lot of these streams are hitting that. Um, I have a list on there.

[00:35:15] If you, if you Google, don't take photos with fish out there, Colorado, you can find, find the list from last week of all these rivers where there have been restrictions in place, but it's like, I mean, there's over 10 or so here where it's just different and major, major stretches of river too. Like Yampa through steamboat, um, and kind of outside of steamboat to some stuff on the Eagle river, some stuff on the Dolores river, uh, Gunnison river. Um, just all these various stretches where these fish are stressed and the water's hot,

[00:35:44] water's low. Um, so yeah, don't take fish out of the water to take a selfie with them. Uh, your dating profile picture is not worth it. Nice, man. Um, yeah, let's get into, so you've, uh, we've been wanting to cover this here for a while. Uh, but it's a local trail system that people are really excited about and people from Denver should probably be excited about too. And just kind of that whole front range stretch. So tell us about it. Yeah.

[00:36:10] Some new mountain bike only trails on the front range, Colorado Springs kind of making a splash here with this expanded trail system as part of blodget open space. Uh, so on the Northwest side of town, Colorado Springs, uh, people who live here, definitely familiar people driving through, uh, inevitably have seen what's been described as like the scar on the mountain. That's Pike view quarry, right?

[00:36:35] This historic scar going back to the early 1900s that, um, you know, where mining was done to build up much of the city. Uh, there's kind of been this transfer transformation around there with reclamation that was approved by the state earlier this year and right beside that kind of right off that adjacent to it in the hillside. There are a two and a half miles of new mountain bike only trail with, uh, green and blue and

[00:37:00] black ratings and names like neurotoxin and coil Canyon and fang drop. I want to say, uh, kind of a nod to rattlesnakes in the area, uh, that have been found over the years. And then also just kind of the, some of the, uh, the spiciness that, uh, the trail system aims to achieve. Right. Um, yeah, these are downhill only mountain bike only trails, kind of this designation that

[00:37:28] we've seen expand a little bit here and there, uh, in Colorado Springs and certainly elsewhere in the front range. But yeah, just more mountain bike only, uh, trail that's getting added to the portfolio that like you said, I mean, yeah, I think, uh, I think, uh, some folks in Denver might turn their eyes South here and this might appeal to them. And it's part of this larger seven miles of trail that I've opened up right now for other

[00:37:53] multiple uses and trail system is going to keep expanding, um, for another seven miles in the weeks and months to come. Um, so really a pretty significant, um, expansion and perhaps more significant in the sense of, uh, the question of what could be on that adjacent quarry, right. On the adjacent bike view quarry, uh, for people who've, uh, been plugged in over the years, there's kind of been unofficial talks of a quote unquote world-class mountain bike,

[00:38:22] uh, park up there on the quarry. Obviously that conversation, like that official conversation has yet to start, but, uh, nonetheless, I mean, with these more trails, with, with these trails adjacent to it opening up, there's going to be more and more people asking that question, like what could be up there. Mm-hmm . And, um, like I said, the state approved reclamation earlier this year, that was kind of the first step.

[00:38:46] The next step was the city of Colorado Springs, uh, adopting that land into its ownership that has happened. And the next thing to happen is going to be, you know, what could be some possibilities, if any, up there on the quarry. And that's going to be a loaded conversation. Um, you know, we've talked about it before that, um, you know, there's some local neighborhood concerns about a quote unquote theme park. Right. And maybe even more than that, there's a lot of concerns about the bighorn sheep that, um,

[00:39:15] are very often seen, uh, on the quarry. Mm-hmm . Uh, it, this, this trail system adjacent to it opened, uh, later than expected to account for bighorn sheep lambing. To give you an idea of just the considerations that are there, the concerns that are there. Um, seriously, I mean like every time I've been there, I've seen bighorn sheep up there. Yeah. You know, so that's going to be a big part of the conversation about, you know, can, can those uses, uh, mingle or not?

[00:39:43] I, I kind of foresee that being part of the talks for sure. Yeah. That'll be interesting to see how that, if that is able to grow and expand. Yeah. Also, I wanted to mention too. So you say 2.5 miles of trails that's downhill dedicated, right? Mm-hmm . That doesn't sound like much when you just hear 2.5 miles, but like, you got to think like the chutes trail, the full loop of the chutes trail is about 2.2 miles, which the chutes trail is probably, I mean, maybe the most popular. Yeah. Like the, the most popular, uh, mountain biking trail in Colorado Springs.

[00:40:13] It is mountain biking only. Mm-hmm . Um, and just, yeah, known for its great flow. It's easy to lap being only 2.2 miles. So, um, it takes about, you know, three minutes to get down, four, four minutes. Nah, I'd have to check Strava, but I'm sure. Some people are doing it in like a minute 30, but, um. Yeah. Well, and then this one too, like differentiates to this system, as you put it, like, here's another opportunity for laps for sure. You know, there's this uphill, I think it's maybe about a mile, an uphill bike only trail that goes between it.

[00:40:41] And then at the top, you got bailout options along the way, but it culminates at a hub where you got options. That's cool. To make lines however you want, and then options off those lines, right? That's cool. So yeah, the, the lapping opportunity is going to be there. And, um, yeah. Um, like it, it, it adds quite a bit to like the portfolio in terms of just bike only trails for sure. Yeah. There's big berms, right? We kind of see some, you don't see these everywhere in the city's trail system.

[00:41:10] These kind of, uh, big berms that have been built up. Um, some, some wooden features, these flyover features, right? To account for the uses below. Um, and some rocks to huck in there for sure. Get some air. So yeah, there, there's, there's a, there's some variety packed into that two and a half miles for sure. Yeah. I'm seeing e-bikes not allowed. Right. Yeah. No e-bikes. Um, yeah, no, that's awesome. I'm excited to see it. There's a lot of talk about Colorado Springs really developing as a, as a national slash

[00:41:39] international mountain biking hub and, um, little things like this along the way, just a little step, make it, make it closer and closer to that. I think, um, so, uh, let's, let's do one bucket list thing real quick to close out the show. Uh, I've got one pulled up already. All right. Well, you gotta go first. Cause I gotta think about this. Good old fashioned summer bucket list item. Yeah. Uh, so, and this is one, uh, a writer Piper, Piper, uh, Russell actually covered, um, recently

[00:42:06] she's doing a whole series where she's covering the history of various waterfalls. Uh, and this is one that's in Colorado Springs. So, uh, if you haven't heard about seven falls in Colorado Springs, uh, uh, it's, uh, it's owned by the Broadmoor now, uh, it's exchanged hands over the years, multiple times. Uh, you probably know quite a bit more about the history of it than I do, Seth, but, um, it's often billed as the grandest mile of scenery in Colorado. So you have to take a shuttle to access this, but it is seven falls and it's 181 feet tall. You can hike up right beside it.

[00:42:36] Uh, very cool, uh, little experience there. Um, it is something you have to pay to see. I think it's, uh, adult tickets during the summer range from like 21 bucks to 25 bucks. Uh, but it is a whole experience. Like there's a, there's some other hiking shorter trails in the area you can do. There's a restaurant at the base of the falls. Uh, and I mean that staircase that goes up really gives you that like very unique experience. I think that there's also the Eagle's Nest where you can kind of get a grander view of that whole area. Uh, yeah, very, very cool little spot. They lighted at night too.

[00:43:06] So that's just kind of a different look. You can never really see like lit up waterfalls really in Colorado. So it's a chance to see that. Um, I think also what people miss a lot too is that a lot has gone into the waterfall, uh, in terms of like letting it even exist as a place you can visit. Cause like they've had some devastating floods over the years. There was one in 1965, um, that wiped out a large portion of the visiting area.

[00:43:34] Uh, they, they built it back after that, but then this flood hit in 2013 and that just like absolutely devastated it. Um, I think it was shut down for two years after that. Uh, and that's in that during that time when it was closed is when the Broadmoor bought it and they basically repaired and revamped it and built it into what it is today. So, uh, when people ask like, why is there a fee, you know, I have to think a big part of that is just caring for this, this destination.

[00:44:03] So, um, yeah, so that's something where, uh, you know, you're looking for something, you're looking for something quick to do. It is beautiful. Yeah. It's beautiful. And something that's like easily, uh, accessible, right? Like it's, um, the staircase rising up is so cool. Yeah, it is cool. It is cool. Some of those things where you don't have to do a massive hike, uh, you do have to get to the top. You do have to be able to climb 224 steps. So something like that.

[00:44:32] So, um, there is that, but, uh, yeah, that's accessible. Cool. So, uh, I've got a pick pretty cool. All right. What do you got, Seth? I'm looking down South a little, a little timely here, uh, with the, uh, seasonal Raptor closure lifting here at the end of the month, at the end of July here on Fisher's peak. Uh, I keep maybe beating the drum a little too much on Fisher's peak, but significant that, you know, the state park that opened when was that 2020 or 2021 kind of like officially

[00:45:01] opened the gates of this like iconic Southern Colorado peak that, uh, had always been private for generations. Right. And now we're living in a time where we can hike up to the top of this chimney looking mountain that we've always looked at from afar. Uh, and yeah, like I said, that summit trail opens back up at the end of the month. It's really long, um, fairly challenging, but really long. It's 16 miles. Yeah. That round trip, something like that.

[00:45:29] So people really got to, you got to treat it like a 14 or in that kind of respect in terms of, um, getting up there early and getting down. Right. Um, so that's something to think about, but yeah, I, and there's, I think there's like another 10 miles of trail or something that are going to be opening up before the winter is what their, what their goal is. Last I heard. So that trail system just keeps expanding around, um, that beautiful, often overlooked part of the state.

[00:45:55] I think, uh, that, that in Trinidad, right. Uh, that's a, Trinidad is a cool, funky place, man. Uh, with the reservoir right there too. You can camp out over there if you want to, um, across the interstate there. So yeah, throw that out. Fisher's peak is higher than any point in the United States. It's east of its longitude. Uh, yeah. That's interesting. I've heard it referred to simply as like the highest point east of I-25 in Colorado. Yeah. Nine, 9,633 feet. Okay. It looks cool too. Like I, I haven't been down there.

[00:46:25] Um, I've been through Trinidad, but I haven't really stopped to, to check it out too much and I've always wanted to, but, uh, it looks cool. Like it looks like, uh, the summit's kind of this butte, like a big, like kind of a little plateau type of thing. Yeah. Mesa. Yeah. It looks cool. Yeah. I did open in a, or the park did open in a 2020. Yeah. And you don't, you know, if you don't got summit fever, that's cool. Like, like I said, there's, I can't remember the exact mileage, but there's a bunch of trails affording, allowing for like loops just in that really beautiful area there. Very cool. Yeah. Awesome.

[00:46:55] Yeah. That's a good one. I would venture to say too, that a lot of people in Colorado, especially maybe Colorado Springs and North of us as getting up into Denver and Boulder probably have no clue that Fisher's Peak exists. Like, unless you're following state park news and yeah. Or if you've driven into New Mexico. Yeah. Seeing it. Yeah. Maybe seeing it that way, but yeah. Very cool. While you're there, a little bonus, little, little bonus here. A slopper in the place where the slopper was born. Ooh. Grace Coors Tavern. There we go. In Pueblo.

[00:47:26] Yeah. While you're heading down. Yeah. Coming back up. What have you. Yeah. Yeah. There's another little bucket list item for your summer. I like it. Eat the original slopper. I like it. I like it. Cool. Well, yeah. I think that's about everything on our list for the day. Nice. You feeling good, Seth? All right, man. Feeling good. All right. Well, hey. Until next time, I'm Spencer. I'm Seth. And we'll see you out there. Bye.