Gator wrestling in the San Luis Valley; Seth's bracket of best outdoor spots; A wild thrill ride; A few food recommendations; & More...

[00:00:09] Welcome to the OutThere Colorado Podcast. Spencer McKee and Seth Boster here with you once again. Hey guys, good to be back. It is right. Had a nice weekend with the family in town, which means going to pretty much all my favorite places around Colorado Springs. Such as? Here to share. I mean, the cornerstone of the family visit is, and it's, you know, it was my birthday, so a little birthday treat from- Happy birthday man! Thank you, yeah, I appreciate it.

[00:00:35] Oh shoot, I should have brought something other than this horrendous 64 team bracket that we're going to talk about a little later. Yeah, I can't wait to dig into that. And Seth picked his favorite outdoor recreation destination and the results might surprise you. In March Madness style. Yeah, March Madness. Park Madness is what I'm calling it. Ooh, I like that. But it's a bad birthday gift, so I'm sorry. Oh no, that's great. No, I love it. I love it. I could look at this all day. So what else did you do?

[00:01:00] Oh yeah, so the cornerstone of the birthday visit was the Broadmoor Brunch, which- You did do the Broadmoor Brunch. We've talked about it a little bit. Last week we were. Yeah, and I mean, it's obviously, it's a special treat. It's a, I think it's $105 bucks per person. Yep. And then you also pay like a required like service gratuity fee on top of that. So definitely pricey. But if you're looking for something like once every year, once every other year, once every five years, maybe once in a lifetime.

[00:01:30] Well, that's just a beautiful place to visit. It's good. You know, you can make it a little afternoon of that, going or walking around the hotel and- Oh yeah, it was great. Going to the Hall of Fame. Have you ever gone and seen all the famous- Yeah, the Hall of Fame is beautiful too. You know, you got all the different famous people that have visited. I don't know if beautiful is the right word, but interesting we'll say. Yeah. Did you say beautiful people who have visited? Is that what you said? I said the Hall of Fame is beautiful. Oh, right. So I don't know if I'd describe it as that. There are probably some beautiful people on there. That's what I thought you said. You know, sometimes I just start talking and it just gets away from me.

[00:01:59] So consider that one of those. This podcast is hazardous. But yeah, the Broadmoor Brunch, man. It comes with bottomless mimosas, which took advantage of those. Okay, yeah. More so in the style of just champagne without the orange juice. And I mean, shoot, if you consider a typical mimosa at the Broadmoor, it might be $15, $17. Yeah, yeah, right? You can start cracking away at that $100 pretty quick. Oh, I did. But also, I hit the sushi table first. How is that? You know, it's good. I liked it.

[00:02:29] Sushi for brunch. Yeah, they're rolling it there. Just, you know, right in front of you. I mean, is it the best sushi ever? I don't know. But I'm not necessarily a sushi connoisseur, but... I don't know about sushi for brunch, man. It's good. Like, what time are you... I mean, we got there. It was like noon. But that was just what I was feeling, you know? Yeah. It's my birthday. I can do whatever I want. Hey, man. Have all the sushi you want. Then also, you know, we had... What else is up there? That's my favorite. The dessert table. You know, that's always classic.

[00:02:58] They got like 20 plus options. Of course. And they're all great. And all like bite size, which is nice. So you can just have one or two. Yeah. Got a bunch of bacon, which is good. Yeah. What else? They have the steak there that they're just like... Not steak. I guess maybe prime rib or something. Yeah, prime rib, yeah. Carving it right there. A whole salad bar. Yeah. Some fried rice and noodles. Those were really good. Wow. Yeah. They had mac and cheese. That was incredible. Not your average mac and cheese. Yeah. Incredible.

[00:03:28] It was like this kind of like Mexican inspired loaded mac and cheese. Then they also... Oh, I think my favorite thing was maybe this pasta they had with kind of like this white sauce on it. This like lemon caper, Alfredo, Parmesan situation. That was really good. Pretty much ate a lot of food. And then as you said, wandered around the Broadmoor for a while, set in the sun, got a little sunburnt. Actually, just sitting by the lake. By the lake. Looking at the mountains. That'll do it.

[00:03:57] I love that bar there right by the lake. I think they just call it hotel bar. It is called the bar. Yeah. Indeed. Yeah. I had a cocktail there not terribly long ago. Yeah, it's nice. It's worth it if you're looking for families coming in town and you're looking for a good view. And just a place to chill. It's great people watching. Right? Oh, yeah. Let's just be real. I mean, you're looking at people wondering, you know, what does their life look like? Oh, right. Yeah. Very true. Yeah. The only, I think the only time I ever really go to any Broadmoor spots is when the family's in town and, you know, they want to see it.

[00:04:27] Same. Yeah. I took my folks last time. It's just kind of worth checking out. And the scenery is great. The scenery is good. Looking at Cheyenne Mountain. And everything that you get there service-wise is always top notch. Top notch. Yeah. Absolutely. It's great. Absolutely. Stop into the little Julie's Cafe, right? Yeah. I mean, the chocolate is different. To be clear, that is an in-house historic recipe that is just different. That melts in your mouth. Silky. You know? Very good. And the pastries in there.

[00:04:56] I've talked on a few occasions with the pastry chef there from France. Just a master, master chef. And what he does is just to the nines. Yeah. I love just going into Julie's and grabbing like a, you know, a $9 pastry and just loving it, you know? Yeah. Enjoying the luxuries of life. Yeah. Truly. Speaking of the luxuries of life, one of my favorite things there is there's this little bookstore. It's kind of like a history store.

[00:05:26] It's like all these historic things that have like old flags. And, you know, you go and you look, uh, some things you can touch, so to speak. Apparently people buy these things, but it'll be like a flag from the, the revolutionary war that's $75,000 or something wild. No kidding. I have not walked in there. It's cool. Oh, and the books are incredible. Like they've got like first editions of like Alice in Wonderland and stuff like that, where you wear these little gloves and you're allowed to like open them up and look through the pages and they're like holding like a $15,000 book.

[00:05:56] And that's the, this is the other thing about the Broadmoor. I am, there is just so much amazing history for one thing. And then so much amazing aspects of that hotel that I learn about every year. I'm learning something else crazy about the Broadmoor. I always find a great, great spot there. Also another place we went to, uh, right when they got into town was, uh, the Grand View at Garden of the Gods Resort. Oh yeah. Um, which is now open to the public. I think within the last couple of years, food is great there.

[00:06:26] Cocktails great. Okay. Wine, wine menus, very extensive. Okay. Um, but the view alone is awesome. I know exactly. Yeah. I get there at like 630 or so, you know, this time of the year and watch that sunset over the mountains. I think my parents are coming in June and they do a happy dark. That's like open. That's like, I didn't know if that was a member thing or. Yeah. Yeah. No, that specific restaurant there is open to the public. Got it. Grand View is what it's called. Yeah. Grand View, I believe. Um, and yeah, no, it's, I mean, it's the view there is, is awesome. Oh yeah.

[00:06:55] We also did 291 distillery. You ever been there? Oh yeah. Award winning, award winning whiskey distillery. Kind of hides out there. Far out Springs. Yeah. Did a tour. That was sweet. Um, just seeing their production and everything. Yeah. I love that place. Yeah. The story behind it's cool too. The dude was talking about how, uh, you essentially you walk into their tasting room, you're greeted by these three, uh, black and white images. And the guy behind 291, uh, used to be a, uh, does it say 219? I mean, 291, 291. No, you said it.

[00:07:25] Uh, the, the guy behind it used to be a photographer that was pretty high, high profile, I believe in New York city. Uh, was where he was doing a lot of his work. Uh, but then you're on the tour and they show you this, this old still that was their first copper still that they had. And at the time, uh, when he was trying to get this started, started, you know, he's talking tens of thousands of dollars for a still, um, which he wasn't necessarily willing to pay at that moment. Yeah.

[00:07:51] Uh, you know, just started just getting started making it this transition from photography to creating whiskey. Um, so what he did is he took these, these copper plates that he used to print some of his images and had a welder turn that into a still. Wow. So literally taken the, his passion of photography and literally putting it into this new passion of whiskey. Super cool. Very cool. And you can see like one of the photos is of a mountain range. I believe it was in California.

[00:08:17] Uh, but you look at this old still and you can see, you can see where those mountains are from that, that copper plate that he had used. That's cool. Still on the still, uh, the inside of the stills, the empire state building. Uh, they have a photo of where you can see what that looks like. And it's, you know, those like kind of industrialistic black and white photos. So it's like this towering skyscraper in the middle of the still, just because that is the origin of how that still was made. So that's super cool. Yeah. No, great.

[00:08:45] All, all three of those places had a great time. Um, but yeah, there's a great story too. Speaking on distilleries at 300 days of shine moonshine distillery in Monument, Colorado. I've heard good things. Colorado Springs. They do like their apple pie. Yeah. Yeah. And they do like cool little cocktails and it's a cozy little spot up there in Monument, just right off the highway, but, um, off the interstate 25. But, um, that's a really cool story too. Nice. About the man who started that.

[00:09:11] Um, he's a veteran who, you know, was diffusing bombs in the Middle East and the sand. And he started distilling in like those pressure cookers out of the Middle East. Whoa. That's wild. Started distilling moonshine out in the desert there, man. That is wild. And brought it back home to Colorado. Dang. And I think I'm recalling he like would, he tested, he tested out what he was distilling at like Bronco's, uh, Bronco's tailgates and people loved it enough that he, uh, he opened up the shop. I think it's really successful.

[00:09:40] You find, um, this stuff in a lot of liquor stores now. Yeah. Yeah. And it like every little like brewery festival and stuff like that. Yeah. And they, yeah, they're, they're like brute flavored stuff. Yep. Very good. Yeah. Yeah. I guess, I mean, Hey, if you're diffusing bombs, I guess having a little bit of moonshine might be, uh, might relieve some of that, that stress. I can't imagine a more stressful job. Yeah. Having a, having a distraction. Yeah. But yeah.

[00:10:07] Amazing stories in these places that we, where we drink, you know, that reminds me of the, uh, black rifle coffee guy too. Oh yeah. Cause he started his whole like approach toward coffee. I believe when he was on deployment, he was making fancy coffee for, for, for, for, his, his, his. I'm remembering that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting stuff. Cool. We got our culinary and we got our food and drinks, uh, category down here early. Got food and drinks on the mind. Apparently. Yeah. What's our next category?

[00:10:37] Oh, we also went to a cave of the winds. Oh yeah. Uh, so that is something I wanted to chat about today. Uh, not really. We just did the standard tour, which, you know, it's, it's cool. You see a cool cave, um, get some history and, uh, yeah, definitely a fun little thing and great views from the cave of the winds area. Uh, but I wanted to mention, uh, this came up. I was talking with, uh, talking with one of the guys up at Denver Gazette, uh, Noah. Yep. Bestenstein, I believe is how you say his name last name.

[00:11:05] Uh, but we were chatting about, uh, thrill rides in Colorado and roller coasters. And, uh, uh, he, he was talking about, uh, the Glenwood Caverns adventure park specifically. Um, and that little roller coaster up there. Uh, so a lot of interest in that. He said he, he said he rode, uh, this, the Goliath at six flags, 53 times in a single day. Oh God. So. That hurts my stomach just thinking about it. Someone who knows what they're talking about. He knows, right.

[00:11:33] Um, yeah, I think when he was up at the, uh, up at the mountain coaster up in, uh, Glenwood, I think he said he rode it like eight or nine times or something, but, um. Gosh. But yeah, either, either way, uh, huge amusement park, uh, enthusiast. And, uh, we were chatting about the pterodactyl at Cave of the Winds and that's on his list for this summer. I. He's gotta do that. I would never, man. Dude, I had to do it without their Colorado.

[00:11:59] Um, gosh, it would have been eight years ago now, but it was one of our, one of our shoots that we had out there. And we had like drones in the air and everything with, with their approval, uh, cameras strapped to everything as well. And I was told I would do it like one or two times. Uh, and for those of you unfamiliar with this, it's a, uh, it's essentially like this giant canyon swing over Williams Canyon. Uh, it now costs 35 bucks to go, which is a little bit lower than I think it used to be.

[00:12:28] Um, but essentially it's, you're in this chair and the chair tilts to where you're like staring at the ground. Like you're like, Oh yeah. The parallel. Way over the valley floor. Yeah. And then they pull the ripcord and you fly off the, you fly into the canyon, like a hundred miles per hour. And, uh, just like 150 foot drop and then swing back and forth. Uh, when we were shooting it though, I was told I'd do it like once or twice. And I'm not an amusement park guy. Like I don't necessarily like throw rides. I don't trust them.

[00:12:55] Um, it's just, I've always had that, that belief, so to speak, or that feeling. Um, and that's not final destination too many times. Exactly. Right. Like I grew up in that era where final destinations coming out. I'm like, eh, I don't know how I feel about this. He's a final destination kid, but, but yeah, either way they needed someone in the chair. So I'm on the chair with a friend and, uh, we, uh, essentially told one or two times, uh, but, but yeah, uh, all the Falcons in that Canyon started dive bombing our drone. Oh.

[00:13:25] And, uh, essentially what happened was the drone kept having to pull out of the shot. Uh, so we ended up doing it eight times in a row, which is a lot. Oh. It was, and I mean, it was, it was very scary the first two times. Oh yeah. Pretty fun the second two times. And those last four times when you're just getting pulled back up, spinning around, dude, I was, I was nauseated so to speak. I bet. But, uh, yeah, definitely something. If you're looking for a thrill ride in Colorado Springs, did your parents do it?

[00:13:53] Uh, no, no, they, uh, they, they were more of like walking through the cave tour type. So you just did the walking tour. That's all we did this time. Um, yeah, that's great. Yeah. If you're looking for a thrill ride though, the pterodactyl Colorado Springs, it's, it's, I don't know anything else that exists quite like it in the state. I mean, even this was some kind of bungee up at, uh, at the Glenwood theme park, but it's

[00:14:19] a big swing that goes kind of over the canyon, but you're in like a big swinging arm at that. Yeah. It's when you're like just suspended by a wire in a chair. Um, and Hey, if there's something, uh, if there is something like that, let us know. And, uh, and I'll check it out. Yeah. You can let us know, but I don't, I don't care. I'm not doing it. Yeah. We also, I guess we did do the little bungee thing at, uh, AVA out in a Buena Vista area over summered. Yeah. That's, that's, that's a pretty thrilling thing.

[00:14:48] You only drop about 20, 30 feet and you're more so caught by a belay system and lowered the extra 70 feet. Yep. But you're just, it's essentially walking the plank where they're just like, okay, you can't run off the plank, uh, just for safety reasons. You got to walk off and you just essentially close your eyes and take steps until there's no more steps that you're in free fall. So that's kind of interesting as well. But, uh, no, thanks. But yeah. What else are we chatting about today?

[00:15:15] Seth spent a lot of time on this 64 team single elimination. What would you call it? We're calling it park madness, man. Park madness. So outdoor Colorado's outdoor destinations face off in the bracket challenge, the impossible bracket challenge. Will, and there's some Cinderella's that go dancing here. And y'all don't, y'all don't have the bracket in front of you, but you can probably find it online. Uh, I think we're going to be publishing on Monday. All right. Publish.

[00:15:43] You'll be able to find the way I structured this thing. And it's hardly, it's, it's, it's barely worth talking about here because like you said, Spencer, you gotta be able to see this thing, but I, I, I focused on regions, right? So Southern, Western, Northern, Northern front range and Northern, and then central. Well, the set. And I packed all these kinds of destinations fitting those regions into, you know, those four regions that you see on a typical bracket. If you guys fill out March madness brackets, try to picture that.

[00:16:11] And I, I, I put these destinations in somewhat of their home region. Well. Some more than others to be, to be fair. And like you said, there are some, uh, there are some Cinderella stories on here, uh, that are pretty interesting. I'd be curious to hear. Right at the top. Behind them. Yeah. Let's dig into them. I mean, I, I got one, I got my eye on one of them right now that I want to chat about, and I might agree with you. I wonder if what, I wonder if I know. Yeah. So here, what's yours? What was your favorite Cinderella story?

[00:16:39] Well, up in the Southern region, I mean, right at the top of the corner here. Mm-hmm. Garden of the, Garden of the Gods ran into Mueller State Park. Ooh. And I, as a 10 seed, Garden of the Gods, the two seed behind number one seed, Great Sand Dunes. Mm-hmm. Um, again, we're talking kind of Southern Colorado ish. Uh, I, I have the 10 seed Mueller State Park pulling off an upset of number two, Garden of the Gods. Interesting. Very controversial. Interesting. Don't you think?

[00:17:06] Yeah, I mean, hey, Garden of the Gods is, I think, one of the most popular public parks in the country. A national, natural landmark. Yeah. As it should be. Iconic. Like, if you, if you name five places in Colorado, Sure. Garden of the Gods is probably getting mentioned by a lot of people. I mean, there's a lot of people who say that, that should be a Final Four team, right? Yeah. Just like there are people who should say Duke should be a Final Four team this year. But do you think, you know, they might run into a little Cinderella like Mueller State Park? Hey, I'll be chair for Purdue. But that's, points aside. Are they in? Yep. They've gotta be in.

[00:17:35] They're like, yeah, I'll be Missouri. University of Missouri is where I went to school. Well, hopefully our teams don't meet unless it's the championship. So there's just, there's just, yeah, Mueller State Park. Garden of the Gods. Yeah. I mean, you know, um, there's just a lot of year round good stuff at Mueller State Park. I mean, it's like 50 miles of trails out there in Teller County, if you guys don't know. Teller County. Past Divide. It's on the other side of Pikes Peak, right? A lot of great Pikes Peak views. A lot of different trails. Short, long. You can make however long you want to make of it out there.

[00:18:05] Going through meadows, through great forests. Again, signature views of Pikes Peak. In the winter, they got ski tracks. In the fall, it is an absolute go-to place for fall colors. Maybe one of the best in the state. Yeah. Short of like the Crested Butte area and Aspen area. Yeah. Yeah. And parts of the San Juans. Yeah. Great out there. Yeah. As far as a state park along the Front Range. And talk about crowds, man. I mean, at the end of the day, you got a lot more room to spread out at Mueller State Park. This is not, this is nothing against the Garden of the Gods.

[00:18:34] It's just as much as there's a lot going on at Mueller that, uh, that, that makes for a decent upset pick, you know? A lot of wildlife too. And honestly, the trip, the trip to Mueller is even fun in itself, you know? You kind of have an excuse to go check out Woodland Park, you know, maybe hit Paradox and Divide that we've talked about a couple times. Yep. Maybe venture out to Cripple Creek, which, you know, is like 15 miles past, uh, where Mueller is. But yeah, no, I mean, Hey, it's a, it's a good pick. I mean, in Garden of the Gods, I mean, it does get a lot of hype. It is very cool.

[00:19:04] Rightfully so. Um, but yeah, I mean, it does feel some, you know, it's a paved walking loops, the main, main draw there. And they have some good trails too, but the paved walking loops, the main draw. So people that are looking for maybe more of that escape into the woods experience, especially during fall. Yeah. Mueller State Park is, it makes sense. Another upset in that region is, uh, involving other, another state park, uh, three seed Lake Pueblo.

[00:19:29] Pueblo is the most popular state park goes down to the 14 seed 11 mile state park. Yeah, I could see that. I could see that. You've been over there? Uh, I've, I've been, I've never boated at 11 mile. Big time fishing just as there is at, at Pueblo for sure. Um, but there's also some overlooked trails back in there. Yeah. Um, good views. Fall colors back in there. Really good views. Ice fishing. And it just feels a little more secluded.

[00:19:56] You know, you go back out on that dirt road and kind of feel more, it feels a little more Colorado. It is beautiful. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I could see that. And Lake Pueblo. I mean, I've, I've said it before. I love Lake Pueblo. It's a great place to go rent a boat with your friends for a weekend. Great mountain biking. Great mountain biking, you know, for a good portion of the year. Yeah. I could see, I could see 11 mile, uh, doing well there. A little upset. See the upset that, that caught my eye though, uh, is a number 15 seed here in Summit County. Oh. Brisco Peninsula Recreation Area.

[00:20:25] And I'm going to say, so in order to get there, it beat out Lookout Mountain Park, uh, which is golden, golden, right? Yeah. You know what I said, man? Uh, Buffalo Bill is rolling in his grave. Right. I don't know though, man. I mean, and then it also beat out Echo Lake Park, uh, which where, where's that at? That is, uh, Mount Blue Sky. Think of that. Oh yeah. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. Um, so that is, we're talking about, what did I call this? I mean. I call this the central region. Yeah.

[00:20:51] And I mean, Frisco Recreation, or Frisco Peninsula Recreation Area right outside of Frisco. I love it. Like that's, that's one where I'm like, I probably would have pulled that one up to that, to where it may as well. Big time camping. Yeah. Close to town. I mean, that's pretty unique. Rent and kayaks out there. Exactly. You can rent a boat at the, that Dillon Marina and kind of explore the area too. Like. And the trails that they've been building there over the years are pretty top notch, man. Yeah. I've always loved Frisco.

[00:21:17] That's, that's honestly one of, one of my favorite little like towns to spend a day in in the summer. Just with the lake there, the mountains there, the trails there. Yeah. Pro sit, pro sit, sausage. Yeah. Pro sit. I was going to say, they need to hire you. I know, right? They need to hire you. But yeah, summer. Nothing says summer like that. What else? The brewery there, out of range. Oh, out of range. Big time. Yeah. Frisco. Frisco makes a run and then goes down to St. Mary's Glacier. Yeah. I haven't been to St. Mary's Glacier. Really? Yeah.

[00:21:46] The only semi-permanent snowfield that gets a lot of hype in Colorado. So yeah. And you know, again, people aren't looking at this, but St. Mary's Glacier goes all the way, I think benefiting from probably the weakest region on the paper here. Again, central. I'm talking about it. You're talking smack about stuff. Sorry. No. It's just because Western, I mean, Western is loaded. Yeah. Right? I mean, you have Bridal Veil Falls as a nine seed. Yeah.

[00:22:14] I've got, you know, I've got McInnes Canyons as a 15 seed. Maroon Bell's going down to Colorado National Monument. Yeah. No, they're controversial. I got to stir up the controversy. I won't say I disagree with you there. There's definitely, I would say there's Colorado National Monument, very unique. Right? Yep. Maybe a little bit. You don't, you don't get the type of recreation there that you get in a lot of Colorado. So that kind of makes it stand out. It falls short. I don't know, man.

[00:22:42] It doesn't get to the early date because of the Western heat. Yeah. Western Colorado. That makes sense. Maroon Bell's is big time. Maroon Bell's is big time. Yeah. Do you mind if we reveal your lead date? Yeah, let's do it. Yeah. Good. Go through it. All right. So in the Southern region, we have the Great Sand Dunes and Mueller State Park. Big, big Cinderella there. Yeah. I would agree. Then in the Western region, the suspects were Dinosaur National Monument and Black Canyon of the Gunnison. And there's an upset there. Upset there.

[00:23:11] Then in the, what is it, Northern region? Central on the right corner. Okay. Yeah. So we'll go Central. I kind of had to fudge a little bit. We got Roxborough State Park and St. Mary's Glacier. And then in the Northern region, we have Rocky Mountain National Park and State Forest State Park. The big Rocky Mountain versus the little Rocky Mountain. Very true. And it's interesting. You gave State Forest State Park a three seed. It is Colorado's largest state park. Yeah.

[00:23:40] But not a lot of people know about it. I know. And you're like in the heart of this country, right? You're right. And a lot of these seeds are based on popularity. Yeah. And that could have been a Cinderella story had you not given it the three seed, I think. That's interesting. Yeah. I mean, that being said though. You're right. That being said though, State Forest State Park, like you said, similar to Rocky Mountain National Park, stretching peaks, stretching forests, a lot of wildlife. Yeah. I mean, that might be, if I had to pick one of the, we'll say most underrated State Park

[00:24:09] or underrated destinations in your Elite Eight, I would go with State Forest State Park. I think you're right. Yeah. That's a good pick though. It beat Chautauqua, the home of the Flatirons. Yeah. And I could see that though. I mean, a big icon there. I feel like that's deserved. It also beat the Pawnee Buttes, which somehow got 11 seed. No bashing on the Pawnee Buttes. Well, we, so we gotta be clear about this. I mean, I was in, what am I talking? Yeah, the Northern region, right? So I was really kind of trying to put this together.

[00:24:38] I mean, I've got stuff like Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, which if you're looking for bison, you know? Yeah. That's how they got in here. Caribou Ranch Open Space. Yep. Yep. Which is good for fall colors. That's a 14 seed. Potasso Preserve in Boulder County, a 15 seed. So to give you an idea where, you know, I was trying to look for these Northern destinations, right? And, uh... Well, and I think you did a great, you did a great job of finding, you did, you did do a great job of finding places where people don't really, uh...

[00:25:07] Believe it or not, I've been to... Some of these people, you know, people might find out about these places from this bracket. I know. Which is kind of cool. I like that. Yeah, I kind of thought about that. And now I feel bad about saying something about Pawnee Buttes. It is one of the only things that you can find out east. It's kind of creepy out there, man. But, uh... It feels very remote. It was also John Fielder at one of his favorite locations, right? Yeah, yeah. John Fielder, famed photographer, um, recently just before his death, made his entire catalog of photographs, tens of thousands of photographs, free to use for the public.

[00:25:37] It's kind of his, you know, life's work, so... So a big shout out there. I mean, of all the alpine wonders that he saw, he liked that little... Yeah. That place on the plains. Oh, and he saw every part of it. Yeah, oh yeah. Horsetooth Mountain Open Space with a four seed, you know. I mean, to give you an idea again about kind of where we're looking around the north there. Um, El Dorado State Park. I mean, probably that should have been the four seed, right? Instead of Horsetooth. I don't know what I was thinking. I think it did. But anyway, Eldo goes on. I think you did a great job, Seth. I think you did a great job.

[00:26:06] So everyone's wondering who's the winner, right? The championship... Dinosaur makes a big run. Dinosaur made a big run. How do you feel about that? Dinosaur goes to the final four over Black Canyon of the Gunnison. And it had a four seed. It was a four seed. Which is pretty high up. I mean, Dinosaur National Monument, the only things I hear about that place are great. Everyone's like, it's stunning. But no one really knows about it even, or goes to it even. Yeah. Like, visitation's low. It's out in the northwest corner. Because it's way out there. Colorado. It is big time though, man.

[00:26:36] Oh, I've heard it's awesome. I've heard it's epic. I mean, you know, the rafting on the Yampa and Green is like, I've heard it called like the most coveted... Like, I've heard it called the most coveted. Yeah. Which I need in the country. Well, and it only runs some... Or portions of it only run certain times of like every few years, right? If it runs, right? If it runs, yeah. So... And you're just surrounded by canyon walls that whole time. It's crazy in there, man. Yeah, I've heard it feels like you're stepping into a prehistoric area. Yeah.

[00:27:06] Despite the name, but just... Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, you got dinosaurs on the mind while you're there. For people who don't know, there's a... The quarry exhibit hall is a massive quarry wall of what they say is a thousand plus fossils, right? So that's the main calling card. But what you don't so much hear about dinosaur is just the vast, colorful canyon land that it is between Colorado and Utah, the state lines there, and the rivers that run through it.

[00:27:32] I mean, there's just some really epic back country in there. Yeah. Got to go out and visit that one. So as you can tell, I'm a big fan. All right. So anyway, though, the winner, though. So the final matchup. Yes, of course. Maybe not too surprising. I mean, as we were kind of chatting about this before we started recording here a little bit, you know, I don't really have a justification for why either of these places should not be in that final matchup.

[00:28:00] Like they're both great and both iconic destinations in Colorado. But you've got two one seeds, you got Rocky Mountain National Park, and you've got great sand dunes. Yeah. Two one seeds. I mean... I think that sounds right. Yeah. I mean, to be honest, I mean, yeah, like I like those picks as your final two. I mean, Rocky Mountain National Park is just hard to beat it out, right? Like, in great sand, it's just so unique and so impressive, like with that, those massive

[00:28:29] dunes and the mountainous backdrop. Yep. And again, it's kind of like, I mean, we talk about like a lot of these iconic, unique, as you say, places. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But then people say, well, how can you take Garden of the Gods down that far? Well, if you talk about a place like Great Sand Dunes, there is much more beyond just the iconic scene, right? Like Mosca Pass, you can get into some real alpine greatness out there. It's a pot of falls, right? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:28:58] So beyond even just the fact that we're talking about North America's highest dunes, that park offers a lot. Well, and similar to Garden of the Gods, there's a very interesting geological history in the Sand Dunes, too, with how that sand is even there. Mm-hmm. And that's probably a different story for a different day, but I mean, punchline... We always do teasers. Yeah. Sounds like you got a little teaser. Yeah, we'll do a teaser. Maybe we chat about that next week. But I mean, the punchline essentially is that there used to be a lake there that drained,

[00:29:25] the sand was left behind, and the mountains are tall enough to capture that sand as it escapes, and then the snow melt runs it back down into the dunes. Yep. So there they stand for however long they've been there, right? But okay, so your winner. Rocky Mountain. Rocky Mountain. Rocky Mountain. What a cliche, right? But... That was my gut reaction, you know? I don't... Of course. Now that I'm thinking about it, it makes sense. Like, it's the most popular park in Colorado for a reason. One of the most popular parks in the country for a reason.

[00:29:54] Where on the 64 destination list, I mean, does it pack in that much alpine wonder in one place, right? Waterfalls, alpine lakes, summits above treeline, 13ers, maybe the most famous 14er in the state, Longspeak. I mean... It's on the corner, right? On and on. A road like Trail Ridge Road. You don't see that anywhere on... Yeah. On... And the wildlife. Park madness here. The wildlife. Yeah.

[00:30:24] The moose on the west side, the elk on this part. Yeah, looking at this list, I think it would almost be maybe doing the readers and listeners a disservice if any of these other places would have beaten it out. Just because it's like I can't necessarily find another place that would beat it out. But I like to ruffle feathers also, you know? I was ruffling feathers around here. I mean, I would maybe say Maroon Bells is one spot that has a chance. It's way too low.

[00:30:52] Oh no, I would say one spot that has a chance of beating Rocky Mountain National Park, but... Well, and with Maroon Bells, you can make that argument that we're talking about, you know, like in one sense, you're talking about just the scene of the Maroon Bells, but you're also talking about a launch point. Yeah, exactly. And that would be my justification there. Sure. And kind of like through the seasons in Colorado, like just the way that place is so beautiful, whether it's, you know, winter, spring, summer, fall. I think it's a worthy final four.

[00:31:19] Would you let it go past if it ran into somewhere like Mesa Verde, which makes a big run here? It's a one seed. I have Mesa Verde as the one seed in the west. Yeah. I mean, I've never personally been to Mesa Verde. I haven't made that drive, but I've only heard good things about that spot too. There's just so much to pick from. Yeah. I think that's the big takeaway. It's kind of a fun... Yeah, this is a fun thing. A fun practice. It'd be difficult to really nail this down in a way that's not up for debate.

[00:31:49] Happy March Madness, everybody. Yeah. Happy March Madness. Go Mizzou Tigers. Selection Sunday this Sunday? I believe. I think we got a week, right? Is that one week? Oh, no, you're right. You're right. Because conference stuff gets settled and then they do selection and then next Thursday it starts. Yeah. Yeah. Check it out. So this publishes on Monday. It can be found on Gazette and Denver Gazette and will be on Out There Colorado as well. So yeah. Check it out. Let us know where you differ in Seth's opinion.

[00:32:18] So very good job. I'm counting on it. This is cool, Seth. I'm a fan. I am a fan. I'm a nerd is what I am. All right. Well, hey, speaking of national parks, you're working on some stuff with visitation numbers. Yeah. So I just started crunching this. So you have to pardon me guys, but I just started crunching this. The big upshot. National Park, you know, every year they put out the system wide visitation numbers in 2024 numbers just came out. And it's a record. Yeah.

[00:32:52] Yeah. National parks, monuments, national historic sites. Right. So it's encompassing all of that. And then when we look at the individual lists here, Rocky Mountain is holding on to its five spot, you know, as far as most visited, fifth most visited national park in the country behind what you would think. My web page has expired, but I'm trying to pull up the data for you. Here you go.

[00:33:25] Great Smoky Mountains is always up there, right? Isn't that always number one? And Blue Ridge Parkway. Yeah. As far as national parks though. Blue Ridge Parkway is like a national recreation area. Yeah. But as far as national parks, Great Smoky, Zion, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain. So Rocky Mountain at 4.1 million. And that's very much on par with recent years of the reservations, right? That's the whole point of the reservations to kind of keep at a number. And we kind of see that in year to year. Yeah.

[00:33:54] More recently that, yeah, it's kind of having right there at that 4.1 where they clearly think that's the manageable kind of mark there. Nice. And then it's kind of, as I was, again, I just very, I just made the quick jump into it. But it seems like it's kind of, as far as year to year growth, while it's a record across the national park system. In Colorado, I think we're kind of seeing what you might expect as a mixed bag as far as increases or decreases year to year.

[00:34:24] Mesa Verde, 480,000 in 24. That's down from 23. Great Sand Dunes is also down from 23. Kind of seems like everyone got their kicks at Great Sand Dunes. What was that like a few years ago when it crossed like a 660,000? Yeah. Yeah. It's gone down since then. With huge water flow that year too, I believe, right? Yep. So that's always a big draw. And yeah, I mean, I could see where Sand Dunes is, you know, maybe you go there a few times. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I think, yeah. Yeah.

[00:34:53] Kind of do the same thing. At least that's what I do. Yeah. Like two, three times, got to do the same thing. Still have fun every time. Colorado National Monument went up. Maybe it's because we're always talking about it on this show, Spencer. It just went up, but 488,024 and it was 486-ish, 023. Mm-hmm. Florissant Fossil Beds was up year to year. So around 71,500 compared to 63,700 something in 23.

[00:35:22] And that is maybe a good springboard into the obvious news surrounding these numbers, which is the cuts that we're hearing about in the National Park Service. Yeah. And Florissant was a spot that was hit too, correct? And Florissant announced, what is it? Correct me here, Spencer. Monday and Tuesday, they're going to close, right? I believe it's Monday, Tuesday. I will double check that. And so when we're talking about a park, one of these parks that saw these, that was part

[00:35:46] of these record increases, you know, we're seeing services being cut there. Yeah. Closed Monday, Tuesdays. There you go. There you go. So the National Parks Conservation Association has obviously put out a statement about this, you know, talking about what they are marking up as a 9% cut to the National Park Service workforce, what they're calling continued uncertainty.

[00:36:11] And here we are seeing, you know, these increases in visitation while that trend is happening. Also worth noting, and I'm pulling up this statement, and it's good that we're aware of this. That's why I'm bringing this up. But the Mountain Rescue Association, right, representing search and rescue teams around the country here, including Colorado, they put out a statement. And I'm just pulling it up now.

[00:36:43] We are concerned for the public safety of our fellow Americans and feel like the proposed ill-conceived cuts and staffing on our public lands and services will have significant detrimental effects on public safety. And he talks about how their partners, right, this is an association that partners with the National Park Service, with the Forest Service, that they are not going to be, they're rescinding some of these contracts to rescue teams, certain patrol teams.

[00:37:10] And this is more or less just a statement saying, hey, you know, always be aware of safety, but be aware even more so going into this year where there's this uncertainty of how much help is going to be out there, right? Yeah, that'll be something to follow. Don't mean to be grim, but, you know, just good education here. Yeah, that'll be something to follow for sure. We don't really get into politics on this show, and I'm not trying to get into politics. It's just an economic situation that is playing out.

[00:37:36] That's one way of calling this, and it is impacting some of these outdoor destinations. So it's just something to be aware of. Yeah, well, there we go. Was that all right? Yeah. Did I walk that line? I think you towed the line, Seth. I think people will be more politically energized over this bracket that you came up with. Yeah, that's good. That's what I intend. Yeah, so I mean, we're probably hitting our time roughly here. I mean, we've chatted about a lot today. Yes, we sure have.

[00:38:05] I still have like six more things on my list, so. Sorry. Yeah, maybe we'll just chat about these next week, and I think that sounds like a good plan. Maybe we can get into the story of the great sand dunes, talk about why that works, how it does, and how these dunes stick around. I would love that refresher. I haven't heard that. That'd be cool. We can talk about alligator wrestling. Did not get into that this week, but. Right around the sand dunes there. Yeah, right around the sand dunes. A little teaser of that.

[00:38:32] I went down there and wrestled alligators one time, and yeah, someone in the class was bit. It was very scary. Very scary experience. I know someone got bit when you were there. Yeah. I know you went, but. Okay. Yeah, so that's a story to chat about. Now I just wanted to talk about it now, kinda. You know what? Let's talk about it now. Let's do it. What do we do? I don't know if, I don't know if Gator Reptiles, or what's it called? The Gators Reptile Rescue Farm.

[00:39:03] In your rest house park. Outside of Alamosa. Outside of Alamosa. I don't know if they still offer this class, but it's essentially you used to be able to, and this was probably six years ago, you used to be able to pay a hundred bucks and then hop in the pit and wrestle alligators. Yes. They start you off with wrestling small gators, which are like, you know, two to three feet long, which are you essentially pluck them out of an above ground pool. And then you get up to wrestling, you know, like 10 foot gators in a larger pool that I'll

[00:39:32] describe here in a second. You live to tell the truth. Yeah. We got there. You sign a, you know, a waiver that's like everything, right? Like in most of these activities we talk about that are intense. The waiver includes everything from serious injury to death. You get greeted. There's no guarantee the alligators are full. The alligators might be hungry today. Yeah. Um, you get there though, and you're greeted by as they have, as they're like signing you in, and there were three people in our class.

[00:40:00] Um, you get there and you're greeted by dismembered thumbs on the wall. So fair warning. Like in formaldehyde just being, and they have little signs of like who these thumbs are from what two of the thumbs were like a father and son at different times. Like, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah. So that is the perfectly quirky thing. I don't know. Quirky is probably not the right word. This is a quirky place that would have something weird. Oh, right. Yeah. If it's going to be anywhere in Colorado, it's the San Luis Valley. Right.

[00:40:26] Uh, the gators are able to live out there despite the, uh, really cold temperatures because of geothermal pools that exist originally brought there as kind of a solution to deal with a dead fish waste from a tilapia farm. Right. And then eventually they started rescuing more and more gators to the point where they have hundreds of alligators out in the San Luis Valley. Yeah. Yeah. And definitely worth checking out, worth a visit, but, uh, this class though. So we, we signed the waivers. Um, and then then, you know, we go through the small gators and they all hiss at you,

[00:40:55] which is interesting when you walk, I didn't expect that. You walk into the pools. Yeah. And they're like, which is like, and it's like 10 of them at the same time doing this. So you're like, are you a gator or a cat? Yeah. It's, it was interesting in that regard for sure. Um, but after getting the small ones and kind of this above ground pool, you go to this little pool that's kind of, you know, half water, half sand. Uh, and these gators probably four or five feet long. Uh, and the strategy there is you essentially sneak up behind them, uh, grab their tail and get like yank it.

[00:41:25] And then that knocks them off balance. Then you dive on their head. And while their heads kind of like pinned to the ground, you wait for them to kind of tire out while they're whipping their tail, uh, and you're keeping their mouth closed at the same time. Uh, and then you can kind of pull them up and, uh, just kind of by their jowls, so to speak, and, uh, get them in a more submissive pose. Then they treat them for like medical care and stuff, which is the main purpose of the class. Um, all these gators that were wrestling, you have to, uh, gators are mean to each other.

[00:41:52] So they constantly are getting cut and like bitten and stuff. So you, you treat these wounds so that it gives them a better chance surviving. Uh, since we have a build ability to do that and apparently hand catching the gators is safer than using kind of like the rope on a pole method. Uh, cause the gators can pull that underwater and get, get caught or it's just, it's safer to catch them with the hands ultimately. Uh, so that's why they do it. And then they offer a class to teach about alligators, teach you a strange skill.

[00:42:20] And I, you know, maybe at some point in my life, I'll have to use that skill again and I'll be glad I took the class. But either way, you can always say you did it. Either way, I can always say I did it. Um, but the really scary one was after you wrestle these gators in this like four to five foot pool, which is also the same pool where the dude in our class got bit. Uh, his decision was to essentially rip his hand out of gators mouth, which left a nasty scar, but it did heal up somehow. Uh, they rubbed bleach water in it essentially after the class, the dude kept wrestling alligators after that too.

[00:42:48] So yeah, uh, they rub bleach water on it and uh, yeah, he sent me a photo way after the fact and uh, I was like, yeah, healed up fine. Just really cool scar. So, um, but yeah, the scariest part, you go in this big pool of gators and the water is probably up to your knee ish up to your mid diet certain points, uh, extremely murky water. And whenever they open the gate, all these gators are lounging in the sun. They're all like eight to 10 feet long and uh, they open this gate. All the gators immediately go under the water. So they all hide from you essentially.

[00:43:18] And, uh, the strategy there is you have to walk around this pool, uh, which is probably, you know, like half a football field size, uh, walk around this pool and feel for alligators with your feet. So you're like, okay, well, did I touch a gator? What's happening the whole time? And there's all these fish holes, uh, in the water. So you might like step into a fish hole and then all of a sudden your body's like halfway underwater too. Uh, no. Yeah, no, it was, it was like I said, pretty scary.

[00:43:45] Uh, and then, but once you touch a gator with your foot, uh, you, you figure out what part of the gator you touched and you try to predict where its head is essentially under the water, uh, totally hidden in murky water. Uh, and then someone, um, dives down on the gator aiming for its head. And, uh, then the gator kind of shoots out of the water and kind of skims across the water for, you know, 20 feet or so until it's out of energy. Uh, then you wrap a lasso around the gators neck and then everyone that's in the pool.

[00:44:13] And I think there were four people in the pool when I was there, uh, you grab this rope and you pull the gator to the shore. So the whole time it's doing the death roll thing where it shoots out of the water and does that spin. Yeah. Um, very intense. And then you get, you get on the shore and, uh, you, uh, yeah, you, you, you, someone's sitting on the gator the whole time and then they treat its wounds, which the one gate, one of the gators we pulled out, you know, you could like put your finger inside of this wind. It was so like big and just festering. Um, and then yeah, they scrape it out.

[00:44:42] They put the neosporin or whatever the gator equivalent is on it. Gatorsporin. Yeah. Yeah. Gatorsporin. Wow. I'm staying away from that. I'm going to let nature be, you know? Yeah. Don't know. Don't know if they still offer the class, but it was one of the wildest things to that I've ever done in Colorado. So I had to, I had to mention it. You can always say you did it. Yeah. You can understand it. Well, we end with a bang. It sounds like that. So we got that off the list for next week. So next week we got ski gangs of Aspen.

[00:45:11] Once again, we didn't, didn't have time to chat about that today, but, uh, ski gangs of Aspen. Um, then we have maybe a little bit about the great sand dunes, how that formed, where it came from. And then we also have, there's a park in Denver that I want to chat about that, uh, there's a bunch of bodies buried underneath it. So I know this one. So that's an interesting one too. And who else knows what'll come up between now and then, but always interesting stuff. Always interesting stuff. All right. Well, hey, that's it for, uh, for today from us. So we will see you out there.

[00:45:41] See you out there. See you out there. Bye. Bye. Bye.