Trail leads to dinosaur tracks; 'What surprised you as a transplant?'; The 'Wonders of Colorado'; Historic amphitheater you've never heard of; & More

[00:00:05] Welcome to another episode of the OutThere Colorado Podcast. Once again, I'm Spencer here with Seth. Hello. We got Tim on the video and the audio for today over there in the booth. Once again, a lot of Colorado things to chat about. Are we chatting about Buc-ee's today? You know, we could. I have my Buc-ee's koozie. I do like Buc-ee's. They are not an official sponsor. Not an official sponsor. They could be. It's a personal decision. Yeah, they could be an official sponsor for the low price of $50 million. I've still never gone. Yeah, really?

[00:00:35] Still never been. You are kind of missing out. I know. I mean, it's a gas station. Right? Like... But it's not just any gas station. It's not just any gas station, but at its core, it is a gas station. They do have a lot of merchandise that's branded Buc-ee's and good hot sauce. I really like their hot sauce that you can buy. Barbecue. I hear about the barbecue. Yeah, man. I've said it on here before, but we were in there and they bring out like this brisket and throw it down and everyone's cheering and going wild. Like all the customers are so excited.

[00:01:05] I did about the barbecue. It's got a cult following for sure. Yeah, I gotta figure that out. It's wild how many people go to them too. Like that was obviously there was the conversation with Palmer Lake and Monument and that area. Ongoing controversy. Along I-25 with Buc-ee's wanting to be there. The locals not wanting them there apparently. And then it sounds like they might get a Buc-ee's anyway there. Yeah. Last I heard it was still kind of some quiet pushing going on it seems like. Yeah. So, but a concern of the locals that

[00:01:34] that were opposed to that was just the sheer amount of traffic that Buc-ee's attracts. Right? Like, I mean, when I was there they probably had 70 gas pumps. You know, somewhere in that ballpark. Every single one of them was full of people getting gas. Like they were probably between the massive store they have and the gas pumps, there were probably, you know, 500 to 1,000 people there. Like hard to estimate, but I mean just. Wow. And that was just for that 30 minute period where I was doing quite a bit of shopping.

[00:02:04] I did buy a Buc-ee's jacket. Did you buy that koozie? I did buy the koozie, I believe. Or they might have just, it might have been a, I don't know, it was either free or I got it. Yeah, it might have been a, might have come with something. But yeah, got it, got a hat, got all sorts of things really. I got three different sandwiches. I had to try them all. I had to try them all. But that's, that's, that's enough Buc-ee's talk. All right. How was your weekend, Seth?

[00:02:33] Uh, good. Yeah. Um, got some good hiking in. Plans kind of shifted yesterday. My dog, my doggy got, or on Saturday, my dog got, uh, sick. Mysteriously. She's all right. She's good. Good to go. She's back to her happy running around self. But yeah, I was gonna, I had some plans. I was gonna be around Denver on Saturday and that didn't happen. Doggy first. Uh, Sunday, got some good hiking in and North Shine Canyon and just other stuff around the house. Nice. Very mellow. Yeah. How about you, man?

[00:03:01] Yeah, pretty, pretty mellow weekend. Um, up and down. I had our, uh, paddle film fest on, uh, Saturday over with, uh, in the Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates parking lot. Cool. This massive projector, uh, overlooking the city. Very, very cool setting. Yeah. I've been up to this spot. Yeah. Nearly full moon rising. Yeah. The full moon was last night technically, but yeah, very cool, uh, experience with that. Watched a bunch of, uh, paddle themed, water sports themed, uh, short films. So that was pretty cool. Cool, man. Um,

[00:03:31] What else did I do? I went to the vintage market over at the Penrose Center on Sunday. Um, wasn't planning on buying anything, but ended up buying some, uh, some license plates, vintage license plates for Colorado. So they were cool. I heard there was a little bit of everything over there. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, the plates I got are very cool. One of them's like from, you know, the fifties or something. I got one from the hundred year anniversary of the state. So. Oh, that's cool. Uh, yeah. It's like the old school, like blue with the 76.

[00:04:01] It's in the middle. That seems like you should have that. Yeah. That's very you. Adding it to my Colorado memorabilia. Um, which is. I'd like to check out that memorabilia. There's not much, but slowly growing. It's slowly growing with basically a bunch of knickknacks that I find at thrift shops. Yeah. That's cool. That's fun. The value is a negligible, we'll say, but. Checked out the new, I checked out the new brewery here in, uh, Colorado Springs. One of five. Armillary. Oh, yeah. Over by the old farm neighborhood. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, man. Like I always like finding a neighborhood brewery, you know, a brewery,

[00:04:31] that feels like a real neighborhood cozy brewery, you know? Yeah, for sure. And it felt like community there. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. It's, um, I went over to Red Leg Brewing. Yep. Yeah. Enjoyed the weather. We got there after it cooled off on Sunday and it was just like perfect, perfect weather. Nice little breeze blowing through. Yeah. That was just beautiful. I hope it continues. Supposed to get a little warmer this week, I think. Mm-hmm. Yeah, man. Around the front range. I might be golfing soon. I got invited to golf, which I haven't golfed in 20 years.

[00:04:59] Probably. Probably. Good luck, man. Uh, but my, one of my buddies, they were looking for another person over at Patty Jewett. So I might be headed, there you go. There you go. In a couple weeks. All right. Maybe I'll just be on, I'll be on the patio raising a glass to you, man. Yeah, they have good food. Great food. I know. Very good. Very overlooked, like, weekend brunch spot, I would say. Yeah. Yeah. And the patio is just excellent. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Nice, peaceful vibe. I've been made to get there. Good drink deals, too. But, yeah, so, maybe, maybe here in a couple weeks you'll hear about that. I am looking forward to that. We'll be borrowing clubs. So.

[00:05:29] Um, pretty much any time I've golfed, I've, I've quit pretty early on in the round. Just around for the, uh, for the ride. Yeah, I was, I was in India, uh, years ago. And, um, my buddy there is a big, big golfer in Delhi. And, uh, went golfing with him. And it was, I think it was maybe by the, I had a really good drive on the first hole. Mm-hmm. And he was like, whoa, I didn't know you golfed. And I was like, we'll see. Yeah, I'm a professional. Yeah. By, by, I think it was like hole three, he was like, I'll just, I'll do this.

[00:05:58] Yeah. Yeah. You could just ride in the car. I was, I was dragging him down too much. Sounds like you gotta, it's so long. Sounds like you gotta get to, uh, Topgolf and brush things up here. Dude, I love Topgolf. I do have fun. There you go. I think there's some summer deals going on. Yeah. Check into that. I have a pretty good drive at Topgolf. Like, I can hit it far and I can hit it straight. All right. Um, but it's when I'm hitting it off the ground or a tee, you know, like just your standard tee on a course, like. Where you gotta account for terrain and all that. Yeah, that's bad. We'll see how many holes I make it through. All right. Well, at least it'll be fun. Less than 18. It's a good way to be outside.

[00:06:28] Good way to be outside. So I'll be looking forward to that. Let's get into some of these topics though. Um, what percentage of Coloradans do you think are transplants?

[00:06:40] Uh, man, it feels like, feels like 70%. You're close actually. Yeah. Yeah. You're pretty close. So, um, some census data from 2024, uh, came out showing that about two, uh, 2.4 million of Colorado's roughly 6 million residents were born in Colorado. So that's only about 41%. Yeah. Uh, of Coloradans are born in Colorado. So 59% being transplants from elsewhere.

[00:07:10] It's interesting. Cause like when I meet someone new, I always, you know, the obvious question, where are you from? And when they say here, Colorado, my automatic response is, ah, the rare native. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Cause it feels like that. Yeah. It's one of those things where it is, uh, it, you people encountering people that are born in Colorado seems to be kind of few and far between. Right. Um, it also varies a lot depending on what city you're in.

[00:07:34] So you get out to some of the more rural places in Colorado, higher percentage of, of Colorado born people. You go somewhere like Colorado Springs where it's military, uh, military driven economy in a, in a lot of ways. And I mean, I was seeing some stats that were put in the local born, uh, Colorado Springs. The ends will say about like 20%. So significantly lower in, in El Paso County. Interesting. Colorado Springs. Yeah. People are always coming and going. Yeah. Yeah. Denver. And then they retire here. Yeah. Denver.

[00:08:03] Another one where a pretty low percentage of, uh, of Colorado born residents, about 28% there is what that source was saying. Um, so yeah, pretty wild stuff. Um, honestly though, uh, looking outside of just Colorado kind of a trend across the American West. Okay. Right. Which kind of makes sense. Sure. You know, you got newer States, um, where people just, you know, if you're on the East coast, people have lived in those cities for since the 1600s. Whereas in, in Colorado, you know, it's like 1800. Yeah.

[00:08:33] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Manifest destiny. People are still heeding that call and coming from afar to this wild land. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. That's not all that wild anymore. Yeah. I mean, Nevada, Nevada, 26 or 27% of residents were locally born.

[00:08:50] So, wow. Places like that, you know, but I mean, really, I mean, Wyoming, 42%. Um, honestly though, it's what, one thing that I found interesting is that that number of about, you know, low 40% of, uh, Coloradans, um, being born in Colorado, uh, is actually pretty, um, pretty consistent over time. Like it's kind of, like, it's kind of hovered in that range for decades where, uh, a lot of people, you know, are just consistently coming to the state.

[00:09:18] So I thought that was kind of interesting too, as a takeaway, um, where you think most of these, uh, transplants are coming from. Um, Texas, Texas is up there. So, uh, some, another data set said that about, uh, 400,000 people that were born in California now live in Colorado. Uh, so California is number one. Texas though, about 220,000, uh, Texans are living in Colorado.

[00:09:48] So, I mean, California is a bigger state, produces more people. So, I mean, I would, I would imagine it's a closer percentage when you look at it in terms of the full state, full state population. How many people are moving here? Illinois, also a big one. So I know about those. Yeah. Yeah. You know about those people. Um, 164,000, New York, 145,000, Ohio, 100,000. So those are the, those are the top five places where people are moving from when they come to Colorado.

[00:10:16] Yeah. Pretty wild stuff though. Um, dream of California. Hey, I don't blame them. I'm here, I'm here from Indiana. We're both transplants. What surprised you the most as a transplant when you moved to Colorado? Uh, first thing that comes to mind is, uh, I think a lot of people like have this idea of Colorado being this like superbly snowy state because the state is marketed for its mountains, which are quite snowy, uh, quite often.

[00:10:46] Hopefully they are. Right. Right. Uh, but if, you know, mostly we moved to the front range and the winters are pretty dang mild here. Yeah. You know, especially compared to other places we were, we're probably coming from like such as the Midwest, you know? Yeah. I found, uh, I found the winters extremely tame, uh, compared to where I've been before. Yeah. Spoken like someone from the Chicago land. Yeah. Yeah. But same goes for Indiana, right?

[00:11:12] Right. Like I'm from Southern Indiana. Um, originally moved here 12 years ago or so. Mm-hmm. Um, the weather definitely was surprising in that regard. Also something that really shocked me is the lack of overcast days. Mm-hmm. Like in Indiana, you'll get a stretch where it's like just overcast for like a month and you just don't see sunshine. Whereas out here, it's like if it's overcast, you're like, whoa. Especially in the morning. That's weird. Like these like cloudy mornings have been super weird for me.

[00:11:38] Yeah. Yeah. You don't get it out here. And even, and even when it is overcast out here, it's not just kind of like that overcast gray haze that just like feels like it's hanging in the air. You know, it's clouds moving through and you know, they'll be gone pretty quick. I mean, a lot of Colorado, right? It's always said 300 days of sunshine is like what we get. And that definitely, uh, you hear that before you move here, but it's definitely true. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, the dryness though too. So that's something that I, I did not understand before I moved here.

[00:12:08] I don't think you can understand that until you're here. Yeah. It's basically like living in a desert, right? Like a high Alpine desert. Doesn't maybe look like your classic desert scene, but it is a high desert. Yeah. The nosebleeds. Like the nose, like immediately when you move here, chap lips, nosebleeds, and just like, you're just like, whoa, what's happening here?

[00:12:25] Yeah. I met, I recently met a guy coming through from Ohio in Glenwood and, um, he like, uh, he was like coming through the Eisenhower tunnel and he said he like turned around and go back down the hill to Denver to get meds for, uh, altitude. You know, like people, people get surprised by the altitude out here still. Yeah. Yeah. That's another thing where you hear about it, but it's easy to kind of underestimate it and like how, and especially until you've actually felt it too, like how debilitating it is.

[00:12:53] Yeah. Um, just like, it really just stops you in your tracks. Once it, once altitude sickness creeps in, it stops you and you, the only solution really, I mean, you can find certain ways to kind of mute the symptoms, but the only real solution is to get to a lower elevation. So, um, or take the time to acclimate probably out of elevation, you know, around 6,000 feet, not 9,000 feet that Breckenridge is. Um, uh, the sand dunes were pretty surprising. That shocked me, man. I had that on my list too, actually. Like the great sand dune.

[00:13:22] Yeah. People outside of Colorado have no clue that exists. I was here for, I think two years before I even realized. And I was just like looking up like, Oh, what are cool places in Colorado? That's my, with my little, uh, trans transplant mindset. And, uh, I was like, Whoa, is that a real place even? Like, is this a fake photo? What's going on here? Yeah. Um, yeah. Sand dunes, man. Once I saw that, I had to get there. Absolutely beautiful. Another one, the lack of mosquitoes.

[00:13:49] Yeah. That's a nice, pleasant surprise. Yeah. Um, coming from the Midwest, man. I, we, we both know it well, but those, those mosquitoes just eat you up in the summer.

[00:13:59] Um, they sure do. And it is miserable sometimes. And out here, I mean, I've only had, I mean, you rarely get mosquito bites and there's only a few places where I've even like seen the mosquitoes in a sense, you know, um, granted West now virus still a risk, still kills colorados every year, but, uh, yeah. Yeah. Unless you're really around some of the few big water destinations, it's, you don't see many mosquitoes.

[00:14:25] Uh, two night, other nice, pleasant surprises, the fall colors. I don't think I had really any expectations for what fall colors were going to be like out here. Yeah. And that, that, that Aspen gold is just awesome. Yeah. Love that. Um, and then the wildflower every year, you know, that was a nice surprise. You know, I, I didn't, I didn't think of wildflowers as being this great attraction where I've lived previously and out here come time for blooms. I'm going to see them. Yeah.

[00:14:55] Yeah, for sure. Yep. And I mean, you moved here, what, probably like 10 years ago or 10 years. Yeah. Um, I'd be curious if people moving here now maybe have a better understanding of what expectations to have just because of how social media plays a bigger role in that research and how much, how much more accessible information is just in so many ways and just hearing from different people, you know, it's like when I moved out here is you do Google search and you might find a blog post or two about what it's like, but not, not that same level where you have, you know,

[00:15:24] it was like this where people are just sitting around talking about these things and anyone can tune in. So the planes are pretty surprising. Yeah. You know, Kansas was here. Kansas is here. Right. Yeah. I think that's another thing where, uh, that was maybe the first shock I had moving to Colorado. Cause I was just driving across the country. Did it all in one, one go. So just like 15, 16 hour drive. And, um, I remember hitting the state line and I was like, Oh, I'm going to got to take a photo with the welcome to Colorado.

[00:15:54] I'm going to get a photo with the Colorado sign that I've seen online and then hitting that state line. And then you're like, huh? I think I'm in Colorado. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, way out all the Easter plates. It's like an hour or two before you even see mountains, you know, especially if you're going kind of South down to Colorado Springs. But yeah. Yeah. It's a funny stuff. How about, uh, Colorado style pizza? You telling me there's such a thing as Colorado pizza, where they call it mountain pizza, what Bojo's talking about Bojo's, you know, coming from Illinois where I knew about,

[00:16:24] Chicago pizza, you know, having spent some time in New York, knew about New York pizza, Detroit pizza. Didn't think there was Colorado pizza. Is there Colorado pizza? Bojo's has the claim, I guess. Yeah. I mean, the Colorado style pizza. If you, if you say it, people know what it is. The braided crust. And it's honey wheat, right? Honey wheat crust. And it's also, you put the honey on it. Put the honey on it. On the crust. Yeah. Is it honey wheat? Yeah. I'm pretty sure it's honey wheat. Um, anyway. But yeah, man, just real big crust. Like that's the, it's like,

[00:16:54] more calories on the crust probably than the slice. But, uh, but yeah, that's a, that's a good one too. Also the green chili. I think, uh, that's something where you don't hear a lot about that until you're here. And then it's like on every menu. And I mean, it's good. Any, anytime I see green chili, I always have like the urge to get it, uh, on whatever it will come on. So Rocky mountain oysters. Another little surprise there. Another surprise. You know, uh, it's not, those aren't chicken tenders. Mm hmm. For sure. Oh, this is maybe a good one.

[00:17:24] Uh, how little people care about sports in a lot of ways, especially college sports. Like coming from the Midwest, man, it's like Saturday and Sunday are dedicated to sports, especially in big 10, uh, towns. Right. And I was, I was at Purdue at the time. So especially in the South, spent some time in the South. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And it's like out here, I would venture to say that most Coloradans haven't watched any sort of college, local college athletic game over the past year. Yeah. You know, I mean, you definitely have your dedicated fans.

[00:17:53] You definitely have people that cheer on the Broncos every week. You definitely have abs fans. You definitely have nuggets fans. Rockies, maybe not so much. But, uh, uh, the amount of time that's dedicated to being a fan of a sport is pretty low, uh, for your general Colorado, I would say. Um, not saying there aren't dedicated, but saying in mass, and maybe it has something to do with, you know, 59% of people being born elsewhere. Maybe they care about their other.

[00:18:21] Have loyalties elsewhere. Yeah. Um, but at the same time, man, 10 years, like I said, I've been here 10 years and the Broncos have won a Superbowl in that time. The, uh, Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup in that time and the Nuggets have won a finals trophy in that time. Yeah. Yeah. Quite a run in the past decade. It is. For Denver sports. Yeah. It is for sure. And I'd also venture to say that people in Denver probably care more as well compared to Colorado Springs. Good point. Um, but yeah, man, I think, uh, that was something that surprised me, you know?

[00:18:50] And just like, you can't find, like, if you go out for a game or something, you're like, I'm going to go find a bar and watch the game. Unless it's a big game, you'll, you won't really find that many bars that are packed with people watching. Whereas like in Indiana, every single bar is packed. Anytime there's even like a mediocre game on for people watching that game. So yeah, more stuff to do in Colorado, I guess too. People, people save their weekend time for getting outside and doing fun things that are not just sitting inside.

[00:19:17] As they should. As they should. Watching again. Yeah. Yeah. As they should. Uh, what else we got here today though? Let's chat about, uh, so you were excited to chat about this. Uh, there's a new trail, uh, that's been opened up and it has some prehistoric and historic significance. You want to tell us about that?

[00:19:37] Yeah. The prehistoric side of it, uh, it kind of speaks for itself in the name of this new trail. It's the T-Rex tooth trail, a new trail, um, a top, uh, South table mountain and golden, right? One of those iconic mountain tops that you see in golden. There's North table and there's South table.

[00:19:56] Yeah. Beautiful Mesa views. Yeah. Kind of two different flavors. I feel like more people know about North table just cause the trailhead and the access there is just bigger and more defined and visible. Well, I don't know. South table kind of feels a little more like locals to me. Like access points are more like more so in the neighborhoods, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Um, but really, uh, neat mountains, both great to visit. And yeah, there's a new way to explore the top of South table mountain via this T-Rex tooth trail that kind of, um,

[00:20:26] essentially kind of connects two of the major access points going up the mountain and then, and then forms a total loop on that side of South table mountain. Very cool. So I bring them 1.5 miles long, roughly this little. So this segment, yeah, this segment. And it's possible to do like a three plus mile loop now with it connecting to other trails. So significant in that way, but yeah, back to the other way. It's significant in regards to the prehistory, prehistory that it harkens back to. Um, it's said that like,

[00:20:56] the first remains of a T-Rex were found on South table mountain in North America, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think there's a lot of different, there's different claims I heard like in the world too. I'm not entirely sure. It's very safe to say one of the early, one of the earliest, uh, T-Rex fossils found. And it was this tooth found in 1874. Yes. Uh, it's credited to Arthur Lakes,

[00:21:21] who's kind of a, he was a professor at what would be the Colorado school of mines and kind of a central figure in the, uh, state's, uh, fossil rush as it's called from that era when there was a big push to dig up these bones of prehistoric beasts, you know, that's a really fascinating chapter of Colorado history. Look up sometimes referred to the bone wars where things got pretty out of hand. I think you and I, uh, talked about it before. Pretty wild stuff. Yeah. So that's part of it. There

[00:21:49] was a, uh, really important T-Rex fossil found on South table mountain in this vicinity of where the trail is, but also very, very interestingly, um, the trail gives a new view of the Colorado amphitheater, which you covered the story. So I bet you know about Colorado amphitheater now. I didn't know anything about it before. I had never heard about it. I hadn't either. Um, I dug up the, um,

[00:22:17] the, uh, form that placed it in the national register of historic places, which had some really neat details about how it came together going back to the 1930s. This amphitheater was built along this slope seen from South table mountain, this, a bunch of stone steps going up this slope kind of meant to be, uh, this entertainment venue for people, for personnel who are posted at camp George West.

[00:22:43] Um, but also for the broader community as well would come out, um, in this short period of time in the thirties, um, built by the works pride progress administration at that time. And, uh, this is straight from the national register of historic places form. Um, upon completion, movies were shown at the amphitheater every night during summer training for the Colorado national guard.

[00:23:07] Um, boxing and wrestling matches were also held there as well as band concerts and sunrise and Sunday sunrise services. It's kind of interesting to think of that scene in, in golden at that time. Yeah. I'm seeing, uh, estimated 2,500 seats is something which that's, I mean, that's sizable. That's probably one of the largest like natural setting. Yes. Yeah. It's, it's, it's listed as one of

[00:23:31] four, um, open air, uh, amphitheaters in the state and considered the second largest behind Red Rocks amphitheater. Yeah. But here it sits just lonely, um, on private property off limits. U S department of energy property is my understanding. I believe it's government property. Um, so you can't go there from this new trail, but again, you can see it, uh, from this new trail and kind of picture,

[00:23:58] you know, this brief time of entertainment that was happening there. Dang. I'm surprised they haven't tried to revive it. I'll be honest. Interesting to think about. Yeah. Right. That'd be, it seems like that'd be a something worth looking into. Well, and if it did get public again, there is a fair warning from this national register of historic places form that again, kind of compiled the history. It's an account of the history. Uh, I'll just read directly one factor causing

[00:24:23] its abandonment was the abundance of rattlesnakes that occupy the area. This caused movie watchers to bring forked sticks and pistols with them when attending functions in the amphitheater. Okay. Yeah. Maybe not. So sure enough, that would be pretty wild. So sure enough, this new trail opens in some of the first comments I'm seeing, look out for rattlesnakes. Yeah. So there's your fair warning folks. You know, it was, you know, it's an undisturbed, it was a previously undisturbed

[00:24:50] place. Easy to imagine rattlesnakes freely hanging out. Now suddenly there's people coming across. So there's some new coexisting happening there. Yeah. Dang. Yeah. Fair warning. I'm laughing, but seriously, fair warning, man. Keep your distance and you know, hopefully people know the rules when it comes to rattlesnakes. Yeah. Did you see the, uh, there's been tragic news about rattlesnakes just this year. Yeah. Yeah. Two year old was just bitten by a rattlesnake up in the area of Bennett,

[00:25:14] pretty rural area. Um, seems like she's doing better. Uh, but I saw that had to use more than 30 vials of anti-ventum on her, uh, had to do with blood transfusion. Um, basically family from Kansas was in town visiting, um, for a wedding. And right after they got the Airbnb, uh, the girls outside with the mother looking at horses, um, that were nearby. And that's when you got bit twice.

[00:25:39] So, uh, very scary situation. She was airlifted for help and, um, yeah, there's a go-up on me. You can find, uh, related to it as well. Uh, that was seemed like it was going pretty well. Um, in terms of that at $61,000 raised already for that, the latest update has been some pretty positive news too. So, um, well, so there you go more. Oh yeah, here we are. Discharge. She's been discharged as of today. Um, yeah, yeah. So, uh, scary, scary situation though. I mean,

[00:26:08] something, a reminder to parents, you know, even, even if you're in a yard, like you're not out on the trail, you're not out in the middle of nowhere. Um, gotta be, gotta be careful, especially when you've got small kids with you. Um, and, uh, yeah, just, uh, glad that, glad that situation seems to be resolved in a positive way. Yeah. Very good. Man. Let's talk about more dinos though. All right. Um, I know we're talking about historic amphitheaters here, but I've been wanting to bring

[00:26:36] this up for, for a hot minute. This is something that's on my bucket list for this summer. Uh, but the West Gold Hill dinosaur track site in URA County. Heard about it. Yeah. Heard legends of it. Looks awesome. It is this, it's a remote hike, beautiful hike that leads to 134 preserved dinosaur footprints. And it's found at like 9,300 feet of elevation. Um, pretty significant too. It's,

[00:27:00] uh, from a Sariopod. Uh, so like a long necked dinosaur, right? Um, one of the best examples of how this dinosaur is able to, uh, turn. If you look at the way these footprints are, uh, forms kind of like this 270 degree turn. Uh, but one of the best examples of, of that happening, the story behind it's pretty interesting too. Um, this family had owned this, uh, on these parcels

[00:27:26] of land since like 1945 and they would visit them in the summer months and they had these like pothole features on them that would fill up with water. So the family's dogs would just lay in these pothole features, uh, flash forward to like, I think it was, uh, 2021, uh, when all of a sudden these pothole features were discovered to be dinosaur tracks. So what were just the little puddles that the dogs were laying in for years, uh, suddenly discovered to be this, this very significant, um, dinosaur

[00:27:55] related, uh, aspect of the landscape. So very cool. Yeah. The family, uh, approached the forest service in 2022 about, uh, about, uh, this trail and, uh, ultimately it has been opened up for the public. So, um, yeah, it's a very, very cool, uh, little situation. The trail to, uh, access this area is called silver shield trail, uh, has, has an elevation gain of 1600 feet. So pretty steep,

[00:28:22] um, found there, uh, you can access that trailhead and parking, uh, along County road 17. So, um, yeah, something, uh, something to check out. It's two miles out and back too. So two miles each way. Mm-hmm. Um, man, I talked to a guy named Ricky Trujillo one time who I, I thought he was credited with like, uh, discovering that site. Have you ever heard that story? He's a guy, uh, behind, uh, he's

[00:28:48] like a, he's a name in the ultra world in Colorado. What I'm blanking on imaging path, right? There are a race on that. Yeah. Yeah. There's one of the founders of that. But anyway, yeah, I remember him telling the story of finding those tracks sites as a kid and it kind of getting public after that. Yeah. I mean, he may have, you know, uh, it's, it's, it's funny to think about just a kid exploring and discovering dinosaur sites like that that came to light later anyway. Yeah. Pretty wild, pretty wild stuff. You never know what you find when you're exploring

[00:29:16] Colorado, right? Picket wire Canyon lands being the other place to see dinosaur tracks. Yes. And south on the exact opposite side of Colorado, Southeast Colorado over toward Lanta. Yeah. Also a, uh, very significant, um, site when it comes to dinosaurs as well. I think it's the largest track site in North America. They refer to it as that. Yep. Yeah. Which, um, how many, how many tracks are there? It's something like in the hundreds, 800, over 1900 individual footprints.

[00:29:46] Is what the forest service says. Okay. Yeah. Look into it. I think the forest service still runs auto tours to it. Otherwise you got to hoof your way in and it's quite the, it's quite the undertaking to get in there. Hot. Yeah. Especially this time of year. Not, not a lot of, uh, coverage. Yeah. But that site's fascinating because it's more than the dinosaur track. I mean, it's kind of like down in this, again, you're on the plains of Southeast Colorado where you wouldn't expect to be in a canyon, but DJ like, you're like in this like bowl shape valley kind of thing. Uh, where

[00:30:16] yeah, these tracks are one thing, but then there's also, um, petroglyphs, right. From tribal people. Uh, I'm recalling there's like an old Spanish mission in there. Uh, there's an old homestead. So it like recalls like all these different eras. Very cool. Of history. You know, round trip. It's in this bowl. Is it like 16 miles around trip? That is it the Withers trail or something like that that goes in there? I think you're right. Yeah.

[00:30:43] And again, I think the, my understanding is the only way to get in there by vehicles, uh, getting in with the, one of these forest service tours. Yeah. Yeah. The Withers Canyon slash dinosaur footprints trail. Um, yeah. At Comanche National Grassland is a, where you'll find that too. So yeah, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. 8.5 miles each way is roughly what it looks like. Descends 20, about 250 feet. Yeah. So not a lot of elevation change, but long hike, very

[00:31:12] exposed by the sun or the sun. Got to know what you're doing there. Make sure. Got to bring water. I would honestly like, I do want to check out the auto tours because I'm sure that comes with some like education as well. Yeah. I did it years ago. Yeah. Years ago. It was nice. It was cool. That'd be cool to hear some of that history. Yeah. Um, yeah. So there you go. Dinosaurs summer. Um, I know lots of dino talk today, but I love dinosaurs. I can talk about dinosaurs, uh, all day. I actually have a dinosaur sticker on my Jeep.

[00:31:42] Um, but, uh, Oh, I did want to bring this up. So, uh, I know, I know you've been running lately. Have you thought about doing the garden to peak challenge in college? Look at me. I can't pull it off. You'd be fine. You'd be fine. Um, it's, uh, it's basically a series of three races. I wanted to mention it just in case there's some runners listening. Yep. Uh, it's honestly three of my favorite races of all time. Um, and they're all in the same

[00:32:08] series and you can do one or two or two of them. One I think I can do. One I can pull off. Yeah. The first one's the, uh, it starts on June 14th. It's, um, the, uh, garden of the gods 10 miler, which is very fun race. Uh, you're going through. I want to do that. Yeah. You're going through the park and you're on pavement. So it's the only race of the series where you're on pavement. Um, but there's no vehicles to worry about. Right. And you kind of run around the park in the opposite direction that you would, if

[00:32:35] you were just running just for fun in the park and it kind of cuts through some of the paved foot paths and stuff. And it's very cool, very scenic, a lot of Hills that you're going up and down. You kind of have this really fast finish where you're, you get to kind of that top point of the park running in the opposite direction of how traffic is. It typically goes. And then you run all the way to rock wedge ranch and it's just like a fast flowy finish and people are cooking down. Yeah. Um, the next race is bar trail mountain race. That's probably my favorite of the three races I'm about to talk about

[00:33:04] here. Um, but you go up to bar camp. So, uh, people familiar with Pikes peak, uh, know that there's a camp on bar trail, which travels to the summit of Pikes peak, but you turn around at bar camp. So it's, it ends up being about 12.6 miles out and back, uh, total. Right. Um, but it's just steep uphill for like 3,800 steps and then steep downhill for, sorry, for 3,800 feet of elevation gain and then steep downhill for 38 feet of elevation. I'll get you in 100 feet of elevation.

[00:33:32] Yeah, dude. It's a, it's a good workout. It's fun because it's like, it's just short enough. I'll say for where like people are training for like long distance running, they can push it pretty hard the whole way. So, and you're pushing it hard uphill and then just pushing it hard downhill. Um, and then there's a little steep hill right at the end where you got to like go up like a hundred feet or whatever, 50 feet, uh, which that, that gets a lot of people. And then of course you got the Pikes Peak Ascent or the Pikes Peak Marathon. Uh, that's the third race of the series. Um,

[00:34:01] that one takes place later, later in the year. Um, Ember or something, I forget the date, but, uh, yeah, that, I mean, there's no race like that in the country, I would say. Um, America's mountain. Yeah. Oh man. And it's, it's fun. It's, it's very, very, uh, physically strenuous. Um, 70 years, right? I think I covered 70 years of it last year. Yeah. I think you're right. I think you're right. Uh, started as a competition to see if the smokers could be

[00:34:28] faster than the non-smokers. And I'm recalling there wasn't a clear determination on that, or maybe there was. I thought I heard the smokers did pretty good. I think they did do pretty well. Um, but, uh, but yeah, that race though, um, it's 13.3 miles with the, with the ascent, right. Um, almost 8,000 feet of elevation gain. And I've done it a few times and it's just like

[00:34:54] steep uphill. Like you're not gaining like a hundred feet per mile. You're getting like 300, 400 feet per mile. Um, I think more at times. So it's just like, it's just a nonstop grind. There's like sections of it where it feels like you're going downhill, but it's still uphill, but it's because it's been so steep the whole way that you get like a break. Yeah. You get like a break and you're still going uphill significantly. Yeah. I mean, what it like something like from

[00:35:20] 6,300, 6,500 base to 14,115. Yeah. And it is just relentless. And then a marathon turns around and goes back down the same, uh, same trail. I'm shooting to try to do the marathon this year. I believe in you, man, man. I, you got this. My toe is no longer injured as of like last week. So I can resume the training. I was running around Sweetwater Canyon trail and Northshine Canyon. Oh yeah. That's a good running trail. It is. Good, good, good mountain biking too. Yeah. But that's a beautiful one. So you've done it. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:35:49] Cool. Um, yeah. What am I thinking about you? I have a couple. Good little training run. Yeah. There's a lot of really good training in Northshine Canyon. And you can extend it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, one of my favorite loops is to kind of, uh, start at the bottom of that Canyon. Yeah. Um, Columbine and run up Columbine, cut over at Cutler and go up Cutler, go up Muskoko and connect to those, those trails, the newer trail system that's up there. Um, and then just kind of figure it out. But from there,

[00:36:15] um, but yeah, it's a, it's a long run, but it's very good for ascent training. People that are thinking about doing the ascent or the marathon cannot stress enough how uphill it is and can also not stress enough how much elevation will smack you in the face. It is, it is a, uh, it is a beast and it's very hard to train for that. You need to be doing multiple 14 years just to acclimate to that elevation. Cause you gotta think like, even if you're doing a 14 year, you're hiking, you're running, you know, that's, that's more physically taxing than hiking.

[00:36:43] Yeah. It's no wonder why locals always do well in the standings because they can go run it. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And every time that I've done it, I get to the top and I just feel awful. Like the worst I've ever felt in my life. Like in terms of altitude sickness, they do have shuttles that take you off if you're doing the ascent. Uh, so the shuttles take you off pretty quickly. And, but it, I mean, I always feel normal by the time I get back to Manitou Springs, but that bus ride

[00:37:10] down the winding turns when I'm like nauseous. Oh dude, it's been close every single year. And the funny thing is it's like everyone else on the bus seems to be doing fine. They're all like happy that they did this race and chatted and I'm just sitting there with my head against the window, just like bouncing every time it hits anything like on like a school bus window, man. Oh, yeah. Oh, but keep doing it for some reason. Good memories. It sounds like great memories.

[00:37:35] Yeah. Keep doing it. Good stuff. Keep doing it for as long as I can. So for you, man. Um, yeah. What's next? Uh, what else do we got on our list today? Um, Hmm, you know, cover some good stuff. We did cover some good stuff. You brought up a topic. Uh, you brought up a topic last week that I thought was, was kind of interesting or very interesting.

[00:38:02] Um, kind of is okay. I get it. Kind of. We'll let the viewers decide. Um, what do you think the true wonders of Colorado are in line with like the seven wonders of the world? I've got to think about this, but, uh, I think I shot you a few. Sand dunes has got to be one of them. Yeah. Sand dunes for sure. That's a lot of those. So unlike anything, uh, Black Canyon of the Gunnison

[00:38:25] comes to mind just in terms of our own great Grand Canyon ish on a small level here in Colorado. Yeah. I mean, just talk about just a vertical world that is Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Wheeler geologic area. Totally agree. That was one of mine, um, site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions to ever take place. Right. Like there's evidence of it there, which is pretty mind blowing when you think about like how, how many volcanic eruptions have taken place.

[00:38:55] And right here in Colorado, we have evidence of one of the largest. So yeah, it kind of represents my right in understanding, like one of the most violent volcanic, uh, chapters of world history. Yeah. And boy, it, uh, it, it did some beautiful work though to Wheeler geologic area. I've, I've often referred to it as like a box of Crayola crayons. Yeah. Yeah. Cause like those pillars and towers in there look like the tops of Crayons. Yeah. And they're colorful. It's a colorful mosaic back in there. That's really awesome. Yeah. What else I got?

[00:39:25] I think, you know, I think the redwood, the petrified redwood stumps in Florida sign along on there too, just because, you know, similar, uh, in the way that it's evidence of this volcanic past that the state had, but the fact that redwoods were in Colorado always blows my mind. It's such a trip. Yeah. And I mean, you go there and you're, you know, you're literally just looking at tree stumps in a way. There are some good trails to explore and some, some

[00:39:49] history, uh, aspects of history to check out there as well. Um, but I mean, once you realize what those tree stumps represent, it, it's mind blowing. Right. Yeah. Uh, I throw out, uh, another maybe interesting one is, uh, how about the, uh, said to be the world's deepest hot spring in Pagosa spring? Yes. Right. The well there that's arranged mother spring,

[00:40:14] right? The mother spring. Yeah. I can't remember how deep it goes off the top of my head, but I think they measured it to 1200 feet. I want to say, yeah, they ran out of plumb line. Um, it's Guinness book of world records certified. So I feel like that's worthy of wonder mention garden of the gods. Yeah. Got to mention garden. Maybe it's an easy pick there. Uh, maroon bells. Maybe another easy pick there. How about bridal veil fault? The tallest waterfall

[00:40:41] in Colorado, right? Yeah. I'll tell you right. 365 feet. If I remember correctly. That sounds right. Or at least that's how many days there are in the year. Yeah. Right. Let's look it up real quick. We better confirm. Um, what about, uh, the paint mine? Paint mines are very cool French pick there. Maybe I was right. 365 feet and coincidentally, I've never connected to the dust. Now I'll always remember how tall it is. There we go. Uh, hanging lake. Yeah.

[00:41:09] Hanging lake. We chatted about that, but yeah, dude, the paint mines though. I don't think people realize how biodiverse that area is. Like obviously the, uh, the, uh, the colorful rock, right? The, the clay rock there, um, that gets a lot of attention, right? It's easy to photograph and those photos go viral on social media all the time. Uh, but what that spot has meant for,

[00:41:35] you know, human history and prehistory for so long, I think that's even more impressive. Like when you look at how, uh, some of the earliest people in this part of the world would use that landscape to trap their prey in these canyons, you know, when you're dealing with primitive weapons and really a, a spot that kind of allowed, a lot, allowed people to thrive. And then also just how many different little ecosystems are represented in that small little park. Like just out on the

[00:42:01] plains. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point. All bringing up how worthy of protection it is. A lot of focus about protection around that place. Yeah. In recent years. Rightfully so. Rightfully so. Yeah. Stay on the trails. You mentioned rattlesnake canyon arches. Yes. I think that's a good pick. Yeah. One of the highest concentrations of, uh, arches in, in North America. Um, always overlooked. Hiding out in Colorado, in, uh, Western Colorado. Yeah. Another, another spot where you really want

[00:42:27] to make sure you have a lot of water. No easy way of getting there. Yeah. And don't expect, uh, I mean, trails as far as I've heard, you know, hard, hard to follow. Yeah. I've heard that. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta be good at navigation and easy to get turned around. Yeah. Yeah. That's a, that's another one for sure that belongs on the list. Pretty good list. I think it's pretty good the list. Yeah. Did pretty well there. Yeah. A little spur of the moment conversation. Um, yeah, I think, I think that's a good way to put a bow on this one. Cool. Um, yeah. Uh,

[00:42:57] until next time I'm Spencer, I'm Seth and we'll see you out there. Bye.