Trivia time (hard edition); Amazing sandwich spot; Horse removal effort; Stunning mountain town venue; & 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 over there in the booth doing the video and the audio for today. And once again, a lot of interesting Colorado topics to chat about. I know. Yeah, I got some, I mean, and a lot of cool weekend things to talk about. We're doing trivia at some point in the episode. We were talking Christopher Nolan when we walked in. Me and Tim were having a riveting conversation about Christopher Nolan. Riveting. Riveting. But that's behind the scenes stuff for later. Yeah.

[00:00:35] We gotta get the director's cut here. No, we never cut anything from the show. So if you hear us stumbling through words sometimes, that's just how we talk. Yeah, we're stumblers. Yeah. So let's get into weekend. You did some pretty exciting stuff over the weekend. Got in the mountains. Did a little overnight in Summit County, mostly in Frisco and Dillon. All for the sake really of our debut night. My wife and I at the Dillon Amphitheater. Dillon Amphitheater.

[00:01:05] Finally, I get the hype. So I've got some takeaways. I'll try to run through these because you've got some exciting weekend updates too, including a pizza recommendation, which I know our listeners love. Oh yeah, pizza. Dillon Amphitheater. It feels, it felt very local. Like I think I saw the capacity was like 3,300 or something like that. 3,500, 3,600, something somewhere in there. And for comparison, like Red Rocks is like 90,000-ish, 9,000-ish, I think.

[00:01:33] Yeah. So it felt small in a good way. And like the other thing that really stood out to me was that you could move around as you believe, at least at this show that we were at for leftover salmon and turtle by turtle. So like, you know, we got our, we put our blanket down on the grass for the first band. And for the second band, we were down on the stage. That was cool.

[00:01:55] And then obviously just the great view of the reservoir and the mountains right there, backdrop. I get why I've heard people talking about over the years that they'd rather go to the Dillon Amphitheater than Red Rocks. And they get a lot of similar artists too. Same with, same with the amp out in Vail. Like it's similar vibe I would imagine. Yeah. Just cause that's around that like 3,500 person capacity. Same thing at Vail. Yeah. Yeah. I was wondering about that, man.

[00:02:23] You get ticketed seats down low though. Okay. So it is a little bit, you gotta be in the lawn or in the spot. But yeah. Yeah. Uh, yeah. We sat down, like the first conversation I was overhearing with people next to us was like how they'd rather go to the Dillon Amphitheater than Red Rocks. Okay. It's a big statement to say, I mean, Red Rocks is iconic. Can you, can we really fairly say that the Dillon Amphitheater is better than Red Rocks? You know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna go there, but I get why people talk about how they'd rather go to the Dillon Amphitheater.

[00:02:50] Yeah. If, uh, someone's never been to a show at Red Rocks before, Red Rocks is a must. You gotta check out Red Rocks. You have to. I think there's, I mean, this is not meant to be a bash on Red Rocks at all, but I think in recent years, you know, ticket prices have increased. Right. In recent years, you know, the popularity of the venues increased quite a bit, I would, I would imagine as well. Getting in and out. People always talk about getting in and out these days.

[00:03:13] Just as Denver's grown, like it is a whole thing. Yeah. Like, you know, like where you walk into a Dillon Amphitheater from where you were staying or? Uh, not where we stayed. Okay. Overnight, you're saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You could get spots where you could walk in. You know, there's hotels around where, yeah, for sure. You could walk and stay everywhere. But I had no problem getting a parking spot over by the Tiki Bar. Nice.

[00:03:34] I think that's another little local gem there. This little Tiki Bar. Right on the marina? Yeah. At the marina there? Yeah. Parked there. Walked to the Dillon Amphitheater. Very different from Red Rocks, right? That's where, that's where the conversation has come from. It's just gotten busy. Yeah. It's gotten expensive, you know. Backdrop by a lake. Like a lot of places. Yeah. You got the backdrop of the lake and a mountain view. Yeah. You see a sunset out there too. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You see a lot of the photos. Yeah. The sunsets. Yeah. Very cool, man. I'm, I'm jealous. I got, um, two quick shout outs.

[00:04:04] That's Middle Creek Trail, uh, right there in Frisco. Mm-hmm. That was a great little escape into Eagle's Nest Wilderness. We hiked to, uh, Lilypad Lakes, Lilypad Lake. Mm-hmm. Especially if you're just, you know, you got a lot going on, you're bouncing around. That's a great little hike. How long? Just in town. Three miles. Nice. Out and back. Very cool. Getting up to, like, subalpine? Mm-hmm. 9,800 feet? I was thinking about that. Is a, is a lake at 9,800 feet an alpine lake? I always think of, is it below the tree line? It's below the tree line. Yeah. So I would imagine still.

[00:04:32] Subalpine? Yeah, subalpine, yeah. Subalpine, yeah. Anyway. I was thinking about that. Uh, shout out for the Moose Jaw. Yeah. Love the Moose Jaw in Frisco. Mm-hmm. 50 years we popped in there and said hello. And that's such a cool place. Unlike, really, it, it feels like any, unlike anywhere else in Summit County now. You know, in, in the age of resorts in Summit County, you know, uh, bars, uh, bars kind of have a certain feel, I guess, in communities like these.

[00:05:00] And, and the jaw is just, uh, the, uh, the rebel, you know. Just the cool, dark, local spot, man. Love that place. Also known for being where, uh, the song Tequila. Right. That music video was filmed by Dan and Shay. The one's like, when I taste tequila. So funny. I think they spelled it up on Hoosier Pass too, maybe. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Love that place. And Outer Ranch, of course. Yeah. Gotta get Outer Ranch. So. Gotta get them a shout out anytime we get the chance. Very cool. Sounds like a very fun weekend.

[00:05:29] Good time away, man. Yeah. How are the roads around the state? Uh, 70 was moving. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, do they do work on, at Floyd Hill on the weekends? I don't think so on the weekends. I think it's during the week. What about, so what about Dillon Reservoir? What'd that look like? Low. Yeah. Was it like you could see just, could you tell like very honestly? You could, you see these islands where either they should be covered or you can tell where the water is supposed to be coming up. Was anyone out on there?

[00:05:59] Mm-hmm. Yeah. People out on boats. But I also like. You can still rent pontoons, I think, and kayaks. Is that right? Yeah. I believe so, yeah. I also just saw a lot of boats like covered up and I just kind of thought, man, are there people who are just like, my boat's going to be sitting there for the year? Yeah. Because that main marina closed because the water wasn't high enough to, or wasn't going to be high enough. And that was a close few months ago. But yeah, they, they essentially moved a lot of the dock operations, I think. Yeah. Or at least tweaked them so that they could still do some of the rain. Yeah. I don't think there's a year that goes by where I don't get to Summit County in the summer. Yeah.

[00:06:29] And that's the lowest I've seen it. Yeah. Dang. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. Crazy stuff. Yeah. Uh, so, uh, yeah, my weekend was, I mean, not, I didn't, I didn't do like a weekend getaway trip by any means. Um, I did go up to the outlets in Castle Rock. Oh yeah. That's a getaway. A lot of good deals up in the, up at the outlets. Um, wait, hanging on until November though. November seems to be when the best deals are around like the whole month, just leading up to Black Friday. You heard it here first. Yeah. Yeah. Did a little hike, uh, in Northshine Canyon.

[00:06:59] Started at the Starsmore Center and went up to Mount Cutler. Nice. And we started too late in the day. It was so hot, man. I was like heat exhaustion levels. Like I was not hydrated enough for that. And I was like, just, you know, I mean, from there it's, it's probably like six miles around trip. Like, you know, 1200 feet of elevation gain or so. So nothing crazy, but the heat, it was probably like 96 degrees. Oh. And just going uphill. Yeah. Um, I was, yeah, not properly hydrating beforehand. So I, uh, but it was fun.

[00:07:28] We were, you know, did a little hike run and had a good time. Yeah. Um, but so I, I think I got to say the highlight of my weekend. Um, I went to the sandwich place slash pizza place. And I think it's got to be one of the best places in Colorado Springs. If not Colorado, cause they've got a location liquid to Leopold's big hype over here. Leopold's hear a lot about it. Oh, uh, I've heard a lot of hype about Leopold's up and wanting to go since they opened up their, their location in OCC.

[00:07:58] Yep. Um, Colorado city. Colorado Springs is West side. Yep. Yep. Um, home to a lot of great stuff. And Leopold's is a welcome addition to that, that spread. Um, so they're known for their pizza. Apparently some of the best pizza in the state. I say apparently, cause I didn't even have pizza. Um, I was with a group of friends. They all absolutely love the pizza, said it was some of the best 10 out of 10 pizza they've ever had. Um, I went for the sandwiches and, uh, me and my, me and my buddy, uh, split two so we

[00:08:26] could each try one or try two of them. Um, got the Italian hero. So that one's like a cold sub, um, got the ham salami, uh, a couple of different meats, you know, the vinaigrette, um, just like a classic, uh, Italian sub, uh, but it's on this focaccia bread. That's what I was going to say. And it's so good, man. It is like the best focaccia bread I've ever had in my life. It looks bonkers. Oh, it's incredible. Huge, right? Yeah. It's, it's big. Like it's like, it's a big sandwich.

[00:08:54] Uh, definitely like a good, um, good value. I would say like you, uh, yeah, you, uh, get what you pay for. It is like one of the best sandwiches I've ever had dipped it in some of the balsamic vinaigrette too. And their balsamic vinaigrette was just out of this world as well. Uh, and then also had the chicken parm, which, uh, obviously a hot sandwich, um, kind of almost feels like you're eating like a calzone in a way. Yeah. Uh, in, in a good way, like do that. It was probably the best chicken parm I've ever had.

[00:09:24] Like between those two, those two sandwiches, man, and going half and half on them. Like so good. Um, dang dude. You cannot say enough good things about Leopold's. I will be back for sure. I had the pasta salad too. That was nice. A little side of pasta salad. Um, we sat on the rooftop patio too. I was going to say, that's a big standout about that location, that rooftop there in OCC. Yeah. And I didn't even know that was our thing. Like you're right there by Mother Muffs, another great, another great spot.

[00:09:53] So shout out Mother Muffs. Um, but yeah, there's like a little staircase on the side of the building. You go up to this rooftop patio and it's perfect. Like you're just looking at the mountains and. Yeah. Oh, I bet that's a great view. Yeah. And OCC Brewing. Those are the rooftops that are coming to mind in OCC. Yeah. And I mean, it was, uh, yeah. Yeah. Can't say enough about Leopold's absolutely good, like amazing spot. Um, yeah, let me double check. So I make sure I get it right. Uh, because yeah.

[00:10:19] Uh, so Leopold's second location or their original location is in Lakewood, Colorado. So people up in the Denver area can give it a try as well. Um, yeah. 4.7 stars on, on Google here, uh, in the Colorado Springs location. Um, yeah. So it's. Some years in Lakewood, right? Did you say that? Yeah. Lakewood. In Denver. Yeah. Yeah. So that's up in the Denver area. And they made a big splash in the Springs. Yeah. A lot of people down here talking about it. Yeah. I mean, we were there, uh, weekend night, you know, so a little bit of a crowds expected,

[00:10:49] uh, but it was packed. Like it was, um, we didn't have to wait. Uh, so that was great, but it is, they have a good amount of seating in there and, uh, pretty much every table that I saw was taken. So, uh, definitely a spot where there's a lot of hype around it. And I would say that hype is fully warranted. There you go. Um, yeah. Family run place. Right. Yeah. I was kind of reading up on that.

[00:11:19] Yeah. Yeah. I can't believe it took me, what is it? A couple months to get there. Well, I'm still waiting too, man. So clearly I'm, I'm way behind. So good. They have a lot of sandwiches on the menu too. Like I, I, it might be a long time before I even try the pizza because I want to try like the 10 different sandwiches or 12 different sandwiches. Yeah. Yeah. And they all look incredible. How do you think it'd be for takeout? Would those sandwiches be good takeout? Yeah, probably. Especially the cold ones. I mean, yeah. Get a, get a, one of the Italian heroes to go.

[00:11:47] Um, the meatball sub, but he had that said it was great also. So yeah, everyone was happy. Like we had, I think eight, seven, eight people with us or so. Yeah. Um, everyone was happy. Kind of a spur of the moment trip too. Like I, uh, it was like, just kind of showed up and was like, Oh yeah, I guess we're doing this. And then, uh, so yeah, didn't, didn't have my, uh, didn't have my camera with me. Yeah. Which I was like, your phone? Yeah. It was the lighting on the roof was just like, I know.

[00:12:14] I honestly was eating so fast too that I, uh, I didn't, didn't take many photos. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I got it. So, um, let's get into some of these news stories real quick. Uh, we will do trivia at the end. So don't worry. Uh, we, we got a positive feedback email from a certain person out on the Western slope. Uh, so I wanted to give them a shout out. Uh, and also give them a Western slope story to kick off the show.

[00:12:38] Um, so the Bureau of Land Management has started their work to gather around 1025 wild horses, um, from the area that's within and adjacent to the, was it Peacence East Douglas Herd Management? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Um, not sure. I'm not sure. Exactly. Uh, but then also the West Douglas herd area. Uh, these are kind of, kind of close to a range. They're in North, Northwest Colorado.

[00:13:07] Um, this is something that they have done on a regular basis over the last few years, uh, where essentially the, uh, their justification, uh, for doing this and for, um, gathering up these horses. And ultimately they're going to be removing 1011 horses of those 1025 horses that they plan to gather. Uh, the reason for doing this is, uh, because they have concerns over overpopulation and whether or not, uh, the land that's out there, uh, can support a herd that's that large.

[00:13:36] Um, it's drawn a lot of controversy over the years. A lot of controversy. A lot. Yeah. And they, they use helicopters to do it where they essentially, uh, herd them from the air, uh, into these large pens. Um, at that point, the ones that are removed are removed. They're taken to a holding area where they get veterinary care. And then, uh, the horses that are deemed suitable for relocation are often adopted or, um, or put somewhere else.

[00:14:00] Uh, I think the big question there, and I need to follow up maybe at the end of this year and the end of this effort, um, is how many of those horses out of the, out of the more than 1000 that they plan to remove actually get, get adopted. Yeah. Actually get here in life. The controversy from my understanding. Yeah. What happens to those horses? Yeah. Yeah. So it's a, it's an interesting situation for sure. Also, I'm curious, the other question I would have is why are they, uh, like getting and releasing 14 of them?

[00:14:30] Like, it just seems like a random number. Like, like 14 of the horses will go back, 10 of which will receive fertility control treatment. So what about those other four, like the other four horses? Like it just seems random. Um, yeah. Yeah. There's a great book on this. It's been a while. Back in 2017, Colorado, uh, writer, uh, New York times writer. Uh, David Phillips did a great book called, uh, wild horse country, the history, myth, and future of the Mustang America's horse. Yeah.

[00:14:56] So that really dives into more of kind of these questions that we're asking and the controversy that we alluded to. Yeah. Very, very, very, very interesting situation that has long played out in Colorado, going back to the, the Spanish who brought these horses in, in the first place. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, to put it in perspective too, uh, so this, this herd management area where they're removing them from is 190,000 acres.

[00:15:21] Uh, they say that that is able to support, um, 135 to 235 horses. So yeah, I think like if they're moving more than a thousand, uh, you know, like how much over, over that, that, um, that sustainable population, those numbers are already are. Um, so yeah, I mean, it's something that's, I guess, like we said, controversial, uh, every year, uh, according to Steamboat, Steamboat pilot.

[00:15:49] And today, uh, the first day of operations took place, I believe it was on August 2nd. Um, 96 wild horses were gathered on that day via what they call a drive trap operation. So, yeah. Yeah.

[00:16:02] It's kind of at that intersection, that really interesting intersection of land management, uh, private land ownership, you know, in terms of cattle ranching and, uh, uh, conservation and history and just, you know, like an iconic symbol sort of of the West being the wild horse. Yeah. And how we live with the wild horse or don't live with the wild horse. Right. So I think a lot of people like on the front range don't even realize that there are wild horses in Colorado too.

[00:16:30] Every year, you know, that seems to be one of those things that people will say where there's like, there's wild horses in Colorado. It's like, yeah, they're just in remote areas. I think the only time you hear about it in the front range is when they do, uh, those, it's like their auctions, right? Yeah. Adoptions. Adoptions. Yeah. Yeah. I kind of hear about them having more in the Southern side of the state. Yeah. Yeah. People, I mean, people with, uh, land, you know, then the ability to care for horses. I mean, they do get some of these horses, uh, donkeys too. I think our burros are in the, in the auctions as well.

[00:17:01] Um, but my very vague understanding is that, yeah, like wild horses, a lot different than domesticated horses. Yeah. Again, that's my very vague understanding. Yeah. Wild, wild. More to that layer of. Yeah. Um, yeah. So real quick, uh, I wanted to get into the seasonal outlook, uh, for winter. So let's, let's, let's chat about what winter might look like. Of all the weather that we've discussed, all the grim weather updates we've had, here's one that might be hopeful. We'll see.

[00:17:30] Um, so, so, uh, I've got two reports here. Uh, so the farmer's almanac, right. Uh, released their report for what winter might look like across the country. Meanwhile, the national weather service climate prediction center did as well. So you have two very different types of forecasting there. Um, but, uh, I'll start with the farmer's almanac. Uh, basically the region of the country that Colorado is in, uh, they say that, uh, near

[00:18:00] normal temperatures can be expected with fast moving storms, sudden cold snaps and brief snowy periods ahead. He were being brief snowy periods there. Yeah. Um, so honestly not saying much with that report and kind of like, you know, like a typical winter. Uh, but what they did say is that they think there will be a milder breaks in the weather in between these snowy periods. So where you have snowy periods that roll through, but not necessarily consistent snow. So I think that's the big takeaway from the farmer's almanac report.

[00:18:29] Uh, meanwhile, the national weather service, um, they basically released the seasonal outlook, uh, for both precipitation and for temperature. Uh, in terms of temperature, they're saying right now, uh, their system is showing that there are equal chances of below, uh, norm temperatures and above norm temperatures. So that's not really telling us much, but precipitation is where it comes in, uh, with a key takeaway from their report where they're saying that there's a chance that it will be a wetter than normal

[00:18:58] winter for, for most of Colorado. So, um, and that pretty much stretches from, you know, late November until like March, February or March and, and a little bit of April where you see these wetter than normal, uh, predictions. So that could bode well for, uh, for skiing and snowboarding if, uh, if we do get some of that increased precipitation. So, and aren't these kind of crazy early outlooks? Very much so. Yeah. Very much so.

[00:19:25] And very much like rooted in the sea, uh, the, uh, surface temperature of the Pacific. Hence El Nino and La Nina. Yeah. And I keep hearing a lot of buzz about a super El Nino. Yeah. Like biggest on record. And a lot of people asking like, what does that mean? And a lot of the, we're not meteorologists here. FYI people say that just in case people aren't aware, you know, just what I've heard is that it a super El Nino could mean more snow. Yeah.

[00:19:55] I'm just looking at it. But isn't that like the, the, the key word of every, uh, every forecast could. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Maybe. And I mean, I've also seen some reports too, where like in general, El Nino means a lot more for kind of the Northwest and other parts of the country. Yeah. Cause we're inland. Yeah. Not so much Colorado where like, um, you kind of get mixed results. So I think there is a lot of this El Nino hype going around. Yeah.

[00:20:21] But honestly, it may not come to, uh, come to much in Colorado. Um, the most scientific, uh, uh, uh, meteorological report is maybe, or maybe, maybe, or maybe not. That's definitely not a dig. It's just true. It's just true. It's true. Yeah. I'm just looking at national weather service maps guys. So anyone out there listening can do the same thing as me. I'm just, I'm just, uh, talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:48] Um, so, uh, another really quick wildlife story, uh, Colorado parks and wildlife, uh, released a determination in a wolf death that took place in January, 2026. Uh, they started this investigation after this wolf was found dead with a gunshot wound. It turns out a hunter killed the wolf, uh, thinking it was a coyote. So, uh, that is kind of the conclusion to that investigation. Uh, obviously still, you know, uh, still unlawful, uh, to make, uh, mistakenly shoot an animal thinking it's something else.

[00:21:17] Uh, that being said though, the hunter was ultimately cited by Colorado parks and wildlife for violating agency regulations. Uh, further action and additional charges are not being pursued. So they were, um, the quote from Colorado parks and wildlife was, uh, through the investigative process, uh, they recognize that the hunter, uh, made the ethical choice to immediately report the incident and take responsibility for the accident. Interesting. So, um, that's probably a key factor in why those charges are not being pursued.

[00:21:46] Could be a lesson to learn there. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, because I also feel like, you know, around hunting season CPW, um, is really adamant nowadays about that messaging when it comes to coyotes and wolves now living in Colorado, because am I right in thinking when it comes to hunting, there's no bag limit on coyote. I believe you're viewed as a pest animal where it's, uh, yeah. You have to have a small game license. Yeah.

[00:22:10] I want to say, um, but that does lead to that, that question of, uh, or concern of mistaking coyote and wolf, you know? I think CPW is really aware of that. Yeah. You've got to have a, and this is just the Google AI response. Um, but, uh, landowners can kill them when they're threatening property or livestock or, or people, uh, without a license. Otherwise, uh, hunters are required to have a small game or for a bearer license. There you go.

[00:22:37] Um, so, uh, yeah, I, I don't think, uh, Yeah, it's been a while. Bag limit. Oh, yeah. I already hunting. Daily. It looks like the daily bag limit, uh, is two. Oh, yeah. Uh, per day. Per day. So. I thought they lived too. Anyway. Yeah. Maybe, maybe. People can look around. Yeah. We're not meteorologists. We're going on the fly here. We're not meteorologists. We're also not hunters. We're not CPW officials. Or CPW officials. With the rules on top of our mind. Check. Yeah.

[00:23:04] I just, I just am remembering, you know, hunting time coming around, you know, re-upping for licenses coming around. And there's a lot of messaging about, um, being aware that coyotes and wolves can sometimes look alike and shooting one is, uh, put it this way, more illegal than the other. Vastly. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, both. Yeah. Yeah. Don't want to be going and doing that. Um, always know what you're shooting at. Um, you see, uh, the entire town of Lake City is unbecoming.

[00:23:34] Under a evacuation warning for this fire. Yeah. Uh, this elk fire, it's 7,000 acres. So, um, you know, relatively small in comparison to some of the larger, the larger fires that we've had, uh, around the state this year, but burning a little bit north of Lake City. Um, I think I was, I want to say I was covering this on last Friday, uh, when they got that like pre-evacuation notice, which they call the ready set phase where it's like, if you're, if you're going to be slower to evacuate, go ahead and evacuate or consider evacuating,

[00:24:02] uh, get your stuff together in case you need to evacuate, prepare your home for like what you need to bring and stuff. Um, but yeah, it's the entire city or entire town of Lake City there is in that pre-evacuation zone. So, uh, something to kind of follow along with there. That fire is burning north of the city. Okay. Um, very remote part of Colorado. Uh, but then obviously there's, I think there's like three or 400 people that live in Lake City. So it's not, uh, in terms of how many people are, are impacted by that, but you are looking

[00:24:31] out like a major tourism spot. Another spot in Colorado that's getting hit hard during a peak tourism season, especially Lake City. Like I would imagine like they don't have the ski resort there. They have ice climbing wall. Yeah. In the winter. But, but yeah, I mean, I would imagine summer tourism is, you know, the lion's share of what's driving that. Good point. Um, you know, maybe you could say the same thing about Leadville too, even though they do have ski cooper in that area, but, uh, Leadville was also hit with this fire, fire risk, you know, this summer.

[00:25:01] And, um, yeah, the willow fire there, you have Uray, which Urays, they have an ice climbing park, but again, summer tourism in Uray, I would imagine is their, their bread and butter, especially with there not really being much ice climbing there last year. Um, where I think the festival is doing a lot of like mixed routes opposed to, cause just the ice walls weren't forming. So it's like a lot of these small towns around Colorado, man, I've had a rough, rough 12 months. Tough cycle. Yeah.

[00:25:27] I mean, we didn't even talk about some of these summer economies counting on water, counting on rivers to be higher, counting on, you know, lakes to be available for boating. Yeah. It's just tough out there, man. Looks like Lake City this week is cooler and maybe some precipitation in the forecast in those neck of the woods. So fingers crossed there. Yeah. And, uh, I want to say, let me see, actually, it was, um, when I was covering this last Friday, it was 3,500 acres, now it's 7,000 acres.

[00:25:57] So it's kind of doubled over the weekend. Yeah. I thought I heard that. Um, yeah. So that's something to keep an eye on there. Um, what else we got here? You got some here. I've, I'm not talking right now. Uh, like I'm getting sore in my throat. You've got a, you got something on Fisher's Peak for us, right? Talk about Fisher's Peak. Like quite a bit over the years. I've said, I've certainly kept my tabs over there on, you know, we can call that one of the most iconic mountains of Southern Colorado.

[00:26:25] I think it's referred to as the highest point, uh, um, east of I-25 here in Colorado. That makes sense. Right toward the, uh, New Mexico border there in Trinidad, that big, um, beautiful mountain and backdrop of the town that opened up in 2020. And man, there's been a lot of fast developments in terms of trail over there. So most recently, um, uh, they will be opening another nine miles of trail. My understanding is this weekend, they've got a celebratory event set for Saturday where

[00:26:55] they're going to open up, uh, nine more miles of trail kind of defined by a couple, two or three more loops. It looks like, um, expanding that trail system past 20 miles and Colorado's second biggest state park. So, you know, when you start talking that kind of mileage and you start talking different loop options like this, you know, it kind of starts to become more of a destination where, I don't know, maybe you can even do some races, you know? Mm-hmm. See, I think it's a, it's a great place for trail running.

[00:27:23] It's definitely catering to mountain bikers more and more. They've got a mountain bike only downhill section called Poison Canyon. That's pretty sweet. Um, and then of course the summit hike. Poison Canyon. Right. That sounds dangerous. Isn't that the truth about my trails? It's like, what's the stuff that just opened here in Colorado Springs? There's one called Nero Toxin, you know? There's one called Coil Canyon. All right. Oh, you get the word. So the Palisade Plunge. Yeah, I think what people don't realize is that it's like you got your hiking trails at level one.

[00:27:51] You got like mountain biking trail names at level two. Yeah. Then you've got rock climbing routes at level three. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Then you've got rock and ice climbing routes at level four. Right. And then you've got caving sections at level five. See, you know more about the caving stuff. Yeah, dude, those names are wild. It'll be like, you're going to die if you go in here. Basically, it'll be like that name. Death Trap. Yeah. Yeah. Dude's like, yeah, that sounds fun. Anyway. Yeah.

[00:28:21] Also worth noting. So this is the time of year when that nesting closure lifts on Pister Speak. The summit trail, the full summit trail opens after July 31st. So if people are eyeing that, you got to, you know, the messaging I always hear is like, you got to treat it like a 14er in terms of water, snacks, lairs, letting people know what you're doing, where you're going, all those kind of backcountry to-dos because it's a big trip.

[00:28:50] It's like 15 miles out and back, over 3,000 feet of elevation gain. Dang. State parks are kind of known for like, you know, those kind of what they would describe as more sustainable trails that are far from straight shots, you know? So Pister Speak is an example of that where, you know, it's kind of a long day out there. Meandering. Getting to the top of that long meandering. Giant mountain top of it. Giant mountain state park. Another great example there.

[00:29:17] So, but yeah, more trails opening up at Pister's Peak. Like, I hear talk of camping hopefully being on the way pretty soon. Some backcountry, more backcountry style. Very cool. Air sites coming online. So that could be a big deal for them too eventually. Yeah. Expect some heat down there. Yep. Something in there. I recommend it in the fall. Yeah. Yeah. I just did some Googling here. It looks like it is the highest point, not just in Colorado, East of I-25, but across the entire country. Okay. On that eastern side.

[00:29:45] Eastern side of I-25, highest point across the country. So there's 200 something feet, right? There's some more appeal for you. Yeah. I think it's above 9,600. I think the summit is. Yeah. Very cool. Definitely worth checking out. Yeah. I still need to get down there, man. That's beautiful. It'd be a great stop too, just on the way for like a long weekend getting down to Santa Fe. Yeah. Do that or, you know, I mean, I think Trinidad's cool, man. Yeah. I think the downtown is kind of cool and funky and artsy.

[00:30:14] And Trinidad Lake, there is camping at Trinidad Lake. Yeah. That's really beautiful. And then continuing on past Trinidad Lake, one of the more underrated scenic drives in the state, I always say, is that highway of legends. Yeah. That goes through some really beautiful scenery and old Spanish history and kind of getting over toward Monument Lake, which people don't know a whole lot about. You know, there's beautiful lakes on that side of the state up in that alpine and great for seeing fall colors.

[00:30:44] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, you can build out a pretty good itinerary in that part of the state, I'd say. Very cool. Fall colors probably showing up a little later there. I think that's right. Compared to the rest of the state. Southern side of the state. Yeah. More late September, early October probably. Yeah. So you can kind of work that into your plans a little bit later after the other fall colors are gone. So did you hear about this like weather slash turbulence situation that unfolded up in Denver

[00:31:11] area and then resulted in a bunch of planes being diverted down to Colorado Springs? Yeah. 22 planes diverted. Did you hear that? There were injuries. Like five people ended up getting medical treatment for injuries and sickness. One person was transported to a local hospital in stable condition. And so it sounds like it, you know, best case scenario. No one is seriously injured, killed. It doesn't sound like, but like bruises, you know, scrapes, cuts.

[00:31:41] Did a dive after this happened to kind of look into turbulence around the country. As it turns out, Denver International Airport is home to the flights with the most turbulence coming into and going out. I can believe it. Yeah. So pretty wild there. I think it was, it ranked seventh worldwide as the seventh most turbulent major airport around the world. Then I started looking at like these specific flight legs, like which flight specifically

[00:32:11] is the most turbulent out of Denver. Denver to Jackson Hole is the 10th most turbulent flight worldwide and the most turbulent flight on the North American continent. Who tracks these? So this is like, it's a website called Turbly or Turbly. And basically they look at the average eddy dissipation rate, which is kind of like,

[00:32:34] based on my very basic research into this, the swirling winds, whenever you have different types of air mixing in the sky, essentially, you get these eddies that form kind of similar to what, like an eddy on a river bank. Right. And then when planes go through those, that's kind of what causes that turbulence. So, yeah. And I mean, with this most recent incident, basically, I was reading some reporting from Colorado Springs Gazette on this too.

[00:33:05] And on Monday, there were strong winds, which are pretty normal, but there was also a cold front. So you kind of had this lower cold front layer and then this upper level wind flow that resulted in all this disrupted air and eddies in the atmosphere. So that's kind of why this Monday or this event that happened last Monday, so a week ago, was so bad. But four out of the five most turbulent flights in North America go out of Denver International Airport. So that first one's Denver to Jackson Hole.

[00:33:33] Second one, Albuquerque to Denver route is the second most turbulent. The third most turbulent route is Jackson Hole to Salt Lake City. So that's not in Colorado, or at least not at Denver International Airport. And then number four on the list is Denver to Salt Lake, and then number five is Bozeman to Denver. So, yeah. If you think your flights are bumpier. The land of crosswinds or the skies of crosswinds. Yeah.

[00:33:58] I think pretty common in mountainous areas too, where the mountains impact the atmosphere. Yeah. Yeah. And there's probably, I bet you there's some numbers games too, in terms of, I mean, there's just a lot of flights that come in and out of Denver, you know, and that contributes to the kind of reputation you were alluding to. I've got to guess anyway. Yeah. Yeah. I've also heard it said, like what we're talking about, all the more reason to try to book flights in and out of Denver in the morning. Yes. Yeah.

[00:34:26] Before stuff picks up in the afternoon. Yep. Yeah. Colorado weather known for intensifying as the day goes on. Right. I always like that anyway, because I always think of flying like a domino. It's a game of dominoes where you never know if one domino tips and a flight gets delayed and another tips and it gets delayed longer or canceled, whatever. I'm always trying to fly out early, man. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. That's the same way I look at it too. All right. I'm going to get one more news story out here real quick and then we can dig into our trivia. Okay.

[00:34:55] Um, cause I've got like three or four more, but I think this one's relevant because it was, it's pretty serious and it's based on a press release that came out, uh, last week. So, um, have you heard about the invasive bug that has been recently found in Colorado Springs for the first time? It's ash borer, right? The emerald ash borer could destroy 20% of the trees in the city over the next 15 years, according to officials, if there's no management plan.

[00:35:23] So, um, basically, uh, if you've ever seen the bark on an ash tree, you know, or like under the bark and you see those, the squiggly lines around it, right? Uh, that is evidence that there can be evidence that this emerald, emerald ash borer has taken hold of that tree and infested it. Um, it's, uh, it's an invasive, uh, invasive bug species that was, uh, essentially it's believed to have been brought, uh, from Asia to North America at some point in the 1990s, uh, probably

[00:35:52] via ash wood pallets or, uh, wood packing materials, uh, first detected in Colorado in 2013. And it's really been kind of popping up across the front range ever since, um, very major threat, uh, kills trees within a few years. And, and yeah, about 20% of the trees, one in five trees in Colorado Springs are ash trees. So, uh, essentially officials are, they're working to, um, kind of implement this plan that they've been building for a long time, you know, just assuming that this would eventually

[00:36:22] hit Colorado Springs. Uh, but they're building, they're working to implement this plan that involves a lot of education, uh, involves a lot of teaching in terms of like what people can do to look out for the signs of infestation. Um, the city takes care of public lands, uh, or at least that's like their responsibility whenever, uh, the emerald ash borer pops up there, uh, private citizens though and private property owners are responsible for the trees on their land.

[00:36:47] So, um, yeah, probably about to be a big boom in, uh, tree management companies that are offering, uh, offering treatments for this. So, um, yeah, it's one of those things where, you know, the earlier you catch it, better it is. Uh, they're a little metallic green beetle. Um, but yeah, I mean, one of those things, you know, it's like scary. I mean, thankfully there's a plan in place that they seem pretty confident about, but if not, I mean, you just have a lot of dead trees everywhere, you know? And I mean, there's all sorts of fire risk that comes with that.

[00:37:16] Uh, obviously there's beautification risk. It comes with that too. Uh, even driving 70, man, I guess I always forget all the beetle kill up and down 70 these days, man, you know, approaching Floyd Hill there. And even the hike I was on in, uh, I mentioned Lilypad Lake earlier, the backdrop there, it's just a backdrop of green and gray with that beetle kill up there under Buffalo mountain. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Across the state, different insects we're talking about, but yeah.

[00:37:44] And this is something, I mean, if you, you Google it, I mean, you can, it's in Fort Collins. So this list may not be totally accurate, but it is in like 20 front range cities. I think it's like Boulder, Fort Collins, Denver, a lot of the Denver Metro area. Yep. Uh, so just kind of slowly moving down the front range, but yeah. Uh, things to look out for here. I'll go and say those D shaped exit holes in the bark. So when you have the little holes in the, in the bark, they're, uh, bark splits and S shaped galleries, which is what they call tunnels beneath the bark.

[00:38:13] Um, thinning of the canopy, die back, abnormal growth, growth shoots, uh, smaller than normal leaves, uh, in increased woodpecker activity is another one where, uh, birds will go for the beetle. Yeah. Beetle or the larva under the bark. Yeah. Um, so yeah, that's a, something that's important just because I mean, yeah, could wipe out 20% of the trees in Colorado Springs. If it's not taken seriously over the next 15 years, thankfully it does seem to be taken seriously. Let's get into some trivia, Seth. Let's do it, man.

[00:38:41] You want to be questioned first or you want me to question or you want to question me first? All right. Seth's going to be in the hot seat first. Colorado trivia. Welcome to out there, Colorado trivia. In which we display how much, how little we know about the state that we talk about every week. Yeah. I, I came up with five trivia questions for Seth. Pressure. I'm thinking he'll get like three of them. I got the state bird. You got a state bird last week. Give me one quick bonus point. We're not counting that one. Oh. That was last week, but you did get it. It's a lark bunting. Yeah.

[00:39:10] Um, so I've got five more trivia questions about all things Colorado. Like I'm, these are not just out to recreation. Let me do some stretching real quick. Yeah. It might be, uh, might be about food. Might be about history. Might be about culture, pop culture. Um, just geography. Who knows? So, uh, we have not really planned much in terms of what these questions are like. Um, so, uh, let's get it underway. I got a fun one, man, for you. Question number one. Okay. What is the highest incorporated town in Colorado?

[00:39:40] Highest incorporated. Is that Leadville? Unincorporated is Alma or the other way around. Um, Leadville incorporated city. Got it. So I got it. Alma incorporated town. Oh, okay. So what was the question? City or town? I'll give you a half point. It was town. Okay. Yeah. Leadville's at, uh, 10,152 feet. Highest incorporated town in North America, famously. Uh, Alma, 10,578 feet. What do you mean with these technicalities, man?

[00:40:07] I could have told you the highest populations are Leadville and Alma. Yeah. There we go. Half point. Half point. I'll give you the half for that. You did say, you did, you knew what you were talking about there. Yeah. So, I mean, I think, I think it counts as a point. Tim. I'll give you the point. Tim. You're the official. You're the, you're the real breaking judge on this. Am I getting that point? He says, yes. I think he, I think he said, but I'll, I'll give it to you as the, uh, mainly because I've got some harder ones coming.

[00:40:36] Uh, and if you want multiple choice, I do have, I do have multiple choice prepared for these as well. So if you need multiple choice, we can, we can give you multiple choice. All right. People that are entering Dove Creek, uh, it's town in Southwest Colorado are greeted by a giant sculpture of what food? Uh, so Southwest is what we're talking about. I think Dove Creek. Yeah. Southwest Colorado.

[00:41:04] Uh, what foods are attached to that part of the state? I kind of want to say a pepper. You want my multiple choice? Give me multiple choice. All right. Chili pepper. A. B. Corn cob. C. Potato. Or D. Pinto bean. Ooh. Potato is San Luis Valley. Corn is Olathe. Is it the pinto bean? It is the pinto bean. It's the pinto bean. Uh, no. I got a lot of, I got a lot of other trivia.

[00:41:34] I got answers in there, but not known for their quality of pinto beans instead of quantity of pinto beans, but apparently very good pinto beans. I'm like, I kind of wish I had access to these Dove Creek pinto beans now. Did not know about the Dove Creek pinto beans. I feel like I eat pinto beans like four times a week probably between all the Mexican food I eat. So, um, that's a good one. Yeah. All right. Got another one. I think this one's going to catch you. Okay. What's another name for Pueblo Chili's? The Miro de Sol.

[00:42:03] Facing the sun. We'll count it. Mirasol. Mirosol. Yeah. Mirosol. Uh, kind of the, my sloppy Spanish translation, Mira, right? Like, like, look at. Yeah. And then Sol Sun. So yeah, looking up the sun. That's cool. Uh, they grow pointing up toward the sun. So that's where that nickname comes from. Uh, really thought you were going to go with the Hatch Chili there or something. No. That's New Mexico. I know. I know. I thought I'd, thought I'd get you to slip up. As you can see, I'm not great at Spanish. I got a little Spanish. Yeah. We'll take it. We'll count it. Mirosol. Uh, all right.

[00:42:33] What innovation by Coors changed the beer industry forever? Hmm. And I can give you multiple choice. Multiple choice. All right. I gotta get some multiple choice for you next. A. The aluminum can. B. The first craft beer. C. The twist off bottle cap. Or D. The six pack carrier. Huh. I might get a little more modern here. I might, well, can't be the can, right? Is it the twister? Is it twisty? It's the aluminum beer can.

[00:43:02] It is the aluminum beer can. Yeah. So, huh. All right. Well, yeah, we are talking about a long history. Coors going back to the 1870s? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I mean, this was, this was a long time ago. Yeah. When they were doing that. I think, I think even before the 1870s. Right here. Let's figure it out. When was Coors? That's the best thing about history. You get a little, or about trivia. Yeah. You get a little history. I don't know when, I think it was before the 1870s. Coors was founded. Well, did you say 1970? I said 1860. Oh, okay.

[00:43:32] Okay. Okay. I think you said 1970. Yeah. 1873. Okay. Coors was founded by Adolf Coors. Yeah. I was like, oh, 100 years old? Yeah. I should have put my head to that one and got it right. All right. They've known beer a long time in Golden. So, final question out of five. Yeah. Known for his hit song, Rocky Mountain High, which was performed under a stage name. Yeah. What's this artist's original name? Ooh. What is John Denver's original name? I don't know it.

[00:44:01] What is John Denver's original name? Yeah. I don't even have multiple choice for this one. Yeah. Henry John Dueschendorf Jr. And I'm probably not pronouncing that right. It's been a long time since I've heard that one. Yeah. There we go. I think you honestly did pretty well. I was trying to throw the heat with these. I'm impressed you got Mirasol. Yeah. Speaking of heat and Mirasol there, right? No pun intended. Yeah. I mean, you did pretty well, Seth. So, I'm impressed. I'm kind of nervous because I should give you some multiple choice options. We're going to have to fly as we go here. Let's see. We can fly as we go.

[00:44:29] I got to kind of do some softy balls. That's the most balls for you here, I think. Yeah. I think those are maybe five of the most difficult ones. Those are tough, man. Well, I got to. I mean, you got to make them kind of tough, right? As you should. As you should. And there is good little history associated with that. Yeah. I appreciate it. People are here to learn, Seth. They already know. Yeah. They already know that Pikes Peak is America's mountain. I'm here to get embarrassed and everyone else is here to learn. Yeah. Yeah. Here we go. All right. Okay. This is a fun one. Let's start with a fun one.

[00:44:56] So, the mascot at this school in Colorado is the Meloneers. What school is home to the mighty Meloneers? When I say it, you'll be like, of course. Meloneers. Meloneers. What school is in Rocky Ford? Rocky Ford. Rocky Ford? There we go. All right. The Meloneers. Everyone look up this mascot. What's that? He got it. Yeah. Tim got it. Tim got it.

[00:45:25] We're talking about a buff melon here. A buff melon? Rocky Ford Meloneers. How cool is that? Hopefully, we have the rights to include the photo in that. That is almost as good as my home state of Illinois being home to the mighty fighting pretzels and the wooden shoes. Dude, I just looked up the Meloneer. I looked up the Meloneer and they have photos from their wrestling team and the singlets they wear. And they're like the flesh of a watermelon.

[00:45:52] Like that pinkish red with little seeds all over them. That is so cool. I want one of those leotards. It is just like a buff Meloneer. There we go. All right. Dude, what would the viewership be if we managed to get a Meloneer wrestling leotard and we wore it on the show? If Rocky Ford is listening. I feel like we'd have a viral moment and the women we are with would break up with us. We'd lose them. We'd have to block all comments on the videos.

[00:46:22] That's for sure. Yeah. We'd get banished from the internet. Yep. So, the Meloneers, man. How cool is that? I want to get a t-shirt of the Meloneers. That's awesome. Yeah. I had no clue. Yeah. This town claims to be, in Colorado, claims to be where the gold rush began. Cripple Creek. No. Cripple Creek's a great guess. Victor? Not Victor. Denver would have been another good guess. Sorry. We get Tim from the booth saying Colorado Springs.

[00:46:51] Idaho Springs. Idaho Springs. Oh, Idaho Springs. For George Jackson's discovery there. There. Giving way to the richest square mile on earth toward Central City. It's a great little history. There we go. What did you discover? What was discovered earlier? Gold just gold veins? Yeah. Yeah. On the, what is it? What are the creeks that run through? Clear Creek in Chicago, I want to say. All right. Kind of the confluence there. Keyword. It claims to be where the gold rush began.

[00:47:17] And it kind of makes that claim because that's really the most, where the marketable aspect of gold started flowing, right? Over on the South Platte the year before, I want to say gold was discovered. But indeed, like the gold rush kind of started in Idaho Springs. Yeah. That's the way I faze the question, I think, right? Yeah. I'm reading it. The gold rush began. Reading about the gold rush here. Yeah. Something discovered in 1857. All right. Yeah. You got it. I'll give it to you. The gold rush began. All right. One for two.

[00:47:47] How about this one? I can try to think of some multiple choice for you too, buddy. No. It's not. Driving into this county, the slogan is, now this is Colorado. Underline this. Ooh. Makes you think about the places that are truly Colorado, right? Okay. San Juan County? Not San Juan County. Be a good guess. Because it is truly Colorado, right?

[00:48:18] Grand County? Not Grand County. No. Let me make sure I'm right in thinking this. I can definitely say this. No ski resort. Uh. No ski resort. No major ski resort in this county. All right. Give me multiple choice. Okay. Dang it. It's got to pull up the list of counties. Counties and go. San Juan would be a great one. San Miguel County could be an option for you. Well, let's tell you about it. It's in San Miguel County, right? Right. Arapahoe County.

[00:48:49] Chaffee County. Or Jefferson County. Chaffee County. It's Chaffee County. Yeah. And it is. That is Colorado. Yeah. I mean, Monarchs. Monarchs in Chaffee. I know. I was thinking about that. That's why I said no major ski resort. Yeah. Monarchs here. Dang. Yeah. That's a good one, man. I'm like. 14,000 foot peaks. Mm-hmm. Arkansas River running through there. It makes sense. I'm sad I didn't get that one. Ranching's still there for sure. I'm going to have to do a whole deep dive on this now. Do a whole presentation on Chaffee County.

[00:49:20] All right. I thought to stay with slogans. Yeah. I like that. That's a good one. And I know you love this place. All right. So there's your big head. But this town driving in, the sign it claims to be the last great place. Creed. Creed. Yeah. There you go, bud. Which is from the poem where it's the last great place to drink and fight. I like that. Isn't that a great little history? That's Colorado right there. Yeah. That's Colorado. And also the last big silver boom.

[00:49:49] I think the name is somewhat rooted in that too going back to the 1890s. Creed. I had to give you a little Creed, man. I like Creed. I like Creed. So that was for Colorado State Fossil. What is it? It's a stegosaurus. It is the stegosaurus. Boom. For the first stegosaurus fossils found near Morrison in 1877, I want to say. Millennials might recognize the stegosaurus from Sarah in The Land Before Time. Yeah. Oh, no. She was triceratops. Oh, yeah. Oh, who's the stegosaurus?

[00:50:20] Is the Rockies mascot not a stegosaurus? The Rockies mascot is a triceratops too, right? Yeah. Oh, gosh. Now I can't remember what this is. Is there a stegosaurus in The Land Before Time? Probably. But it's not one of the kids. I heard they're remaking Land Before Time. Hmm. I wonder how many you... Spike Tail? Oh. I don't know about that. That's that... I guess, maybe. Yeah. Spike? All right. Yeah. All right. Either way. That was wrong. That was my five.

[00:50:51] Wait. What's six? You had six. I did have a little bonus. This one is really, really hard. All right. Let's do the bonus. This would very much test your history, and I only learned this history when I was... Hmm. I was about to say something that would be a big spoiler. All right. No spoilers. I only know this because of some reporting I did in this part of the state some time ago. Anyway. Anyway, so this town began as the so-called Union Colony of Colorado. You ever heard little bits of this history? It's a really interesting little history.

[00:51:23] Union Colony. The Union Colony of Colorado. It's in northern Colorado. Hmm. That was a tough one. That was the toughest one. Red Feather Lakes? Not Red Feather Lakes. What a cool place, though. Yeah. I haven't been to Red Feather Lakes in a long time. I know. It's the People's Republic of Boulder. It's a fairly big town. Fairly big town. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I can ramble off names, but I'm just guessing. Fort Collins, Estes Park.

[00:51:54] Look East, my friend. Oh, Look East. Named after a man who said, go west, young man. And I'm telling you to look east, young man. What's up there? Greeley? Greeley. There we go. Horace Greeley's famous thing. Yeah. Yeah. So, Meeker. A name we all know in Colorado. A founder of that town, Meeker, envisioned the Union Colony of Colorado to be this agricultural utopia of temperance and religion and family and education and that sort of thing. Dang.

[00:52:24] Didn't know if you'd ever heard that little. There we go. I think that's a pretty cool little. Yeah, it is cool. I'm learning. They're learning. Everyone's learning. We look like idiots. Tim's throwing the correct answers in from the- Tim's Colorado, man. You know what? I was going to save a couple things for the midweek, but we're going to have a long episode today because I was writing about this and I cover it every so often. And I find it very interesting because people talk about the mountain freshness of water, right?

[00:52:55] Yeah. The crisp mountain taste. What people might not know is that there's a town in Colorado that is said to have some of the best tasting water on the planet. Hmm. Yeah. This is another trivia question. Which town is it? Honestly, it could be, but I'm going to tell you. Okay. I'm going to tell you. So, this Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Competition takes place. It's in its 36th year this year.

[00:53:19] So, this was the 36th running of that where people around the globe submit in all sorts of categories, right? There's like sparkling water, bottled water, non-carbonated water, municipal water. And today we're talking about municipal water, right? Yeah. The judges on this panel, they rank this water across five different categories, right? Or at least they judge this water across five different categories. Appearance. They say it should be clear unless it's glacial waters and then maybe slightly opaque. Oh.

[00:53:49] They say they judge it on aroma. They said there should be no aroma, which is nice. Yeah. I was going to say. Yeah. So, that's good. They taste it, right? So, you'd think that's like a... Yeah. Okay. But yeah, they taste it. So, they say it should taste clean. Okay. How else should it taste? I mean, yeah. I agree. I agree, right? I mean, this is the criteria for what's good, though, right? Serious question. What else are they looking for?

[00:54:17] I don't know if you've ever been somewhere with bad tap water, but when it's like iron-y or like maybe like a little bit like rotten egg smell, you know? Like we were just talking about Canyon City dealing with some of that where their water is stinky right now. Okay. Because of the drought, right? So, the water is sitting in its reservoirs for a little bit longer than normal. More so, I'm just curious, the life of a water taster like we were talking about. Yeah, right. You know, like what? Yeah. Like is it all this? You know? Is it just like, hmm, this is the same as this one? Yeah.

[00:54:47] The photos are funny. The photos are funny. Here's some water. Fun for dinner. What do you think? Yeah. Yeah. So, the fourth category, right? Yeah. Fourth category of what this water is judged on is mouthfeel. So, they say it should taste light, which I think that makes sense.

[00:55:16] Like I've had water before where I've been like, this just feels crisp in my mouth. You know? Like, yeah. I could see that. Better than fuzzy? Or like it coats your mouth. Sometimes like you'll have water and it feels like it's just like coating your teeth or something. You got some weird water, man. Yeah. Well, hey, I mean, talk to anyone who's like pulled water out of like a backcountry source. Right. For sure. Even though it's purified. Right. There are definitely some variations you can get. Yeah. And dangerous. Mm-hmm.

[00:55:45] And then also the fifth category is aftertaste. So, they say it should leave you thirsty for more. Wow. Yeah. This is really curious. Yeah. Yeah. I did not know there were water judges out there. So, and I will say, so across all these different categories of the judge, when I say it's like a global competition too, you had winners in Australia, Canada, South Africa, Italy, Greece, and Hungary, and then also the United States. So, it is a global competition. But yeah, without further ado.

[00:56:15] Right. The best tasting municipal water third place award goes to El Dorado Springs, Colorado. Oh, sure. A lot of history of water in El Dorado Springs. Right. Right. In Boulder. Yeah. Right in Boulder County. Mm-hmm. Also known for being the source for El Dorado Arson Springs Incorporated, right? Yeah. With the, they sell the water bottles where it's like the blue water bottle with El Dorado across it. It's technically a different source.

[00:56:44] So, like the municipal water is coming from one spot and it's treated, right? Whereas the El Dorado Natural Spring water comes from this protected artisan spring. I see. Yeah. And I mean, when you dig into that too, so that, they've won a lot of awards for their bottled water as well. Mm-hmm. Including like, they won the best, or the best non-carbonated water product on the planet in 2024. Mm-hmm. So, and you can find that at grocery stores around Colorado.

[00:57:14] I love it. Mm-hmm. Basically, the cool thing there too is with the water that they use in those bottled waters, right? It comes from precipitation that's falling around the continental divide. It enters into this massive like underground aquifer system where it spends, according to their website, 6,000 years working its way through this aquifer system underground. Yeah. That's amazing.

[00:57:41] Through layers of rock and sediment at depths of up to 8,000 feet. And then eventually it emerges and then it goes into these El Dorado Spring or El Dorado Natural Spring water bottles that you can get. So, very cool. And I have to say, I think that is the best tasting water bottle that you can find anywhere. Like, I buy the gallon jugs of it for my house just because it's like- No kidding. It's that good. Yeah. You can get it anywhere? Yeah. Like, you can find it at King Soopers. Yeah. Okay.

[00:58:10] And like I said, it is a different source than this municipal water, the tap water that got ranked so highly. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the tap water there has also gotten two first place placements in the municipal water category in 2019 and 2016 as well. So, and then both of those, the bottled water and the municipal water in El Dorado Springs, both of them have gotten numerous awards over the years from this Berkeley water competition.

[00:58:39] So, yeah. Yeah. Fascinating stuff to me. Any indication on, you know, how Aquafina does or Smart Water or Arrowhead or Pure Life? Yeah. So, you don't, honestly, like I didn't notice, I didn't notice that many American brands that were doing too hot.

[00:59:03] If we look at, so the one category that El Dorado Springs bottled water was not included in this year was the best non-carbonated water. The top one was Babindus Springs in Australia, then Jano Springwater in Canada, Puritas in South Africa, Wilderness Mountain in Virginia, and then a tie between a Virginia spot and an Italian spot in fifth.

[00:59:31] So, yeah, I mean, you kind of get some of these like smaller brands, you know, at least like, and if you look through the winters, they go back to like 91, especially when you're just talking about the water brands. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, not, not a lot that you would, that you would probably recognize more so like regional stuff or international winners. So, some, yeah, something interesting for sure. You would have never guessed. Yeah. But yeah.

[01:00:00] So, yeah, if you were to ask me, although, you know, best water in Colorado, I might have gotten over to El Dorado. Yeah. Just because, yeah, that's a really amazing history over there. What do you know about it? Well, I'm just kind of recalling how it contributed to the healing reputation of the Boulder area that made it such a healing epicenter for settlers back in the day. Yeah. In the resort there, right? There was a resort there. I can see the historical picture right in my head, right up against El Dorado Canyon,

[01:00:30] which is a beautiful place. That's State Park. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's talked about for the rock climbing, but there's really great hiking trails in there, too. Yeah. Well, there you go. There you go. Well, El Dorado, we shifted our gaze to El Dorado. If you want some of the best tap water in Colorado, slash America, slash the world, or you want some of the best bottled water in Colorado, slash America, slash the world, El Dorado Springs is where you find it. El Dorado provides. So, last thing for the day.

[01:00:58] I've been following along with these UFO reports that the government's been releasing. If you ever wonder what Spencer's doing at 2, 3 a.m., it's this stuff. Yeah, talk to me about Lannis one of these days, and I've got all sorts of... Waring his tin cap. UAP sightings, though, sorry. So, in case you haven't heard, the Department of War, recently renamed, I believe, has been

[01:01:22] releasing rounds of these UAP reports that have been collected over the years, where they're declassifying them. They just released their fifth round on August 7th of these reports. Two Colorado Springs reports in there, adding to another Colorado Springs report that was in the third round of reports that were declassified. That last one, people that are listening may remember that, being the potato-shaped rendering,

[01:01:48] where it's like a potato or Chipotle burrito in a foil wrapper floating in the sky. Yeah. It's a Chipotle ad we were thinking. Yeah. Yeah, right. For a minute. So, these two new reports, they both actually happened in October 2023, slightly different in enough ways to where they don't seem like they're related, and a lot of these are redacted. So, as I'm trying to write about this, there's just the blackout strips across the document. Yep.

[01:02:18] But yeah, this first one, October 2023, between 8 and 9.30 p.m., basically, you have two employees, unnamed employees, working for an unnamed entity. Yep. Or classified entity, we'll say. They're walking out into this parking lot area, admiring the stars. All of a sudden, one of the employees sees this dark-colored cloud start phasing into the sky.

[01:02:49] He described the cloud as stationary, and then all of a sudden, this black triangular-shaped object started coming out of this cloud with a red light on it. And there are renderings of this that we'll throw in the video, or you can find them on the Department of War website. But yeah, this triangle starts coming out, just getting larger and larger. He estimates it as the size of the parking lot that he's standing in, which they didn't make any specifications of what size of a parking lot that's in. It could be a parking lot for a dentist's office or Costco.

[01:03:19] But either way, large. Ailes don't come by Costco. Costco's are protected. Yeah, very large parking lot, it sounds like, because he says that it was probably about four or five stories tall, if he had to estimate how tall this triangular object was. He estimates the elevation at about 3,000 to 5,000 feet. All of a sudden, once this appears, it takes off at Mach 1, Mach 2.

[01:03:46] There are waves generating around it, but it's not creating any sort of smell or sound. It just seems to be powered by some unknown propulsion source. And this is all like an official government document where they do these follow-up reports, and then they take this guy's account and put it online. He says it was around this object, kind of an effect that was similar to a mirage whenever you're looking down a long paved stretch of road, like kind of that heat coming off the

[01:04:15] road and how it creates those waves. Yeah, so that's one of them. Eventually, it was banking. Oh, and this is kind of interesting, too. So he said that it would bank to the left, like how a plane would normally bank to the left. You'd expect it to turn to the left, but it would bank to the left and then turn right, or vice versa, right? So they followed it until they lost, or he followed it until he lost sight of it, and then the cloud was also gone. So there's UAP report number one that happened in Colorado Springs.

[01:04:46] The second Colorado Springs report, also in October of 2023, also with a redacted date, involves two people that were kind of on their back porch, husband and wife. All of a sudden, something comes over their house. They describe this as like lower, way lower than the other report, about 300 feet above the ground, estimated to be the size of like a large SUV, also triangular shaped, also has

[01:05:13] kind of a blur around its edges to where they can't tell if it's like a perfect triangle or maybe curved in a certain way. But yeah, this thing comes cruising by pretty quick and just kind of disappears over the horizon that makes a turn, and then it's gone. And they say essentially this whole situation, the second report unfolded over the course of about three or four seconds. So very quick sighting there.

[01:05:38] So either way, there's two more declassified documents pointing to UFOs in Colorado Springs. Just two more pieces of the big, big puzzle. Two more pieces of the big, big puzzle. A lot of aerial phenomena in general in Colorado Springs, of course. Big Air Force presence in Colorado Springs. Makes you wonder sometimes what you're really seeing. No surprise that there's a lot of reports in the city, in my mind anyway.

[01:06:06] Part of my thought is that... Your theory. Yeah. I mean, my theory, I mean, one, I think a lot of people tend to see things that aren't there. Two, and this is not necessarily me saying this is what I think about these things. This is maybe more so me saying, like, how do you... What's the devil's advocate, right? For these situations. You know, the night sky's a crazy place. People see unexplained things a lot.

[01:06:35] And often there's a very simple explanation. Starlink, for example. If you look at the numerous reports of people that still think they're seeing UFOs when they're very clearly seeing Starlink, a simple Google search would tell them that. Also, I mean, we are in a place where there's a lot of military innovation. Right. A lot of military bases. I'm assuming that your average person, me, you, Tim, everyone else, does not have access to the top technology. Tim probably does.

[01:07:05] Yeah, right. But yeah, so it's like, you know, it's like how long was the stealth bomber secret before it was actually like unveiled to the public? Yeah. So, and technology just proceeds or, you know, grows and improves and evolves at like a faster and faster rate. Yeah. So it's one of those things where it's like, I think there's a good chance when maybe there's something seen like this, you know, maybe it is some sort of experimental. Who knows? Maybe it is UFOs. All I know is if you hang around the San Luis Valley, if you talk to enough people in

[01:07:34] the San Luis Valley, you will be a believer. They will convert you. Yeah. In the San Luis Valley. Nothing. I think something's up. Oh, yeah. Something's up. I want to believe. Something is out there. I'm in the, I want to believe camp. Yeah. So wear your shirt next time, man. Yeah. Yeah. Also, I tease the Alanis thing. Check out the chat structure. R-I-C-H-A-T. It's pretty wild. Pretty interesting. Nice. Not saying it's Alanis, but it's pretty interesting.

[01:08:01] Also not saying Alanis is an underwater city, but that's enough down the rabbit hole there. For the next episode. Yeah. For the next episode, a full presentation on Spencer on ancient civilizations. You can count on Spencer to keep you posted on the UAP latest. I am waiting on another report too, where I'm pretty excited about where I saw, I've seen the photos.

[01:08:24] I plugged them into Google's AI detection to see, are these altered? Are they AI created? Trying to clear a hurdle there. Google said they were not. Yeah. They said it. But then they also gave me some explanations for what it could be. And it would be like a totally natural image where it's not someone trying to deceive me type of thing. But Google specifically was like, here are reasons why these are not altered and why these are not AI and why these are actual photos. Yeah. So something to tease.

[01:08:54] Sounds like the alien covering it up, right? We'll see. Who runs Google. Yeah. Who knows? Maybe I'll disappear by then and just without a trace and never be seen again. I'm onto something. Then I'll be me and Tim trying to figure things out. All right. Yeah. That's about all I got for today though. So people in Colorado Springs, go check out Leopold. It's awesome. Look up to the rooftop and beyond. Yes. Yes. I'll be great for us when you have those signings. They're nice. Yeah. I think that's it. That's it for today. So until next time, I'm Spencer. I'm Seth.

[01:09:23] We'll see you out there. Over some topics, man.