#6 - Paint Mines Regional Park

This adventure was suggested to me by a friend who has lived in Colorado less than two years. I, having lived here about 13 years, had never heard of the Paint Mines! How crazy is that? So thanks, Jesse, for the suggestion.

This past Saturday our family and some neighor boys took advantage of the gorgeous winter day and headed out to Paint Mines Interpretive Park (we're still not sure what exactly we were supposed to be interpretting). This park is about 45 minutes east of Colorado Springs in the plains and hosts some beautiful sherbet-colored rock formations resulting from wind and rain erosion.  http://adm.elpasoco.com/Parks/Paint+Mines+Park.htm It reminded me a bit of the Badlands in South Dakota, but on a much, much smaller scale. 

The "climax" of the hiking trails is a large area of formations which boast striations of pink, orange, beige and white. Their shapes make me envision God playing with play-doh and then "freezing" his creations as stone for us to enjoy. 

Archaeologists have found evidence of human inhabitants of this area dating back 9,000 years. Our resident archaeologist, Joshua, found evidence of more recent humans when he discovered a musket ball while looking for rocks!  Needless to say,  he was beyond thrilled, and he was the envy of all 5 boys in our party.

I was happy to have been introduced to this natural attraction right in our own back yard.  We all enjoyed some sun, exercise and a great family day.