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The two signature races at Sunday's KMC Classic took on an international feel when a pair of foreign-born cyclists, both of whom now call Colorado home, cruised to victories at Palmer Park. Frenchwoman Caroline Mani overcame a sluggish start to win the women's elite race, while Rotem Ishay, who moved to Durango from his native Israel three...
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Father's Day came a bit early for David Guhl, but it had nothing to do with his performance early Saturday at the Sailin' Shoes 5K/10K Run for Fun in downtown Colorado Springs. His prideful moment arrived when he found out his 20-year-old daughter, Sarah, won the 10K women's division in 41 minutes, 28.3 seconds at the 35th annual event that...
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There are a few hazards to cycling in June. The hot breeze bakes the moisture from our bones and the sun shrink-wraps our skin to our skeletons. Eyeballs dry red in their sockets, pus boils up through pores and we smack our cotton-mouthed lips like dogs. It's World War Z on bicycles. There are some other hazards. It's easy to walk around in a...
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Happy trails
Boulder Creek Trail
Take "a walk through time" at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. This easy loop goes through the heart of the national monument and into some of its more remote areas, with wide-open vistas, granite boulders, a quiet pond and forests where Douglas fir, blue spruce, ponderosa pine and aspen come...
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Florissant FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT - Before they were dug up, the plant and insect fossils in this Teller County valley were buried for 35 million years.
It took 44 years for Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument to get a new visitors center, barely a blip in time by comparison.
It's a big deal at the national monument, which since...
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Denver Metro Area Aurora Reservoir (City of Aurora) - Trout fishing is slow to fair at this time. From shore, try PowerBait using a slip rig and fishing deeper water. From boats, try trolling slowly with spoons and Rapalas. Some reports of walleye being caught using jigs and trolling with bottom bouncers. We've also had reports of smallmouth...
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Beat the crowds at other Lost Creek Wilderness trailheads, such as Goose Creek Trail, with this path that bisects the wilderness and passes quiet beaver ponds, rocky monoliths and wide open green meadows.
To get there
You can start this trail from the west side of the wilderness, but it makes the drive twice as long, so we will describe it...
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Kit Carson Peak is named for the famous explorer, guide and scout Christopher "Kit" Carson.
Carson, who helped map out large portions of the Western United States, has a controversial reputation. He was a strong advocate for Native Americans and their rights. However as an officer in the Army, he carried out many violent acts against Native...
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Huron Peak is the mountain I most often recommend as a first fourteener.
It's not the shortest or the easiest with a route that is just less than 7 miles and an elevation gain of 3,500 feet. The trail is class 2.
It's not about the numbers, though. Huron embodies the experience most people imagine when they think about a fourteener.
The...
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Humboldt Peak is the easiest fourteener in the Sangre de Cristo Range. Technically, Culebra Peak is easier, but you have to part with $100 to hike Culebra, and that makes it harder in my mind.
A great first climb in the area, Humboldt offers a chance to scope out some of the more difficult peaks in Colorado.
The route passes South Colony...
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From her art studio on Ruxton Avenue, Tracy Miller sees the “Incline people” every day.
“I can’t tell you how many cars have been parked in front of our store and they’re Incline people. They’ve got their CamelBaks on,” the owner of Tracy Miller Studio Gallery said. “They are taking up spaces that are in front of retail...
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1906: Colorado Springs builds a train to haul pipes up the side of Mount Manitou to the Ruxton Hydroelectric Plant.
1908: A local entrepreneur buys the land for a tourist train, with cars hauled by a cable.
May 9, 1912: The train opens, but the public is skeptical of its safety. After the fare is reduced from $1 to 50 cents, people begin...
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Some time over the weekend, the battered old “no trespassing” sign at the base of the Manitou Incline vanished.
Its removal was premature: Friday at dawn it will no longer be a crime to hike the Pikes Peak region’s most popular trail.
The Manitou Springs City Council on Tuesday night voted unanimously to allow legal access to the...
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It’s finally legal.
After more than 10 years of pleadings, meetings, bureaucratic wrangling and even an act of Congress, the Manitou Incline officially opened to hikers Friday.
Photos from opening day
“We pride ourselves in this community on loving the outdoors. This really exemplifies that,” said Colorado Springs City Council...
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Attention scofflaws, law-breakers, trespassers and minor criminals.
If you’re among the hundreds of thousands who climb the Manitou Incline each year, you’ve had to live with the ignominy of violating the law, even if it is probably the most-broken law in the Pikes Peak region.
That ends Friday.
As of dawn, 7:05 a.m., it’s no longer...