We must have been tired because we both slept in this morning. We made a quick breakfast of skillet burritos and made our way back to the freeway. Drive up into the mountains was just stunning. The orange is in yellow of the Aspen trees were such a beautiful contrast to the dark green conifers. We pass through Glenwood Springs, through the canyon, and through Aspen, Colorado. We turned off at Frisco and headed south towards Breckenridge. This place sure has grown in the past 10 years. We filled up in Breckenridge, got some snacks, and then stopped at the Continental Divide at Hoosier pass.
We made it to the fluorescent fossil beds national monument around 3 PM. It’s funny because I lived up here for seven years and I had never visited this monument. There are petrified trees, ancient redwoods, that used to live here as well as a very productive deciduous forest. Apparently this area was more of a wetland during those times. Kathy was not feeling well due to the altitude, so she went back to rest while I hiked a bit on the trails. There was a little Homestead about a quarter of a mile back that was part of the park, so we went down there to tour that. The buildings are open during summer hours, but unfortunately we missed that, so we just peered through the window windows.
It was starting to rain, so we got back in the truck and finished out the 15 miles to Cripple Creek. My son recently purchased a home up here, a cute little log cabin, and he gave us a grand tour before we went to dinner. Very cute place. We’ll be here for the next few days before finishing out this leg of the journey.
Here are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250929-florissant-fossil-beds