Punch, anyone?

26.6.08 - Thursday

I must start this entry out with an amazing fact: I have lived in Colorado for 9 years. That is a huge chunk of my life. And during this chunk, I've lived in Colorado Springs for 6.5 years. Now, I've done all things touristy, via friends & family visiting. We've done the Garden of the Gods 8 million times, Pikes Peak 4 million times, the Cog Railway 3 million times, and most other things probably at least twice.

But today I discovered a new gem of Colorado Springs. Glen Eyrie. And the Punch Bowls.

My friend Julie & I went hiking this morning after hearing fabulous rumors of these Punch Bowls. Well, the hike started out simple enough, going over bridges, through streams, over boulders. And then suddenly you come up to a pretty waterfall. Now, when you start looking around to continue on your path to the Punch Bowls, the path is nowhere to be seen! What you do see however is a giant mountain of sharp rocks & loose dirt. Umm... yes, this was the trail.

So, after trekking over this mini mountain in the middle of a canyon, we come down onto more of the stream (which was feeding into the aforementioned waterfall) and then lots of slick rock and deeper water. But finally, after managing to stay mostly dry, we finally made it to the Punch Bowls!! There was about 15 other people there enjoying the lovely bowlness of it all. So we decided to go up & check everything out.

Now, I've already mentioned slick rock. This rock is already hard to walk on when dry, so walking on it when it's wet is nearly impossible. The Punch Bowls is all slick rock. With water. So I managed to make my way up a couple of tiers without any problems. But when Julie attempted, the poor dear slipped right in!! I must admit, it was kinda funny, considering it seemed to play out in slow motion, and thankfully no major injuries were incurred, and all electronics were safe. But once we climbed up to a certain point, we realized there was no way of getting back down without actually sliding down the natural rock slide right into a giant bowl of freezing mountain water. So we lifted our chins & gave it a go!! It was so much fun, and I must say, if you have a chance of finding your way into Glen Eyrie, then hobble on up to the Punch Bowls.