Kevin – Thursday: We grabbed a quick breakfast and buzzed out from Franktown back down to Point of Rocks. Cody, the current owner of portions of Point of Rocks, had agreed to meet us and show us around his property some.
Cody’s great uncle and aunt had purchased their properties back in the 1960’s and lived there until their deaths. Great Aunt Ruth Ann was a teacher and an ardent naturalist. Cody learned a lot from her and upon her death, she bequeathed the property to her nearest remaining relative. Nature conservation restrictions were placed on the property and Cody is working to improve the land, document the conditions and report his findings and work.
Since I’ll being speaking about this location as part of my presentation at the September OCTA conference in Pueblo, I’ll not say too much in the blog today. Another speaker at the Conference will be Annie Berlemann, another property owner of part of Point of Rocks. We will be interested to hear her perspectives as well. Register soon: Click here to register
At least one of the field trips will be coming north out of Pueblo and may (cross our fingers) be making a stop at Point of Rocks.
Cody (bless his heart) consented to be interviewed by Denny. We're posting all our interviews on the Battalion Trek YouTube Channel. See the Trek 2025 Playlist by clicking the YouTube icon at the bottom of the website. See Cody's Interview
After leaving Cody, we ran out of paved roadway. Happily, it was packed dirt with small gravel, so the 10-speeds could still negotiate the hills for some distance. We arrived at County Road 9 only to find it was a sandy 2-track path and a long stretch away from paved roads. There was only one or two possible trail crossings going north on Co-9, so after discussing the low value vs. the potential risks, we decided to drive up into the Cherry Creek drainage area.
When safe again, we got back on the bikes and made our way to Cave Spring, another noted location a little bit west of the trail which is frequently mentioned in period journals though none of the Battalion journals related any of the command going there.
May we say that the area leading into Franktown and the upper Cherry Creek drainage is exceptionally beautiful?
The remainder of the way to Franktown is along Colorado Highway 83. It’s a not wide 2-lane rural road without bike shoulders, much too unsafe to bike for us. So, the last 12 miles for the day are taken as leisurely as we can taking the following traffic into consideration. When we get a string of cars behind us we pull off and let them pass. Some people have to work or have somewhere they need to be at a particular time. We are so blessed. (grin)
About 5 miles south of Franktown, the highway passes by a part of Castlewood Canyon State Park. It’s worth a visit. The terrain is spectacular.
In the late afternoon we hit the coin laundry, then the local library in Castle Rock, a much larger town that Franktown and one valley over. Yesterday we mentioned we’re encamped at the Pike’s Peak Grange. For all of us (myself include) who don’t recall our 8th grade American History class, a grange is a farmers co-op dedicated to promoting the welfare and social life of farmers. They started up shortly after the Civil War to fight against the farmers being taken advantage of. See the WIKI article; ‘National Grange.’ When we returned Thursday evening, their meeting was in full swing and we didn’t think it appropriate to enter at that point. We hope to return in the fall and perhaps make a presentation about the detachments passing through their area years before they were established. Pike’s Peak Grange started in 1908 and was preceded by the Fonder Grange which dated to 1875. See the WIKI article, “Pike’s Peak Grange No. 163.”
