june 29, 2016 summer fun guide

CourierPikes Peak

T e l l e r C o u n t y , C o l o r a d o

Teller County Calendar – Summer 2016

May 29-Labor Day, daily except Thursdays: Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company Tours, Victor – By reservation, VictorColo-rado.com

24-July 4: “Once Upon a Time in the West” Art Show – Heritage Center, Cripple Creek

24: Farmers Market Fridays 7 a.m. - 1 p.m., Woodland Park Station

24-August 27: “Darling of the Donkey Derby” (Melodrama & Sum-mer Olio) – Thin Air Theatre Company,

Cripple Creek

25-26: Donkey Derby Days – Cripple Creek

26: Pikes Peak International Hill Climb – Pikes Peak Highway


1-August 27: “Pippin” A Musical – Thin Air Theatre Company, Cripple Creek

2: Outdoor Art/Craft Fair, Dinosaur Resource Center, Woodland Park

4: Old Fashioned Fourth of July Cel-

More on page 2

Woodland Park: The off -highway vehicle paradisePages 3-6

4th of July

A special supplement to th e June 29, 2016

2 Pikes Peak Courier Summer Fun Guide June 29, 2016www.PikesPeakNewspapers.com

ebration

4: July 4th Fireworks – Woodland Park

4: July 4th Fireworks – Cripple Creek

5: Symphony Above the Clouds – Woodland Park Middle School


9: Woodland Music Series “Purely Blue-Grass” – Midland Pavilion

15: Greater Woodland Park Chamber of Com-merce 29th Annual Gold Tournament


16: Full Moon Tour – Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, Divide



30: Ute Pass Hike and Bike – Aspen Valley Ranch


6: Vino & Notes – Woodland Station, Woodland Park

6 & 7: 31st Annual Mountain Arts Festival – Midland Pavilion

6 & 7: Critter Rescue Roundup – Dinosaur Resource Center, Woodland Park

10: Touch a Truck Day – Meadow Wood Park, Woodland Park


13: Mayor’s Cup 5K & 10K Run – Woodland Park

13: Woodland Music Series “Jazz – Big Band” – Midland Pavilion

13: Quilts in the As-pens – Woodland Park Middle School

19-21: Salute to American Veterans Rally – Cripple Creek


20: Full Moon Tour – Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, Divide


27: Alpine Music Fes-tival – Divide

Teller County Calendar – Summer 2016 – Continued from page 1

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vehicle paradise

Woodland Park,

Bill Alspach chalks up hundreds of miles of travel on a dirt bike to view the beauty of Colorado. In his spare time, Alspach serves as the public works director for the city of Woodland Park.Courtesy photo

off

vehicle paradisevehicle paradisevehicle paradisehighway

1918

Pat [email protected]

For thrills and the sought-after adrenaline rush, riding the trails in an off-highway ve-hicle spotlights the beauty as well as the beck-oning sense of adventure inherent in the land of Pikes Peak.

“There is an economic engine right in our back door,” said Bill Alspach, one of Wood-land Park’s greatest outdoor enthusiasts who cycles, hikes, skis, climbs mountains and rides a dirt bike on off-highway trails.

Alspach’s ride on a dirt bike from Mexico to Canada via the Continental Divide with five companions was featured in an article in the “Overland Journal” last fall.

According to a report by the Louis Berger Group, the state of Colorado reaped $945 million in total gross sales due to motorized recreation in 2012-13. As a result, motorized recreation fueled 5,495 jobs directly related to the sport and 3,372 additional jobs as an indirect result.

In Woodland Park, it’s an economic stam-pede, perhaps unknown to the uninitiated. “Stand at the intersection of Colo. 67 and U.S. 24 and count one car per minute with an OHV attached,” Alspach said. “This is a pret-ty big recreational spot on any given week.”

C o n t i n u e d p a g e 2 0Continued on page 4.

By Pat [email protected]


20

For locals and tourists alike, the Pikes Peak Ranger District is an OHV paradise, with trails east, north and west of Woodland Park. “No other Front Range town has this many trails,” Alspach said.

For newbies to the sport, Alspach has some words of advice. “Take the time to learn the machine and don’t get in over your head,” he said. “Hook up with a repu-table dealer; there are three here in Woodland Park.”

At Big D Motorsports Dan Duncan provides a hang-out as well as a supply station for OHVers. “I’m known for maintaining that small-town attitude,” Duncan said. “Even if they’re not here to buy stuff, I want to help them find a trail, make sure they’re safe and legal. Those are big issues for us.”

There’s no doubt the sport that used to attract “wild and crazy kids,” Duncan said, has evolved to include families and couples. “They’re more into sight-seeing and enjoying the outdoors,” Duncan said. “These are

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Bill Alspach of Woodland Park traveled from Mexico to Canada, via the Continental Divide, on his dirt bike with five companions. Courtesy photo

C o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1 8

C o n t i n u e d p a g e 2 5

Dan and Becky Duncan offer a place for advice and chit-chat at their shop Big D Motorsports which sells a variety of ATVs, including the Arctic Cat and the Husqvarna.Photo by Pat Hill

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the people we want to keep the trails open for. And that takes responsibility on everybody’s part.”

In a region vulnerable to catastrophic fires, respon-sible riding includes having a spark arrester. “People don’t know, so we’re here to educate,” Duncan said. “Without a spark arrester people can get a nasty ticket. With all the fires, people are kind of sensitive around here.”

Big D’s specialty vehicle is the Arctic Cat, the oldest continuously-produced motorcycle in the world.

After 21 years in business, Jeff Book at Pikes Peak Polaris is reaping the rewards from the recent craze over off-highway vehicles. “When I started out I didn’t know a lot about the off-road world because I was a snowmobiler,” said Book, who gave up doing automo-tive repair and selling sporting goods to concentrate on OHVs, gear and repair. “The timing was perfect. Since I got in, the off-highway world has just exploded.”

There’s a good reason for the explosion. “Off-road vehicles have allowed a lot of people to get into the back country which they’d never experienced before,” Book said.

For the reluctant rider, the two-seaters and the side-by-side have opened doors previously closed.

Like Duncan, Book is a stickler for trail law. “People abuse the rules, don’t stay on the trails and that’s what gets these trails closed,” Book said. “People have got to obey the laws or the government will just keep clos-ing more – and once they close, you never get it re-opened.”

In many ways, the sport is exclusive as the prices are prohibitive, up to $20,000 for some snowmobiles, Book said. “But you can buy an ATV for $6,000 and go have fun, if you don’t have to have the biggest baddest,” Book said.

Book has the corner on the Teller County market for Polaris, the only company in the world that makes the 50-inch side-by-side OHV. “It’s the most popular off-highway vehicle,” he said.

C o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 2 0

C o n t i n u e d p a g e 2 7

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Jeff Book, who owns Pikes Peak Polaris, has been in business for 21 years. Book offers OHV repairs and sells products made by Polaris, the only company in the world that makes the 50-inch side-by-side off-highway vehicle. Photo by Pat Hill

— Jeff Book

Continued on page 6.

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Capitalizing on the OHV frenzy, Paul Schexnayder opened Catamount PowerSports the second week of February. “What makes Woodland Park unique is that we’re close to two trail systems,” he said, referring to the “717” and “770” systems. “To have that length of trails this close to a town the size of Woodland Park is something you’re not going to find anywhere else in the world.”

The “770” system features the Skeleton trail which, along with the “650” trail in the same region, connects to the Rampart OHV area. “So you can get from Rain-bow Falls to Sedalia on OHV trails,” Schexnayder said. “You can also get all the way into Sprucewood, a small town with a couple of ranches and a bar.”

If the two trails aren’t enough, the Rainbow Falls sys-tem is an option north of Woodland Park off Colo. 67. “There is some new single-track in there,” he said. “It’s for dirt bikes only, very difficult, very long.”

The annual motorcycle ice races at Rainbow Falls Mountain Trout are one of the main attractions around Woodland Park, races on the weekends in January and the first two in February. Harry’s Roamer’s Motorcycle Club sponsors the events.

In a place where the direct economic impact of mo-torized recreation is more than $30 million in state and local business taxes, the sport is an economic multi-plier for Woodland Park. “You can come into town to get parts and food, see a movie,” Schexnayder said. “That makes Woodland Park a great spot for tourists and locals.”

According to the Berger report, OHV registrations increased by 131 percent between 2000 and 2007, making the city of Woodland Park smack in the eye of the economic blizzard of capitalization through off-highway vehicles.

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Paul Schexnayder, left,talks about off-highway vehicles with one of hisfirst customers, Bill Toal,at Catamount Powersports. Schexnayder openedWoodland Park’s thirdbusiness that featuresoff-highway vehicles.Photo by Pat Hill

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There’s more than ghost towns and abandoned mines worth seeing in the Gold Camp District. Sev-eral historic church buildings dot the region, as well as one notable ruin.

Unlike the deserted towns and mines, several of the churches still hold services and are active in the community.

Most began as frame buildings before the fi res in Cripple Creek and Victor in the 1890s and were rebuilt after the fi res in brick, so they date from be-tween 1892 and 1902.

Houses of worship among gam-bling halls

Cripple Creek’s three historic churches, Cripple Creek Baptist, St. Peter’s Catholic and St. Andrew’s Episcopal, are all active.

Another old church building, which once housed United Church of Christ and Methodist, still stands but has been long empty, abandoned.

St. Peter’s Catholic Church sits on the highest hill in Cripple Creek, with what appears to be a copper spire reaching for the sky.

According to its website, its fi rst resident priest chose the site in 1892. The foundation stone was laid in 1897 and a Sisters of Mercy school was located next door in 1901.

Church member Carl Poch said the spire is actu-ally steel, painted copper. It was done a few years ago when a new roof was put on.

‘Serving God since 1892’

St. Andrews Episcopal Church has also been “Serving God in Cripple Creek since 1892.” It began as a mission above an arcade but soon built a “little brick church, the fi rst Protestant church building in Cripple Creek,” according to its website.

Its fi rst service was held there in late 1893. That building burned in 1896, but was quickly rebuilt. Through its 100-plus year history, there have been times “of prosperity and of despair,” as is true for the entire Gold Camp District, but “the doors have never been closed or services entirely suspended.” A history of the church was published in 1960 by Hazel Bunker. Used copies are available on Amazon.

Imported stained glass windows

Cripple Creek Baptist Church, located at the cor-ner of First and Carr, with a parsonage to its south, also began as a wood frame building which burned in the fi re. It was rebuilt in brick in 1898.

The parsonage was built fi rst, in 1896, and used as a meeting hall during church construction. The church has a number of beautiful stained glass win-dows.

Pastor Dennis Peck says: “There is no paperwork on the stained glass but local folklore says the origi-nals came from England.”

In the 1980s and 1990s some windows were re-stored and others replaced with windows matched as closely to the originals as possible. The round stained glass in the front of the church is original, as are the tall window panels in front.

The round window in the back is new. Several of the back or side panels are also either new or restored by a stained glass restoration company out of Denver.

Historic churches abound in Gold Camp District

Story & photos by Suzanne Core

Continued on page 8

Teller County Government Sends A Special ‘Thank You’ To All Of The

Businesses Who Donated To Our Employee Appreciation Outing Held On July 15, 2016. Our Outing Will Be An Even Bigger Success

Thanks To Your Donations!!!

2AR Tactical Custom Guns Pepsi Center Adventure Miniature Golf Pikes Peak Cog Railroad AJ’s American Pizzeria Pikes Peak Credit Union Big-O Tires Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Black-eyed Pea Roller’s Donuts & Pastries Bronco Billy’s Royal Gorge Bridge & Park Café Leo Royal Gorge Rafting & Zip Line Tours Century Casino Royal Gorge Route Railroad Chimayo Turquoise Santa’s Workshop Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center Scoops Cripple Creek & Victor Mining Company Sky Sox Denver Zoo Snap Fitness Dinosaur Resource Center Studio West Aveda Double Eagle Hotel & Casino The Butte Theater Florissant Fossil Beds The Cup and Cone Gold Hill Wine & Liquor The Lost Dutchman Resort Hot Heads Studio The Pikes Peak Range Riders Iron Springs Chateau The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey Mountain Natural Community Market Total Office Solutions Nuts ‘n Bolts Needleworks Transwest Painting with a Twist Triple Crown Casino Papa Murphy’s

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Erin Malone719-687-2744

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Victor also boasts historic churches

In nearby Victor, St. Victor’s Catholic Church, built in 1902, claimed to be the biggest, though in recent years it had to fight for its life and it lost.

St. Victor’s first priest, Father Downey, arrived in 1894. The first church building was a small frame structure on donated land. Ground was broken at the current site in 1901, with the cor-nerstone laid in 1902.

There is no bell tower, be-cause, according to its website, Father Downey maintained that “in a mining camp where men work three shifts, our miners are entitled to all the sleep they can get undisturbed by the ringing of church bells.”

For some years, St. Victor’s and St. Peter’s shared services, with St. Victor’s holding winter services and St. Peter’s holding services in summer due to the in-flux of tourists in Cripple Creek. Sadly, St. Victor’s has been closed for several years now.

Also in Victor is the still-ac-tive First Baptist Church, as well as the former Swedish Evangeli-cal Lutheran Church building, which today houses Victor’s Community Center, or Vicci.

Swedish Evangelical was one of seven churches listed in Vic-tor in the early 1900s. Swedish Lutheran was incorporated in 1903. The Vicci Center sits across

the street from St. Victor’s. The First Baptist is two blocks west of St. Victor’s.

Finally, the ruins of the Catholic Church in the area still called Gillette is the only reminder that Gillette was once, briefly, a thriving city on the Midland train route to and from the Gold Camp.

Ute Pass Also Has Historic Church

Another historic area church is the beautiful Church of the Wildwood in Green Mountain Falls. It was founded the same year as the Gazebo was built in the town’s lake, 1889, as a Congre-gational Church of Christ.

Construction of the sanc-tuary was completed in 1893 and the annex in 1936. A bell tower with an old bell from an abandoned church in Kansas was added in 1939. In 1955 the church was renamed Church of the Wildwood.

In 1962 the congregation voted to become a United Church of Christ. Unlike the churches of the Gold Camp, this beautiful church complex never burned. But construc-tion and improvements, in-cluding the addition of vari-ous stained glass windows, continued through the 1970s, as its congregation grew.

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9:00am - 3:00pm at the Ute Pass Cultural Center(Midland Ave between Fairview and Laurel)

8:00 - 11:00 Pancake Breakfast @ Senior Center- $8

9:00-3:00 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament (part of the

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Museums close to Teller County

The following is only a short list of the many museums and historical sites that can be visited as short day trips from Teller County. Each of these museums has its own website for addresses, hours and other information.

Manitou SpringsMiramont Castle was built in 1895/1896

by French-born Catholic priest Jean Baptist Francolon. It’s located in the Manitou Springs Historic District and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Miramont is owned and operated by the Manitou Springs Historical Society. It fea-tures 42 furnished rooms, a tea room and a gift shop.

Manitou Springs Cliff Dwellings, located on U.S. 24 in Manitou Springs, features an Anasazi-style dwelling rebuilt from stones retrieved from a collapsed Anasazi site in Cortes, N.M. The associ-ated museum features Anasazi artifacts. It opened in 1907.

Colorado SpringsOld Colorado City History Center

Museum is owned and operated by the Old Colorado City Historical Society and is located in Colorado Springs’ Old Colorado City. Displays tell the story of the original Colorado City and the Westside. It has a gift store and a research library.

Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum, located in downtown Colorado Springs. From 1903 to 1973 it was the El Paso County Courthouse. The former Pioneer Museum that was housed in the city’s

downtown Carnegie Library was relo-cated to the courthouse in 1979. The museum has more than 60,000 cultural and historical artifacts and its Starsmore Center for Local History includes im-ages, newspapers, manuscript collec-tions, city directories and the personal papers of city founder Gen. William Jackson Palmer.

Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame’s mission is to preserve rodeo history and artifacts. It is clearly visible from Interstate 25 north of Colorado Springs and is run by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Associa-tion's board. Hall of Fame inductees include singer-songwriter and profes-sion rodeo cowboy Chris LeDoux and Ty Murray, seven-time all-around rodeo champion.

Space Foundation recently opened in a new locations just off Garden of the Gods Road and its Discovery Center has become the go-to site for kids and adults interested in exploring space. It features a mixture of actual artifacts, including space suits; life-sized models and scale models of rockets, landers and planetary probes. Many of the items on display offer hands-on opportunities to explore and learn.

May Natural History Museum is located south of Colorado Springs on Colo. 115, watch for the giant horned beetle and follow the signs. The mu-seum features the world’s largest private collection of giant tropical insects and arachnids as well as artifacts from New Guinea and a pictorial history of the American space program.

Spend a summer day in the museums close to Teller County

Continued on page 10.


PuebloEl Pueblo Museum is the repository for Pueblo’s his-

tory, including its Native American and Spanish, heritage. It also preserves the culture and history of the many ethnic groups who have made Pueblo their home. The museum site includes the archaeological excavations for the original 1842 trading post, which was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The facility is administered by History Colorado.

Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft & Space Museum features a large collection of military aircraft, many of which date to World War II when the site near the Pueblo Airport was home to the Pueblo Army Air Base. The base closed at the end of the war its facilities and equipment became the city of Pueblo’s property. Aircraft onsite include a C-47 Gooney Bird (or the Navy’s Douglas R4D), a T-33 Thunderbird, an F-104 Starfighter and the biggest aircraft in the collection, a fully restored B-29 Superfortress that towers over the rest of the collection in Hanger 1.

Rosemount Museum is the 37-room mansion built in 1893 by banker John A. Thatcher. It remained the Thatcher family home for 75 years before becoming a museum and nearly all its furnishings are original to the home.

Pueblo County Historical Society Museum volunteers have collected and preserved local and regional histori-cal artifacts including Saddles by local renowned makers, early Pueblo photos, Mesa Verde pottery, railroad artifacts, artifacts from the Pueblo Dodgers baseball team and oral history tapes.

Museums Continued from page 9

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Teller County is a place known for trails, rivers, streams and fresh air.

No doubt, outdoor recreation is part of the life-style of people who live and vacation in the Pikes Peak Region.

The Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recre-ation Plan lists outdoor activities in order of popu-larity.

Walking ranks as the No. 1 activity for Colorado residents – but fi shing engages 36.4 percent of Colo-radans.

Peaceful, quiet and tinged with anticipation, fi shing is rated No. 4 in popularity in Colorado.

Many choices to wet a line

In the region, there are several places to fi sh, in-cluding Spinney Mountain, Eleven Mile, Manitou Lake, Deckers, Rainbow Falls, Tarryall, Rampart Range and Antero reservoirs. There’s also Mueller State Park.

People who fi sh have quirky characteristics. True or not, they are known for exaggerating the length and weight of the catch – they’re also some-what elitist about where they choose to sink the line – to no avail.

“We don’t have secret places - everybody knows ‘em,” said Bill Tomlinson, who, with his son, Brad, owns Peak Fly Shop in Woodland Park.

Fishing popular any time of year

On a bitter-cold winter day, a group of hearty tourists from the South gathered at the fl y shop to embark on a guided fi shing expedition to the Ar-kansas River in Pueblo.

“We’re strong in Alabama, no matter what the weather,” said Jeremy Owen, from Huntsville, who was spending the holidays in Woodland Park.

As temperatures hovered in the single digits, the seven shrugged off what could have been daunting.

“We’re layered,” said Charity Walker. Casting a sense of energy, the group is not par-

ticular about what comes up from the river. “Whatever’s bitin’,” Owen said.

A variety of fi sh awaits anglers

What’s biting are trout, rainbow, brown or cut-throat, Tomlinson said. “Water’s always running in the river,” he added. “There’s a sheet of ice over it but the river’s fl owing underneath the ice.”

The fl y shop refl ects the vigorous lifestyle shared by many in Colorado, a state where the outdoors is the place to be – even in blustery conditions. Check it out, rivers, streams, lakes and inlets are packed with the hearty, the hopeful.

River frozen over? No problem. “They do ice fi shing at Eleven Mile Reservoir,

Skaguay and Tarryall,” Tomlinson said. However, fi sh keep hours just like humans. “Fish don’t start moving until the sun comes up

– they’re lethargic a bit during the colder weather,” Tomlinson said.

Options abound

beyond fi shing

If fi shing isn’t in the cards, Kyle Davidson public relations for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, has sug-gestions for enjoying the outdoors.

“I would add that the local state parks are phe-nomenal spots to connect and engage with nature,” Davidson said. “Mueller, Eleven Mile and Spinney Mountain state parks are nearby, and all of them offer amazing wildlife viewing opportunities, fi sh-ing, hiking, and camping.

“At Mueller, there are horseback trails and even some for ATVs.”

While Spinney Mountain is closed for the win-ter, the park reopens in the spring for normal fi sh-ing and boating activities.

Enjoy the cold-weather

During the winter months, there will still be a number of fun and family-friendly activities, watchable wildlife events, guest lectures in the visi-tor centers, hiking and park day-use.

“Camping will be a bit limited, though people can also still do that, but I recommend calling the park for availability before making the trip,” said Kyle Davidson, public relations for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

“One kind of cool thing is that Mueller State Park has extremely nice cabins for rent with pictur-esque views of Pikes Peak. Waking up and seeing the peak with hot cup of coffee in your hands is not a bad way to start the day,” Davidson said.

Plenty of Fun to be Had Fishing in the Pikes Peak RegionBy Pat Hill


Aquatic Center groundbreaking heralds future summer funBy Pat [email protected]

Next summer promises a wholly different kind of rec-reation available in Woodland Park.

A groundbreaking ceremony last month, officials are sorting through the final paperwork for the new Aquatic Center.

Perhaps most exciting is the unveiling of the final design.

Architects’ renderings show windows two-stories high in the pool areas offering views of Pikes Peak. In the entrance area is a stone wall with a large fireplace and seating area overlooking the pools.

The leisure pool area includes a lazy river and water features with a twisting water slide that snakes out of a second-story window, curls outside of the building and back inside for a splashdown.

A long parking lot runs across the north side of the building with a circular turn-around at the east end.

All the details won’t be known until grants and dona-tions are secured.

“There are elements in the design that may, or may not be, in the final building, depending on what we can put together,” said Gerry Simon, president of the Wood-land Aquatic Project, a nonprofit organization.

And everything depends on the final bids.Subcontractors submitted their bids last week for

the initial phase of the project with general contractors Adolfson & Peterson, a national company with offices in Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, North Carolina and Washington.

“Until we get the bids back we don’t really know the cost of the project,” Simon said.

For the public, the first celebration was the ground-breaking ceremony.

Amid the flurry of controversy, along with securing building permits and selecting the general contractor, Si-mon and the WAP board have been chasing grant money.

“The big one, of course, is a $200,000 grant from the Newmont/Cripple Creek & Victor Mining Co.,” Simon said. “We’re soliciting donations from the public as well. Money helps!

“It’s always been a part of the plan to make this a part-nership between the city, the public and private founda-tions.”

The design includes a separate area for parking in a lot that faces the high school.

“The lot will be adequate for daily use, based on what we’ve seen in other facilities,” Simon said. “During swim meets, it will be a zoo. The meets will be either after school or Saturdays, so we’ll have the high-school parking lot.”

The city’s agreement with the Woodland Park School District to build the center on 1.74 acres, allows the dis-trict use of:

• The lap pool for swim lessons.• Part of the lap pool for two periods.• The entire lap pool for one period.• The lap pool during swim season.

Of course, that assumes the school can create a swim team, Simon said.

The swimming pool was a long time coming to Wood-land Park. In 1994, city voters denied two requests, for a half-cent sales tax for an aquatic center, and a half-cent tax for a recreational center.

“Both lost, but the aquatic center vote was pretty close,” he said. “My kids at the time were 1 and 3, so it

would have been perfect.”In 2010, Woodland Park voters once again denied a

request for an increase of 1 percent to pay for a $14 million facility.

About the same time, a group of residents that includ-ed Curt Grina, Cord Prettyman, Mark Sumner and Connie Joiner, formed the Teller Alliance for Fitness., the forerun-ner of WAP and nonprofit designation.

“We toured facilities around the state, self-funded the feasibility plan and the community survey,” Simon said. “We helped get the word out.”

In 2014, voters approved a measure that allowed the city to spend a maximum of $10.1 million for a pool and recreation center. Voters were led to believe the center would be at Woodland Station.

Simon acknowledges the public controversy when the city manager David Buttery convinced the council to change the location from Woodland Station to the high

school. “The whole location thing was controversial; I under-

stand. The high school was actually my third preference,” he said. “But our board’s view has always been ‘anywhere in Woodland Park is better than nowhere in Woodland Park.’”

The bright side is obvious. “This is going to be great for the kids, for people who

can’t exercise any other way and great for our seniors.” Infused with energy over the final-bid process, the

board is going full-speed ahead. “We still need help,” Simon said. “As a board I don’t

think we’ve communicated very well; we need people for outreach and fundraising.”

There’s a carrot offered for the donor – $100 ensures an engraving on the Donor Wall.

See more about the project on the foundation’s web-site: woodlandaquaticproject.org/

The final architect renderings of the Woodland Park Community Aquatic Center, designed by BRS Architects, are posted on the project’s website woodlandaquaticproject.org. They show windows two-stories high in the pool areas offering views of Pikes Peak. In the entrance area is a stone wall with a large fireplace and seating area overlooking the pools. A long parking lot runs across the north side of the building with a circular turn-around at the east end. /Courtesy renderings


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June 29 - Showcasing 4th of July/Symphony Above the CloudsJuly 20 - Stampede and RodeoAugust 10 - Back to School/Fall events

Get your Incline fix before it closes for repairsPopular trail is scheduled to be closed Aug. 22 – Dec. 2

Fourteen miles east of Woodland Park, deep in Ruxton Canyon on the edge of Manitou Springs, is a long, very steep old cable car path that leads straight up a moun-tainside known as The Incline.

The 2,600 or so steps climb about a mile with an average 41 percent grade. It is one of the most strenuous workouts you will ever do in your life.

But come August, the beast is closing down. Albeit temporarily.

After the world famous Pikes Peak Ascent and Mara-thon, Aug. 20-21, the Incline will be closed until Dec. 2 for repairs.

The Incline was previously closed for three-and-a half months in 2014 as crews worked on the first phase of the project, which saw almost $2 million in improvements to the trail’s midsection.

The Incline begins at about 6,500 feet in elevation and climbs to around 8,500 feet. There are stretches along the sometimes perilous steps that hit more than 65 percent grade.

And it’s a gnarly staircase with hundreds of jagged, un-evenly spaced railroad ties, working their way up Mount Manitou.

It’s more like racing up the Empire State Building. Twice! It is like a grueling monster.

For those who have ever successfully completed The Incline, there is a great sense of euphoria after reaching the top.

I completed my first Incline on Feb. 29 of this year. I’ve

lived in the Pikes Peak region for 15 years, but never felt inspired enough to attack The Incline until a few months ago when I felt I was in good enough shape to scale the steps.

I hiked The Incline with my buddy Dan Bathje. He is a native of Minnesota and an extreme outdoor guy. He also is a seasoned veteran of The Incline.

With Dan leading the way, I reached the top in one hour, 18 minutes; more than 30 minutes behind my friend. Then we hiked three miles (at least an hour) down the Barr Trail back to his car.

I felt pretty good about my pace, despite being passed by 75-year-old men, young teenage boys with asthma, people with bad backs, and other folks with hip replace-ments.

There were even soldiers from Fort Carson and Olym-pic athletes who whizzed by like I was standing still. They were laughing and telling jokes as I was wheezing, cough-ing and on the verge of collapse.

When I got home I could hardly walk for the next two days without every muscle in my body aching. I vowed to never attempt The Incline again. I hiked Pikes Peak from the Barr Trail last September and didn’t feel nearly as bad after doing The Incline.

But guess what? A week after my initial ascent up The Incline, I was back at it again. And again. And again. Five times over the next two months I scaled the Incline. My best time was 52 minutes.

I have not had the opportunity to do The Incline in more than a month, but I am sure I could trim my time down in the high 30s if I did it a couple of times a week for a month.

I realize that many of you reading this column do The Incline on a regular basis. Perhaps even twice a day. You may not think it is that big of a deal to get your workout in and go about your daily business.

My guess is that you will miss it greatly when it is closed for 100 days this summer and fall. Like me, you will be scrambling to find an extreme workout to crave your masochistic desires.

I have been asked if there is a way to prepare for the Incline. The answer is no. It’s just something you have to go do. Keep a steady pace and keep treading along at a steady pace.

A tip: beware of the new rules. Manitou police are handing out tickets to people who disobey. For example, its hours are 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and no dogs are allowed. And parking rules are being strictly enforced with cars getting booted or towed. Try the free shuttle from town to avoid a costly ticket in the canyon.

No doubt the human traffic on the Incline will increase substantially as the weather warms. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people will be making the trek up and down the steps in the days leading up to the closing in August.

Will you be one of them? I plan to be out there bright and early several times this summer.

See you at the top.

FROM THE SIDELINESDanny [email protected]

Photo by Danny SummersThe Incline bailout halfway up at Barr Trail.


Thin Air Theatre launches 10th anniversary season at Butte TheaterFor The Courier

A classic melodrama, a musical, a comedy, plus Halloween thrills and chills highlight the 2016 season of professional theater this summer at Cripple Creek’s Butte Theater.

The Thin Air Theatre Co. will bring four new shows to the Butte. And it will bring back for the Christmas holidays a fa favor-ite: “A Cripple Creek Christmas Carol.”

The theater company is entering its 10th year at the Butte Theater. The producers, Mickey Burdick and Chris Armbrister, along with theater manager Mel Moser, are planning a year of classic favorites and premieres they hope will attract more record-breaking audiences.

The lineup includes:

Darling of the Donkey Derby(Classic Melodrama & Olio)June 24-Aug. 27Based on the 1866 script by Dion Bouci-cault, this classic horse-racing melodrama has been re-imagined for the Butte stage. Set in 1930s Cripple Creek, the hero sets out to win the very first Donkey Derby Race (a racing tradition that continues to this very day in Cripple Creek.) But a band of gamblers and cheats threatens to thwart his efforts. With donkey races, hi-jinks and mayhem, this adaptation of a classic is for audiences of all ages. This show will be fol-lowed by a summer olio.

PippinMusic and Lyrics: Stephen SchwartzBook: Roger O. HirsonJuly 1–Aug. 27

“We’ve got magic to do … just for you!” The Tony-Award winning tale of Pippin, a young prince struggling to find his “Corner of the Sky” hits the stage with sizzling cho-reography and an award-winning score. A wandering troupe of performers tell the story of the hero and his choice between a life of simple, unremarkable happiness, or living for a single, brief flash of glory.

The ForeignerBy: Larry Shue(Contemporary Farce)Sept. 2–24In this farce, Charlie Baker, an introvert from Great Britain, is forced to take a vaca-tion in rural Georgia. To avoid having to in-

teract with the other guests, Charlie adopts the persona of a foreigner who doesn't understand English. When others begin to speak freely around him, he overhears their secrets and schemes and discovers an adventurer in himself.

Cripple Creepshow(Halloween Show & Olio)Sept. 30–Oct. 30A mysterious show rolls into town, tents are erected, and the audience files in. But what happens when the stories told begin to leave the stage and cross into real life?This Halloween melodrama is an antholo-gy in the vein of “Tales from the Darkside,” “The Twilight Zone” and “Night Gallery.”

The show is followed by a very special Hal-loween Olio.

A Cripple Creek Christmas Carol(Christmas Show and Olio)Nov. 25–Dec. 31This Pikes Peak Regional favorite, puts a Cripple Creek spin on the classic Dickens tale and serves up a great holiday outing for the entire family. The original direc-tor and some of the original actors reprise their roles. It will be followed by a tradi-tional fun-filled Christmas Olio.

For more information and to make online reservations, visit ButteTheater.com or call 719-689-3247.

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Two minutes, wealth of options in GMF By Pat Hill [email protected]

In a tiny town in the mountains, a place that takes less than two minutes to drive through, Ute Pass Avenue is a portal to physi-cal exhilaration, heady spirits and gustatory delights in Green Mountain Falls.

One entrepreneur plans to distill Irish whiskey at the Black Bear while another serves up dishes such as macademia-crusted Mahi Mahi at the Mucky Duck. Across from the iconic Gazebo Lake, The Pantry is a Ute Pass mainstay known for its down-home cooking and landmark ambience.

“The lake is so important,” said Ben Stephens, who with his wife Nan, owns The Pantry. “That’s what makes us different from Cascade and Chipita Park.”

The Pantry is quaint, a place that sparks emotions from the old-timers. “I had a lady come in here who started crying because the counter was just the way she remembered it when she was a little girl,” Stephens said. “I get people like that at least once a month.”

But The Pantry is more than a historic place that employs up to 20 residents during the summer, seven or eight during the winter. It’s the food that keeps people coming back, the homemade breads, white, cinnamon raisin, biscuits, cornbread and apple pie – and fresh-sliced country potatoes.

To top it off, the view is wondrous, moun-tains, the gazebo and the lake. On any given day, Ann Pinell will probably be at the lake feeding the ducks and geese.

This summer The Pantry features the Cowboy Breakfast Buffet from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. “It’s going to be a killer buffet and Ted’s going to be playing,” he said. “Ted” is Ted Newman, a fixture at the former Pantry Gardens, where he serenaded diners eating barbecue. “We’re taking the summer off from dinner,” Stephens said.

“We’ll have special parties and events.”Stephens was a novice at the restaurant

business when he bought The Pantry April 1, 2001. “I became the dishwasher and just kept my mouth shut,” he said. “I wanted a small business and the real estate that came with it. I wanted to set my daughter up where she could get started in a business.”

Amily Beidelman-Almy and her hus-band, Denison, moved to Ute Pass from the Washington, D.C., area and bought the Mucky Duck in 201o. She, however, is the face of the restaurant. “We wanted to be in the moun-tains,” she said.

Former software developer and govern-ment contractor for the defense department, Beidelman-Almy, new to the business, carries on the culinary tradition started by Kathy Wil-son, who brought fine dining to the mountain community.

In keeping with the restaurant’s name, the teriyaki ginger duck is among the popular items.

Mucky Duck customers are varied; some generational summer residents of Green Mountain Falls, others drive in from Wood-land Park or Colorado Springs during the winter. “People just want to get away from the Springs and go to a nice restaurant,” Beidel-man-Almy said. “A lot of folks ‘discover’ this town and want to share it with other people.”

But it may be the couple’s ice cream/cof-fee shop that truly reflects the small-town ambience. Hangout and refuge for the kids in the area, Duckies Confections is next door to the Mucky Duck.

“It’s great place for kids to meet up; par-ents know the kids are safe here,” Beidelman--Almy said. “If they need to call home and check in, they can do that. When the rain moves in during the summer, the kids will flock here ‘til the storm has passed.”

The shop is a throwback to another time, when kids had a place to buy candy, chips,

soda and ice cream. “If the weather’s bad they’ll come in and play cards or chess,” Beidelman-Almy. “It’s perfect for us; we love it.”

In a gustatory mix of fine dining and com-fort food, the Blue Moose Tavern adds to the local flavor of Green Mountain Falls.

Like the Mucky Duck and Duckies, the tavern is in the historic Pueblo building on Ute Pass Avenue. An architectural gem, the interior has log beams, a wood-paneled bar and wood floors.

“The floor is 81 years old,” said Carla Penner, who bought the bar two years ago and changed the name from Pine Gables to Blue Moose. “My goal is to save the character of the building.”

Once known as the Silver Tongue Devil, today the tavern fits the image of an old-fash-ioned inviting establishment.

On a recent winter afternoon, several customers enjoyed libations and camaraderie at the bar. “We get everybody from families to the outdoor crowd,” Penner said. “I try and keep it so that everybody in the community can come in and feel comfortable here.”

Leather couches and a wood-burning stove in the back near the stage is a setting to spark conversation, watch football on a big screen television or listen to music. “This time of year the music is acoustic, not very loud,” she said. “I like to support the local talent and feel like the atmosphere is more conducive to a smaller, intimate venue.”

The tavern has entered the culinary world with its poppers of fresh jalapeno peppers. With a “moose dip,” base of cream cheese, pepperoni, sausage, elk, onions and cayenne pepper, the jalapenos are then stuffed with bacon and chicken and wrapped in egg-roll skins. “We flash-fry that,” Penner said. “I’d say that’s our biggest seller.”

There’s also pizza, with homemade crust and sauce.

Like Stephens and Beidelman-Almy, Penner was a novice at running a tavern. “It’s been a wonderful adventure,” she said.

Since 1999 Victor Matthews has turned heads and generated the wow! factor in Green Mountain Falls, first as the owner of the Black Bear restaurant whose culinary expertise garnered awards throughout Colorado. The restaurant attracted diners from around the region, some arriving in limousines.

Along the way, Chef Matthews founded the Paragon Culinary School whose gradu-ates are holding forth in fine restaurants in Colorado Springs and Woodland Park.

Always a character to follow, Matthews is studying for the ministry through the Fuller Theological Seminary.

Recently, he tore out everything in the restaurant’s kitchen to make room for his lat-est venture, Irish-style whiskey and Irish-style moonshine.

And he’s doing the whole process himself, from house-malting to stone-grinding the mash, all at the Black Bear Distillery.

“Less than 25 distilleries in the world do their own house-malting,” Matthews said.

From using Colorado barley to soaking the grain in the water of Green Mountain Falls, the creek, the lake or the well, to malting the barley on the wood floor of the upper level, Matthews is a ground-breaker.

But the kicker in the process is the plan to use donkeys to turn the stone grinder. The stones he discovered online from a man in Conifer – they’re more than 1,000 years old.

“The Black Bear Distillery is going to be the new definition of what craft and artisan means in the distillery world,” Matthews said.

This summer, Matthews plans to give tours and tastings of the distillery. For infor-mation, call 684-2990.

For the outdoor enthusiast, Green Moun-tain Falls has a system of trails, with maps at on Ute Pass Avenue and Lake Street.

2nd Annual Golf Tournament & FundraiserAt Shining Mountain Golf Club: 100 Shining Mountain Lane, Woodland Park, CO 80863

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For The Courier

Strictly Bluegrass is a free concert on the green, Midland Pavilion in Woodland Park, next to Ute Pass Cultural Center, 210 E. Midland Avenue on Saturday, July 9, featuring two of Colorado’s finest bluegrass bands.

Finnders & Youngberg begin playing at 11 a.m., and Blue Canyon Boys at 12:30 p.m.

All ages welcome. Food, beer, wine available. woodlandmusicseries.org.

Free concert scheduled

june 29, 2016 summer fun guide

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