Bishop Castle in San Isabel National Forest, Colorado

Once in a while, one of the places I've been pestering Gary to visit with me, turns out to be a real gem. Such was the case a couple years ago when we (finally) drove up to Bishop Castle. The place is absolutely astounding, considering it was hand built. The pictures don't do it justice. I believe that I actually gasped when we pulled up to it. It's enormous!

Now, a warning. I also gasped when we walked over the drawbridge, but not in a good way. The sewer authentically reeks of the middle ages. LOL

I gasped some more from being out of breath when we ascended the staircase that leads to the catwalk. 

And more when I entertained the thought of walking the catwalk, because, looking down through the metal work was a dizzying feat all in itself. It just wasn't happening with Lupus. 

And Gary, being the gallant night that he is, refused to storm the catwalk without me. So maybe sometime in the near future when I'm having a good Lupus day, we'll give it another go. At any rate, we still had spectacular views to enjoy. 

The inside of the castle provided us with the opportunity to view something else entirely. Much of the window space showcases amazing stained glass. For a price, you can even have your own stained glass art designed and placed in the castle.

This was my favorite of the larger pieces.

Most of the smaller ones like these were dedications or memorials.

A touch of history:

Jim Bishop has been building his castle in San Isabel National Forest, Colorado since 1969. He bought the land that the castle sits on at the ripe old age of 15 for just $1250.The year was 1959, a time when all things were possible. His dream then was not a castle but a getaway for hunting, fishing and climbing with a friend.

Bishop Castle had humble beginnings as a Colorado cabin. Observers mentioned the stone structures resemblance to a castle. From there, the dream grew into what it is today.

Jim Bishop has built this Colorado castle on his own, brick by brick, working a little at a time. Castle features include towers, wrought iron stairways and a fire breathing metal dragon. His father helped him up until 1971. He has tried (without success) to use hired help. For the most part, he's hand built every bit of Bishop Castle. He's still adding features to this day.

The castle turrets are spectacular stone structures with wrought iron stairways reaching up to as much as 160 feet tall. The metal art at the top and the stairways are an example of the handiwork Jim Bishop learned while working at his family owned iron shop in Pueblo, Colorado.

The fire breathing dragon is an exciting feature of Bishop Castle. It's made from recycled metal hospital trays. The dragon is powered by a burner from a hot air balloon. Mr. Bishop is planning to improve the dragons fire breathing power with the help of his son.

Mr. Bishop has recently added a sign garden to his Colorado castle. Signs make clear that Jim has no lack of disdain for the government and it's heavy regulation. They are basically his musings on this theme.

Mr. Bishops political dissent may be the reason his castle is not listed in Colorado guide books. It hasn't been subject to building inspections. Bishop Castle is a work of art, not a building. When visiting this tourist attraction, you are asked to sign a guest book that serves a dual purpose as a disclaimer in case of injury.

Bishop Castle has a gift shop attached. Items for sale include castle themed dress up clothes and props. There are also some political items and the usual Colorado souvenir fare. There are no admission fees for Bishop Castle. Donations are welcome. They're put toward construction costs.

Get to Bishop Castle from Denver, Colorado by taking I-25 to the Colorado City exit. Go NW on Highway 165 for 24 miles. You will see signs from that point.

Incidentally, one of the best things about Bishop Castle is the location. The San Isabel National Forest area is also known as “The Wet Mountains” due to the fact that it has a more moisture dense climate than most of the Rocky Mountains. It's quite similar to (but as most of the Rockies, much higher in altitude than) the Adirondacks in my home state of NY.

So, when we traveled to Bishop Castle, we also found a whole new region to love and explore. On the way back down, we took a back route so that we could stop at Lake Isabel. We were happy to discover several nice campgrounds en-route and also right along the lake shore. One of these days, we'll remember to book early. But until then, we're still happy with this beautiful day trip drive.

Cheyenne Mountain and Lake Isabel Labor Day 2014

Sometimes when Gary and I are roaming around, we just can't bring our selves to stop touring. After all, we live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Who can blame us? Such was the case one day when we ended up, by way of a meandering detour on a Cheyenne Mountain trail and then, since we weren't quite done seeing pretty things yet, drove further south into the wet mountains to Lake Isabel.

Now, this was a while back So, I'm just going to post some pics and let them jog my memory. Enjoy! 

This is the view looking up from the parking lot at the trail head.

And on the other side, facing the trail.

Just a little tree cave on the trail.

Looking down at the fun drive up the hill to the trailhead.

Obligatory "us" selfie.

Gary is so photogenic! Jealous!

There's just something about yucca that's hard to resist snapping.

Gary goofing off, pretending to roll a boulder.

Just a cool shot of the native plants.

More yucca. See? Told ya.

The view back down the trail.

On one side of the trail, there is all this!

At the lower parking lot as we left, I snapped this shot of the falls. There's a trail up the mountain there, too.

En-route to Lake Isabel, where we didn't even know we were going to end up. LOL

More en-route.

When we got out to view the Lake, this was along our path. So pretty! Love the woods!

Lake Isabel

Under the bridge at the lake.

So, you guys, not many shots of Lake Isabel, sorry. maybe next time. We have been up there quite a bit. The wet mountains are pretty cool. Weather like NY. Scenery like Colorado. Plus, Bishop's Castle is there. But that's a story for another blog.

A hike and a half in Castlewood Canyon

Oh my wow! Castlewood Canyon is super gorgeous! There's a wide variety of trails from wheelchair accessible to crazy difficult. The trail we took was somewhere in between. But when you have a chronic illness, moderate becomes difficult and difficult becomes impossible.

The first thing we did.... Wait, let me back up. On this trip, we decided to take the two oldest grand-kids, mainly, I think, so that I could take pictures of them taking pictures. Or at least that's how it turned out. I'm kidding, of course. It was so they could help Gary push and pull me up and down the rocks.

Anyway, when we first arrived we headed right for the main overlook. What a view! We really weren't expecting anything like it. We saw part of it from the road, but, well, you can see from the picture that this is no ordinary place. 

Now, a couple days before, I had wrenched my back and I was recovering, so we had planned in advance to take the easy path. It winds around the top of the canyon for a bit and then through a wildflower meadow. Nice path for someone like me, right?

But of course, between everyone else wanting to check out the canyon floor and me being my usual “This illness is not stopping me” self, down we went into a steep descent. 

And you know, it was actually a fairly easy path down. It really was. However, there were a few spots where I required assistance.

And then, there were a few more. And a few more and.... well, you get the idea.

Backing up again here, once we got to the bottom of the canyon, the forested path ran next to a rocky stream. In a couple spots, the water had pooled up invitingly. One family we passed was playing with their son in the water. And you betcha I was tempted. 

The pathway down to the water was do-able, but back up? Not so much fun for me on this particular day. I do have days where I am invincible, at least for someone with Lupus. This just wasn't one of those days.

And the trail kept getting longer and more difficult for me to traverse. 

So, Amber and Tia being the awesome grand-kids they are, decided to scout ahead while Gary took over the hand holding and lifting chores.

And speaking of Lupus, one advantage the lower path had was the shade. Up above, the sun was beating on the pavement, but down there, it wasn't so bad. And pictures! So many photo opportunities. My favorite ones were of the path itself, which looked somewhat like a leafy tunnel in spots.

There was also a place where, if you were able, you could climb up a steep slope and out onto the rock in the picture below. That's a long way up, right? We later discovered there might be a way out onto the rock from above, rather than below. Wish we had known that sooner.

Now, back to the story. I'm thinking that once we actually got to the bottom, we walked about a mile, possibly a mile and a half, before we realized that we missed the loop that was supposed to herd us back around.

It was about that time that the girls came back from their scouting mission to tell us that no way was “gramsicles” making it over the rocky stream at the dam, then up the rest of the 4 mile trail to the top on the opposite end from whence we came. It would be easier to turn around.

So, back we went. By this time, I was gulping water like crazy and praying for a swift end to my misery. Tia was giving me hands up the big steps and Gary was pushing from the rear. I'm sure it was quite a sight.

I'm stubborn, you guys, so I actually crawled up a few rough spots and refused help. It's kind of my thing. Amber, of course, was her usual athletic self and way ahead of us. It's OK you guys, she's 19. She was perfectly safe.

I should explain at this point that in order to descend into the canyon, we had to go down this rough wood and soil pack “staircase.” That was all good. Coming back up, though, well, huff, puff, sit, sip some water, go again. You can do this! Sweat, groan, strain, etc. You have no idea how glad I was to see the top. But I swear, you guys, it was all worth it! I felt like I had just ascended Everest.

This is just a small part of it.

The breeze at the top step! Oh man, that was the most refreshing thing I've ever felt in my life! We took our sweet time walking the easy paved route back to the car, stopping every once in while to take photos of some interesting trees, rock formations and such. 

We filled up our water bottles at the trail-head spout. I also started something by taking off my shoes and socks and spraying my feet. Man, that was nice!

Then, we hopped into the car and drove to the trail-head parking lot where we would have ended up, had I been feeling better that day. It was decided that next time, we would start there so I could see the dam and all. 

Last stop on the trip was a convenience store where we stuffed our faces with whatever our own personal tastes were craving and bought a lot more water. Every water bottle we had with us was empty by the time we got back home. And we had a lot of bottles.

Castlewood Canyon was a toughie for me, but so very worth it! 

Believe it or not, I'm looking forward to the return trip! Ya, even if I have to be carried!