The 13-mile Barr Trail is popular for its challenging ascent and beautiful views, while the 6.5-mile Crags Trail also offers excellent views but is generally less crowded. The 14,000-foot summit of Pikes Peak can be accessed by two hiking trails. Today, the donkeys are beloved and protected by locals, and free to roam the town’s streets from mid-May to mid-October. Just outside of Cripple Creek is the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, where you’ll see petrified redwood stumps that are up to 14 feet wide, as well as fossils of insects and plants that hark back to prehistoric Colorado.Ĭripple Creek’s donkey population was once essential to the mining community, carrying miners and equipment back and forth along the mountain trails and through the mining tunnels. The region is also home to countless trails and tracks for hikers and mountain bikers to enjoy, with something for every skill level. One way to see the sights is to hop a ride on the vintage railroad that circles Cripple Creek. Downtown still has an Old West feel to it, with late-19th-century brick and stone buildings housing steakhouses and Western apparel shops you may even spot some of the friendly donkeys that have been roaming the streets since the mining days.

Just 30 minutes west of Colorado Springs, the city and its surrounding area received National Historic status for its heritage in 1961, and today it draws travelers looking to take a step back into that bygone era.

Located at the foot of Pikes Peak mountain, Cripple Creek is a former gold-mining camp that was once filled with prospectors hoping to strike it rich in the Colorado Hills.

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