Every 3rd Sunday, UpaDowna staff takes folks out on a new adventure somewhere in the Pikes Peak region. The guided hike is FREE and lasts about 2 hours and is an average of about 3-5 miles. Level of difficulty varies, but it is our goal to offer hikes that are for all-ages and abilities. Check out more here: http://www.upadowna.org/calendar interpretive

"Relentless prairie winds, sandstone-capped spires and hoodoos, colorful hues of clay, and distant coyote calls beckon visitors to this quiet landscape. As hikers venture from the trailhead into the distant reaches, the Paint Mines offers a journey through time, past fascinating geological formations and remnants of human history, in a unique ecological setting within the rolling plains of eastern El Paso County. The Paint Mines Interpretive Park, located in Colorado’s eastern prairie, is a rare, geologically fragile, and ecologically rich landscape of labyrinthine gulches and monoliths, perennial wetlands, and native grass meadows. The park contains unique geological, archeological, historical, and ecological resources that are all interrelated, thereby retaining significant educational, scientific, and interpretive value." -El Paso County