By Marlene Brown
At the May 18 meeting of the Palmer Lake Historical Society, authors Rocky Shockley and T. Duren Jones presented a lively PowerPoint on the book Easy Hikes to the Hidden Past. Their book describes many hikes in the Pikes Peak Region, including along the Palmer Divide, the Monument Preserve, and Palmer Lake area. With pictures of relics (junk of the past), there are many interesting points along the way.
Mount Herman, also known as Monument Preserve, has remnants of a Bureau of Forests Planting Station Tree Nursery. Millions of seeds were collected from pinecones and planted in beds. Rows of seedlings were established and shipped all over the Pikes Peak Region. The nursery was abandoned during World War II and rows of young pine trees were left to grow on their own (page 155, Easy Hikes of the Hidden Past).
Palmer Lake sports many historical hikes, including Palmer Lake Trail, New Santa Fe Regional Trail, and Santa Fe Open Space. Santa Fe Open space, recently opened by El Paso County, has many ranch relics along the trail, a 2-mile loop at the base of Ben Lomand Mountain and Elephant Rock ((www.elpasoco.com/el-paso-county-parks-open-santa-fe-open-space).
Continuing on the trail and looking for relics or “junk” on the sides of many worn roads and you will find the past. If you look hard enough, you can imagine the settlers that came and carved out history in stone or metal. You can find old car bodies from the 20s, 30s, 40s and so on. You can find stairs to nowhere and fire chimneys with no house attached. There is whole world out there when you take Easy Hikes to Hidden Past. The book is available at Covered Treasures in Monument and other booksellers online.
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Next month, the Palmer Lake Historical Society meeting will be the annual Father’s Day Ice Cream Social held at the Palmer Lake Town Hall, 28 Valley Crescent St., on June 18, from 2 to 4 p.m. Rain or shine, the event is free and open to the public. Bring your lawn chairs and enjoy free pie and ice cream with music by Craig Walter. The event is sponsored by John Spidell of The Spidell Foundation.
For more information regarding the society’s monthly historical talks and field trips, go to its website http://palmerdividehistory.org.
Marlene Brown can be contacted at marlenebrown@ocn.me.
Other Palmer Lake Historical Society articles
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Jan. 16 – 2024 events recalled (2/1/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, June 18 – Father’s Day Ice Cream Social (1/23/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Dec. 19 – Palmer Lake holds 91st annual Yule Log Hunt (1/4/2025)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Nov. 21 – Life of town hero explored (12/5/2024)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Oct. 17 – How the star and Town Hall became historic places (11/2/2024)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Sep. 19 – Author focuses on Old West (10/5/2024)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, June 6 – Book launch (7/6/2024)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, May 18 – Colorado’s Rosie the Riveter (6/1/2024)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, April 18 – Trolley cars, past and future (5/4/2024)
- Palmer Lake Historical Society, Mar. 21 – Presentation on Monument Cemetery (4/6/2024)