June 4, 2016

I had never heard of this town, but then on a random search of things to do in Colorado I saw a picture of the donkeys roaming free on city streets.  This I had to see.  I told Kevin that I wanted to go here and lured him in by saying that there was trout fishing in the area (pun intended).  We were staying in Woodland Park, CO, which makes it a moderate drive to Cripple Creek.

The town lets you know that the donkeys are there.

We drove down the main street, looking at all of the bars and casinos.  We got to a dead end and turned around.  We decided to stop to figure out where to go fishing, and I had given up hope that we were going to see the donkeys.  They could be anywhere!  After we decided on a fishing spot, Kevin asked if I wanted to keep looking for the donkeys.  I said I didn’t know how we were going to find them, looked up and there they were, two blocks from us!

There was a progression to our encounter with the donkeys.  We stopped right next to the first one to take a picture.  He looked over for a fun shot and then within seconds was at our door.

The dogs were going crazy at this point and he didn’t seem bothered whatsoever by them.  When he realized we didn’t have any food, he walked right in front of our truck and just stopped.

A friend decided to join him.

They were not going to move so we had to back up and go around them.

They animals have it made.  People know to drive slowly in the town, and they have free range of yards to eat.  Officially, the city owns them, but they are free to roam wherever.

After the excitement of the donkeys, Kevin made me leave.  We headed towards Skaguay Reservoir.  It was about 16 miles away.

The first weekend in June in Colorado you can fish without getting a license.  This lake was packed with people on a Saturday morning in June.  They stock it with brown trout, rainbow trout and pike.  We had to walk about a half mile to get a spot to fish.  The people in the picture above did it right.  They canoed to their spot and set up shop.  There were a couple boats, canoes and kayaks.  You can also camp at this area for free. Small campers and a lot of tents.  It is dog friendly as well. There is a huge parking lot with a boat ramp.

We still loved our spot but didn’t stay too long as alot the people started setting up around us.  We would definitely go back during the week!