I love interesting rocks almost as much as I love driftwood to take photographs of and find faces and creatures within them.

This trail had many more interesting rocks  and rock formations than driftwood. Not sure why, but it did.

There were just a few interesting tree stumps with green accents on this trail in the Ute Valley Park that were well light and didn’t have shadows detracting from their beauty. There were some other driftwood forms, but most of those were in shadows or just did not entice me to take their picture.

Now the rocks, well they also were difficult to get pictures of because of shadows, but some were just exciting in form.

These very wrinkled rocks with stony faces were very interest. I wonder what they were looking at and talking about?

But my favorite was this frog or toad like image. He looks a bit grumpy, and maybe about to leap towards us.

Then, on the right, there was the big “piggy” rock formation looking over the park.

Or the snake-like serpent emerging from its hole on the left. Or the rock crying rusty tears. All very different in how they were formed and the images that they evoked as we walked past them.

And I am always trying to find the quintessential picture of Pikes Peak to enter in an upcoming exhibit, and someday my 365 Views of Pikes Peak book that is on the back burner, but always in my mind.

So as I came up a path and saw this table rock with Pikes Peak behind it, I knew I had to capture different views to try and make it look like Pikes Peak was being “served up” on the table.

I am getting close with the “surreal” composite on the right. But may have to drive back and hike up there the next sunny day while the Peak is covered with snow. (That is if my knee gets better soon.) Looking at the photos now, there were some fun cloud creatures floating above the path as we walked up to the overview.

There were also some fun single tree images. One actually in the middle of the trail.

We were curious who had built the rock “fort” around the tree in the middle of the trail. I guess if it grew that large in this harsh environment, it deserves to keep on growing. Then there was the tree that seemed to be waving us on to come up and visit it. Perhaps inviting us to rest under it on the wonderful boulders that were around it. And there was a great view of the eastern and norther sides of Colorado Springs when we got up to it.

The bluish-black line in the far distance is the Black Forest area a bit east and north of Colorado Springs. That was where a fire in 2013 raged through this thickly forested and very populated area. It was bad, but it could have been so much worse. Some lessons that were learned in Waldo Canyon Fire helped get it contained quicker than if our wonderful fire fighters hadn’t learned some lessons in 2012.

Looking back at Pikes Peak from various vantage points, some also had a view of the burned mountainside caused by the Waldo Canyon Fire in 2013.

How lucky we are that so many areas were not burned and the fire was contained before it took out more homes.

The green lichen on the rock in the foreground of the picture on the right look like green petroglyphs celebrating life in the forest.