Bishop's Castle

I had been highly anticipating a visit out to the middle of almost nowhere to Bishop's Castle... a castle built by one man, Jim Bishop, started in 1969.  So one Friday, when local gal, Crystal, informed me she was free, a few of us went galavanting off down to the San Isabel National Forest.

The Castle sits right off of a mountain road, and is an odd compilation of towers, iron work, and rocks taken out of the National Forest that surrounds the property.  Bishop doesn't charge anything for visitors to daringly take their own lives into their hands and climb to the tops of towers and explore his handiwork.... to his success or detriment.. :o)

There are two wooden floors inside, the place is not fully enclosed, and by no means a completed project. As we were leaving before lunch, Bishop was driving back in with another truckload of rocks to continue work.  The place is littered with construction tools, sand piles, and other equipment.

There are of course lots of signs, all handmade, asking for donations, sharing a bit of the history, warning all law enforcement to stay away... very informative.

I did get in the elevator that goes nowhere...apparently Ryan rides elevators with his hands in the air....

There is a gift shop open daily on site where you can acquire swords, guns, and other such trinkets.

These little replicas of the castle can be bought for the cheap price of $100!

I couldn't get very high up the inside flights of stairs despite multiple tries... but I did climb some outside stairs. I even had to bravely step on the open ironwork to get back inside since the stairs were too steep and short-width to walk back down.

A pic of Crystal and I! Her family's house in pueblo has the biggest tree in the backyard... lots of shade....and a huge dog.

For lunch we had a pb&j picnic nestled in a meadow right next to a lake a few miles back down the road... Ryan picked a spot out of the wind and in the sun so we stayed nice and warm while we ate!

Bishop's Castle was quite a popular place for being so out of the way.... fifteen to twenty people came and went while we were there.  One grandma verbalized my own sentiments in speaking to her grandkids, "Jacob! don't go out there! Isabelle...hold my hand, we don't know how safe this place is. Jacob wait for us!"  It'll be exciting to go back sometime in the future and see how far the castle has come.