Just one and a half hours from Colorado Springs (and seven miles from the SilverWest Airport), lies Humboldt Peak Ranch, settled in 1869 by Elisha P. Horn, one of the three founders of Westcliffe and the namesake for Horn Peak and Horn Creek. His original cabin and several outbuildings can still be seen on the ranch. Horn obviously picked the location because of its abundant and valuable water, and the ranch still owns some of the best water rights in the county today, including the most senior right on three different creeks. It is also believed that Zebulon Pike camped in the woods on the Humboldt Peak Ranch in January of 1807, just two months after he first spotted what is now called Pikes Peak.
While Horn was impressed by the water, today’s visitors to the ranch will be awed by the spectacular views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains just to the west. Sitting at the base of four “fourteeners” (including Humboldt Peak) and dozens of “high thirteeners”, the views are breathtaking. The ranch is also home to at least one herd of elk and many deer and other wildlife.
