Climb Daring Heights at Bishop’s Castle, CO

Ever since I moved a couple of weeks ago, I’ve spent most of my spare time driving all over the surrounding areas: Buena Vista, Salida, Woodland Park, Divide, Florissant, Cripple Creek, Eleven Mile Lake, Westcliffe…you name it, I’ve driven through it or close to it! However, even with all our driving we really didn’t do anything post-worthy until we visited Bishop’s Castle near Westcliffe, CO.

I’d heard of Bishop’s Castle when I lived in the Springs several years ago.  Bishop’s Castle is a nice little day trip from Colorado Springs (approximately a 1.5 hour drive), and is certainly an unusual and interesting place to visit! This castle has been entirely built by one man – Jim Bishop.  At the age of 15, Jim bought 2.5 acres where the castle now stands in 1959 with a hope and a dream of building a cabin in the woods.  As time went by, the cabin turned to a castle, and construction is still being done on the property even to this day! The castle is made mostly of stone and iron, with an elaborate stained glass ballroom on the third level, and a fire breathing dragon at the front of the house! Bishop’s Castle is open year round and is free to the public. Jim accepts donations, and actually has built most of the castle off donations! It really is a must see if you are in the area at all!

Directions: (from Colorado Springs) Get on CO-115 S from Colorado Springs and follow it to Florence, CO. When you reach the Main street of Florence, take a left at the first sign for CO-67 heading south toward Wetmore. CO-67 will end right when you get to Wetmore. When this occurs take a right onto CO-96 following signs for Westcliffe.  (This is when the scenery really starts getting beautiful!) Follow this road until you see the turnoff for CO-165 with signs for Rye, CO.  Stay on this road and you will come upon the castle on your right.

You enter the property through the drawbridge – a cool experience all on its own! As you walk through the drawbridge, there is a spiral staircase immediately to the right that will take you to the top and give you a nice view of the castle.

Be prepared to see a lot of handwritten signs from Jim with various comments about his endeavors, the government, and even taxes!

I would suggest planning your visit during late May through the fall.  The snow made for a muddy and icy walk up to the castle!

This is where the Gift Shop is (and I assume maybe where the Bishop’s stay since the castle does not seem to me to be inhabitable).  There are no bathrooms, but they do sell drinks here.  There was a port-a-potty near the road, but that’s all I saw in way of bathrooms, so you may want to make sure toileting is taken care of beforehand if you’re not a port-a-potty fan!

We started our tour going in through the bottom level.

The second floor was nice and open, with pretty stained glass and lots of stonework.  Apparently, the castle hosts weddings and other events here!

It’s at this point that I became even more amazed that one man built this whole place by himself, but the third floor was even more impressive:

You can tell the castle wasn’t built perfectly squared, but that kind of adds to the uniqueness and charm of the place!

Once you get to the third floor, you can go outside on the wrap around iron balconies and you can climb the spiral staircases on either side of the above picture.

Once you begin to walk around the outside of the castle, you got a good view of the infamous Fire Breathing Dragon! The Dragon actually has fire come out of his mouth on the weekends during the summer, a result of a donated burner for a hot air balloon! I would like to return in the summer to see it!

At one point, we saw the below-pictured staircase that heads up to the tallest tower, so we figured we’d head to the top.

When you begin to climb up this staircase, you really start to think about the fact that your safety completely is in the hands of some man you’ve never met, and you hope like hell he really knew what he was doing.

Then you tell yourself, “Well no one’s ever died, so it can’t be that unsafe, right?”

…Not a super reassuring thought, but it sufficed.

Once we started up the tower we immediately met a girl having to scoot herself down the steps on her bottom due to a fear of heights.

At the same time, we saw a badass little three year old, who couldn’t understand what she was afraid of.  He pretty much put her to shame!

So, I’ll confess to y’all….I kind of have a fear of heights myself. It’s not crippling or anything, and I enjoy being at tall heights as long as there are really sturdy rails and everything. HOWEVER, this tower had really large windows with no kind of glass or even bars across them at some points, and it was a windy day! Sooooo I maybe held on to the center pole the entire time for dear life.

Finally, we made it to the top! Once you reach the top of the turret, the iron spiral staircase continues a little higher, with room enough for just one person.

I might have been a little panicked at taking that last picture, but hey, I did it right??

Once we had finished the tallest tower, we made our way to the other side.

PS, it was pretty priceless to hear all of the kid’s terrified reactions to this place.  They were hilarious.

Tips:

Go when the snow is melted, and on a summer weekend when the dragon breathes fire!

Lots of people brought their kids, but if you know your kids tend to be rambunctious and independent, understand that there are real dangers here at some of the heights.

If you are afraid of heights, this will be an excellent chance of facing your fears!

There is a port-a-potty for restrooms, otherwise, I guess you can use the National Forest.

There is no entrance fee, but leave ol’ Jim a donation for letting you visit his spectacular work for free!

Pets are welcome.

I would also suggest visiting Westcliffe before you leave. It’s not that much farther out of your way and you can see the BEAUTIFUL Sangre De Cristo Mountain range before making your way back to the Springs!

I think that the picture speaks for itself.

Long story short, Visit Bishop’s Castle!!!!!!!

Don’t forget to leave me a comment!! Have you been to the Castle?? Was your experience different from mine?? I want to know!

Until next time!