CALHAN, Colo. — El Paso County Parks Department employees are preparing for the upcoming visitor season at the Paint Mines in Calhan.
Ross Williams and Ashlyn Mathy work for the department and are amazed by what they see on their hikes into the park.
"There are few places in Colorado where you'd see this," Williams said.
The destination stands out on Colorado's eastern plains.
"Basically, this is where the dinosaurs died," Williams said.
Williams calls the area the end of the boulevard.
"The whole pit in here is the amphitheater," Williams said.
"Ross is a wealth of knowledge," Mathy said.
Colorado is celebrating its 150th birthday, but the Paint Mines have been celebrated for much longer.
"Humans have been in this area approximately 12,000 years," Williams said.
The park recently hired interpretive staff to help guide visitors.
"We just started our interpretive staff, they are starting today and they will be here every Friday, Saturday and Sunday," Emily Holmes, the Recreation Program Supervisor, told Denver7.
Williams and Mathy are showing the new staff around before the visitor season starts. The park is also utilizing a trail counter.
"This post is our trail counter," Mathy said.
Mathy will be counting the visitors to gather data for the park.
"What we're able to do with this as far as how we benefit the community and how we can help our community more, is the endless amount of information we're going to receive over the next summer," Mathy said.
The employees continue to be captivated by the park's environment.
"The sun shining just right lighting just this area is amazing," Williams said.
"You feel like you're somewhere else, takes you to an almost magical place," Mathy said.
Since he was a child, Williams has loved rocks, and now as an adult, he gets to work in them every day.
"Yes I love coming to work every day," Williams said.
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