Don EllisDon Ellis is a Westside native who literally grew up in the shadow of the Dakota hogback at Red Rock. Don majored in mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado where he came to know the Lyons Sandstone and Tuscan vernacular architecture by ock climbing on several of the university buildings. He did a year of graduate work in metallurgy at Denver University and completed his PhD in bioengineering at the University of Michigan. Don is arguably the most informed expert on both the human and geological history of Red Rock Canyon, and serves on the board of the "Friends of Red Rock Canyon." He is also active in the Old Colorado City Historical Society. As a guest hiker with the AdAmAn Club in 2009 for their annual New Year's Eve climb up Pikes Peak, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his first guest hike with the club as a 19-year-old Explorer Scout. Update 2019 -- We are sad to report that Don Ellis passed away in November 2018. Our friend Don was both a principal catalyst in conceiving this book and an indispensable contributor to its creation. He was a leader in conserving the Red Rock Canyon and White Acres open space areas. Although his active contributions to enhancing the quality of life in Colorado Springs now cease, Don's impact will continue to be found in the legacy of these parks and in his many writings. A lifelong Westsider, he climbed Pikes Peak more than 50 times including being the first to summit in the 21st century. He once told the Westside Pioneer that the Pikes Peak trek he enjoyed with the "most relish" was a non-summit climb on New Year's Eve, 1960, when he pranked the AdAmAn climbing group. Hiking in the wee hours, Don delivered a quart of milk and a fresh edition morning newspaper to an AdAMAn tent at Barr Camp before their awakening, and then stealthily returned to the Springs. Read More Read Less