Colorado Springs. Garden of the Gods

It took us a couple of days to recover from the somewhat challenging journey to Colorado Springs before we felt ready to set out on the trails. Colorado Springs is a beautiful place…..nestled into the foothills of the Colorado Rockies with a truly spectacular skyline.

Garden of the Gods is a public park owned by the City of Colorado Springs since it was deeded to the city in 1909 to preserve the spectacular landscape and ensure full public access in perpetuity.

The temps were pretty high (it was July after all…!!) so we planned to hit the trailhead at sunrise and beat the heat….and hopefully the crowd. We arrived in that morning halflight to find the parking lot already half full

But it was still relatively cool…so time to get going….

It was much busier than most of the trails we travel……and the first section was beautifully paved and fenced (unlike our usual hikes…but it speaks to how busy this place is, and this section is all disabled accessible).

Different only in that we usually pick far less populated trails…..this one was busy….but spectacularly beautiful…and kinda strange. Easy to see how it attracts people of all ages and abilities to be out enjoying the landscapes.

The geological formations have a surreal, almost ‘fake’ look to them….

The carefully engineered pathway added to that ‘fake’ feel…..almost like being on a movie set. (not that I know what that feels like…LOL)

Then we reached the end of that manufactured path and onto a more rudimentary trail…..

The terrain underfoot became a little more interesting…..and the views added a touch more WOW….

We then had to follow the Scotsmans loop…!!!…Now we were far enough out for some creature encounters…

This trail does not really have much elevation gain….but still has a few short steep climbs….

Once we moved away from the more manicured area, the path was considerably less busy

…and there were even some shady patches……pleasant because the day was beginning to warm up..

…one of the featured viewpoints is called the Siamese twins…..a very impressive rock formation….

There is a fabulous photo point at this spot….so there was a constant flow of people…..we had to wait for quite some time for the next pix….the view through the portal is of Pikes Peak.

The portal is big enough for someone to sit in it and still see the view beyond…..we decided it was a picture that everyone else had…..so after we took the people free picture……we moved on…LOL…

We debated doing the Pikes Peak hike……but it’s 13 miles pretty much straight up with very little shade….and it was July…!!!

….back to the path…..

…there was a bit more shade on this side of the park….and more weird rock formations……and more creatures…..😊

….and now it felt like we were going down again….such a beautiful place….

The last part of the trail followed the road….the park has a paved road for vehicles in a single track one way loop around the park. You can drive or bike it, on your own bike or rent one. Also guided tours on extended safari style jeeps circumnavigate the park. There was a high hedge separating the trail from the road…so most of the time you could pretend it wasn’t there….

When we arrived back at the truck…the parking lot was mostly full….people just starting out on the trail….which by now (around 8am) was rapidly becoming much warmer than I would have liked……but it was easy to see why so many people come here.

Extra Pix