A beautiful day at a beautiful park.
While we were in Colorado in May to buy our house, we took some spare time to visit the Garden of the Gods park, which is along the western edge of Colorado Springs.
The Garden of the Gods park is a gift to the City of Colorado Springs. In 1879, Charles Elliot Perkins, the president of the Chicago, Quincy and Burlington Railroad, purchased the land that included the Garden of the Gods. He intended for the land to one day be used for a summer estate, but that plan never came to fruition. After his death, Perkins’ children conveyed the land, 480 acres worth, to the City of Colorado Springs. A plaque commemorating this is affixed to one of the rocks.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
The park has a visitor and nature center that includes a 20-minute movie titled How Did Those Red Rocks Get There? You can also look at a history of the geology of the park, along with the history of Native American reverence to the unusual rock formations.
Even though the Garden of the Gods formations appear distinctive, in reality this geologic upheaval of hematite-impregnated rock exists all the way up and down the front range of the Rockies. The Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Denver is another example of the same geology.
We have a fantastic view of the park from one of the roads near our house. We can drive westward and in the early morning the sun shines on those red rocks and it’s so beautiful
Since we had a short time to visit the park, we did only the “Central Trails”, which you can see in blue on this map. The Central Trails take you around the most distinctive of the rock formations, and the boys loved seeing all the rock climbers. These trails are relatively flat and are paved for great accessibility. Highly recommended for those with wheelchairs and strollers.
Um…yeah…I don’t think I’ll be doing that anytime soon…two girls are ascending one of the Cathedral Spires.
There are scores of other trails around the park that we can’t wait to further explore.
Timmy wanted to look like he was stuck in the crevice.
Jacob looks like he’s surfing….
We also enjoyed quite a bit of wildlife.
This mule deer was grazing on the size of the road.
A rufous-sided towhee. They enjoy rummaging among the dead leaves.
We saw these mule deer grazing next to one of the Central Trails.
This is a western scrub jay, distinguished by the brown feathers on the back of his “neck”.
We look forward to many more visits to the park. It’s a must-see for any visitors to Colorado Springs, between the history of the park, the geology and the wildlife, you can’t miss this!
P.S.: My fingers kept wanting to type “Garden of the Dogs”…it turns out there’s a dog park that bears this name on Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs.
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