The Mother of All Municipal Parks
Is in Colorado Springs
Several years ago, we stayed a few nights in Colorado Springs to visit Garden of the Gods. We’d heard quite a bit about it. The park is well-known for its expansive views and towering fins of red rock, all within sight of 14,000-foot Pikes Peak. We figured it was time to check it out.
As is our way, we arrived in the wee hours of the morning. We were very surprised to find no gated entrance nor any mention of an entry fee. But we did easily find a few things: well-maintained parking areas, restrooms, and a network of paved trails. And we also quickly found out why this beautiful patch of Earth is so highly regarded.
One’s first easy steps along the paved Perkins Central Garden Trail circumnavigate a spine of dark-red sandstone monoliths. Millenia of erosion and glaciation give the mammoth rocks unique personalities, and each today is known by distinctive names like “Three Graces”, “Babel Rock”, and “North Gateway”. Gathered close like old, weathered friends, they straddle the colorful Colorado plains to the east and picturesque, snow-capped mountains to the west.
The park invites hikers to explore 21 miles of trail across nearly 1,400 acres. Rock climbers come to scramble low on boulders and try their hand at more challenging technical ascents. Birders and photographers take advantage of the elevation to catch glimpses of robins, mountain chickadees, spotted towhees, and scrub jays, all while swarms of white-throated swifts take wing overhead.
Its little wonder that literally millions of visitors flock here every year. Garden of the Gods provides scenery, wildlife, and recreational opportunities on par with many national parks. So imagine my surprise when I first realized Garden of the Gods is actually owned and operated by the City of Colorado Springs. That’s right, it’s a municipal park.
As a kid in Miami, I spent a lot of time enjoying my local parks. Most were open patches of turf roughly the size of a postage stamp overrun with large, aggressive lizards. Most had asphalt trails in such disrepair they were really better for breaking a hip than taking a walk. Most were equipped with tetanus transmission devices creatively disguised as playground equipment. And at the park directly across from my catholic elementary school, you could get in a little climbing by scrambling over a giant, concrete naked lady. If that sounds odd to you, well…welcome to Florida.
So I was pretty ill-prepared to sort Garden of the Gods into the same bucket as the St. Augustine-grass-and-green-water-canal parks of my youth. And yet—administratively—that’s exactly what it is. The one-time owners of the property donated the land to the City of Colorado Springs in 1909 under the stipulation that it remain a free public park. And to its credit, the City and taxpayers have kept their pledge to provide a service befitting the National Park Service for all to enjoy. And incidentally, the National Park Service agrees: the agency designated the park a National Natural Landmark in 1971.
And if all this weren’t enough to make every other municipality in America insanely jealous, remember this: red rock formations don’t simply end at the borders of Garden of the Gods. The City of Colorado Springs also administers Red Rock Canyon Open Space, just across the nearby highway. That area—though far less visited—is equally stunning, equally scenic, and equally free.
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