Chapter 26: Garden of the Gods & Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs, Colorado

We stayed at Foot of the Rockies RV Resort in Colorado Springs for two days. This was not really a ‘resort’ at all. There were no restrooms or showers available, let alone anything else that would qualify it as a resort, but we did get a full hookup site so I can’t complain too much. Our site sat high on a hill overlooking the city of Colorado Springs. It was a huge site, but it was not level. We chose this location because of its proximity to the Garden of the Gods, only three and a half miles away and one of the main reasons for visiting this area.

We took the first day to rest and relax and get caught up on grocery shopping and chores. We found a nice area (Bear Creek East) to do an early morning hike with the dogs that was only a mile and a half from where we were staying. It was a hilly area that had a nice little creek we crossed over back and forth a number of times. Lots of wildflowers, blooming cactus and Gamble Oaks (a low growing shrub oak). This location offered quite a bit of climbing, and since we were already at 6,000 feet elevation, made it a bit challenging for us since we’re not used to the thin air. We hiked just over four miles there.

Dave at Garden of the Gods

The next day we got up early and headed to Garden of the Gods in hopes of getting some hiking in before it got too hot (it was expected to be 80 degrees by 9 a.m.) and we were afraid shade would be limited in that location. Our plan was to hike in the morning then drive to the top of Pikes Peak after that. There’s a controlled entry system in place for driving to the summit of Pikes Peak as it’s a very popular area, so you need a reservation. It also costs $18 per adult (not carload) to enter the area. We chose the 12-2 p.m. timeslot to allow us enough time to hike at Garden of the Gods without feeling pressured.

Central Garden Trail Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods is one of the most unique places I’ve been to. It’s a National Natural Landmark and at the same time, a city park. I’ve never seen a city park like this! Massive rocks rising up like pillars from the surrounding landscape. Most of the rock formations were red toned, but there were also gold and white colored rocks in the mix. It was absolutely breathtaking to stand in the shadow of these prehistoric giants. Deer, a variety of birds, rabbits and other small critters were in abundance in the park.

There are a series of parking lots throughout the park along a single lane road. We entered near balance rock on the opposite end from the visitor’s center. Balance rock is an absolutely amazing formation that features a huge rock seemingly balancing on the edge of another rock. Crazy! We drove about halfway through the park and stopped at parking lot #10 for no particular reason. We accessed the Ute trail from this parking lot, a fairly wide crushed-rock trail through tall prairie grass with lovely views of the towering rocks in the distance. We went on a series of connecting trails, with only a general idea of the direction we wanted to head, and ended up in the central garden area.

Rocks at Garden of the Gods

This is where several of the rock formations, all with their own unique names depending on their shapes, were located. The central garden trail was a paved section and it was by far the most populated section we encountered, and for good reason. The rock formations here were amazing! This is also a popular climbing spot for technical climbers with permits, and we viewed several of these dare devils high up on the rocks as we went by. Most of the unpaved trails are also open to horses and we, unfortunately, encountered several groups as we made our way through these areas. There is a big commercial stable nearby that offers guided horseback tours through the park. I say ‘unfortunately’ because having the puppies on trails filled with fresh horse poop is extremely challenging (they want to eat the stuff), not to mention the up close and personal encounters with the horses themselves. Once, when we’d pulled over for a large group to pass, a horse came nose to nose with Kenai! It was getting quite warm by 10:30 a.m. when we got back to the truck.

Pikes Peak is located in the Rocky Mountains, and is a 19 mile drive along a narrow twisting road up to the summit. As I stated earlier, you can’t simply drive to the top of the mountain without a reservation. This is one of the most famous mountain peaks in the United States and the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, at over 14,000 feet in elevation. A fun fact—its summit inspired the song America the Beautiful. Also, a popular road race called the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, attracts racers from all over the world every year.

We arrived at the entrance gate area around 11:30 a.m. and felt a little nervous that they wouldn’t let us in if we got to the gate before noon, which was the earliest we were allowed entry according to our tickets. There was already a long line ahead of us as well as one forming behind us and we didn’t want to have to go to the end of the line if they said we were too early! The line ahead of us split into three lanes as we got closer to the entrance and none of them were moving very quickly. As it turned out we had no need to worry because by the time we got up to the gate it was 11:56 a.m. which, thankfully, was close enough.

Now, I was somewhat nervous about driving up a mountain that peaked at 14,115 feet because I have this pesky fear of heights, but I told myself that it couldn’t be that bad. After all, lots of people do it and there’s a paved two lane road all the way up. It’s not like I would be hanging off the edge of a cliff! How bad could it be? Well, let me tell you—it was terrifying! The road was narrow and so curvy, completely turning back on itself on some of the curves. And for most of the way up there weren’t any guardrails!  It wasn’t too bad as long as we were in the trees, but once we left the tree line, well, let’s just say I kept a white-knuckled death grip on the door handle! I had to peal my fingers off of it once we were finally at the top. There were places going up where we couldn’t even see the road over the horizon—it literally looked like we were going to drive off the road into nothing but sky! And on these hairpin curves with sheer drop offs mere feet from our truck’s tires, the big blue sky spread out in front of us, and NO guardrails…did I mention that? I just about lost it!

At one point we came to a wide parking area where people could catch the shuttle to go the rest of the way to the top and Dave asked me if I wanted to turn around and go back. The road was making him nervous as well and he’s not even afraid of heights! I stubbornly refused. We only had two more miles to get to the top and we’d come this far. We had to go the whole way, otherwise it would feel like a gigantic fail! So I took a deep breath (which wasn’t very deep as I could hardly breathe at that altitude), renewed my grip on the door handle, and we resumed our climb.

There’s a visitor’s center at the summit, complete with a restaurant and gift shop. When we finally made it, my legs felt like rubber as I climbed out of the truck and I almost tumbled out onto the ground. It was quite cool up there. The wind was blowing which added an extra chill to the air. There was a lot of deep snow piled up all around the edges of the parking lot that had been plowed off to the side, but parking area and walkways were clear. Dave and I walked to the visitor center and marveled at how difficult it was to breathe. I also started getting a headache and generally didn’t feel great. We didn’t take as much time as we’d have liked because of this, so after looking around in the gift shop, buying our Pikes Peak stickers (we’ve been collecting them along the way), and taking some pictures, we got in the truck and headed back down the mountain. I dreaded going back down after the experience of driving up, but obviously, I couldn’t just stay there. Since I didn’t want the spectacle and expense of being air-lifted off the mountain, I took as deep a breath as I could manage and climbed back in the truck.

The drive back down the mountain wasn’t nearly as scary as going up. Maybe because we could actually see the road from this angle, and maybe because we’d just done it and knew what to expect, I’m not entirely sure, but I was relieved just the same! We stopped at a gift shop at about 9,000 feet elevation to see if they had anything different from the visitor’s center at the summit and stretch our legs. Dave found a small sticker for his coffee mug (they didn’t have small ones up top). We did a little walk with the dogs near a small reservoir, then went the rest of the way down. We felt so accomplished having made it the whole way up and back. Won’t ever do it again, but, now that I’m off the mountain I will admit it was pretty epic! We’re glad we did it, so glad we didn’t give up, and so glad we aren’t going to do it again!