Garden of the Gods with Friends

In my last blog post--click here--I showed a few local places along the Colorado Front Range where we took close friends that were visiting from the east and staying with us for days before a ski trip.  On another day my husband and I decided to take them to Colorado Springs to see another one of our favorite places, the Garden of the Gods Park. (See some more extensive prior posts about the park here and here.)   When we approached the north entrance of the park it was unfortunately closed as road and sewer construction was going on, so we had to skip the visitor center in that area and enter the park through the southern entrance. There we almost immediately saw one of the most popular attractions: Balanced Rock.  We parked in a nearby lot so we could take photos of the rock and our friends had fun posing with it, as you can see.

Balanced Rock is at 6,286 feet (1915.9 M) elevation in the park. Doesn't it look like it could topple over at any minute?  

We drove on to see more...

The Garden of the Gods Park is a registered National Natural Landmark. It is full of towering sandstone rock formations against a backdrop of snow-capped Pikes Peak and brilliant blue skies. It contains 21 miles of trails and is popular for hiking, technical rock climbing, road and mountain biking, and horseback riding. It attracts more than two million visitors a year, making it the city's most visited park.  

Although we did stop to walk a few short trails we mainly drove around the park on this visit it was late afternoon when we arrived and winter daylight would not be lasting much longer.

The waning sunlight made the formations glow.

That is what we love about the park as each season and time of day can bring different views and effects.

One happy surprise is seeing a herd of wild Bighorn Sheep eating in one of the fields in the park!

We spent quite a bit of time taking photos of them.  Although their numbers are growing, and they are the official mammal of the state of Colorado, seeing them in person is a rarity, as they usually habitat in the wilderness at high elevations.

A view of some of the trails inside the park.

A view looking at Juniper Way Loop, looking South.

The rock formations are breathtaking...

...and so colorful!

It was a wonderful drive

More of the beautiful giant red rocks structures including a view of snow-capped Pikes Peak --America's Mountain--in the upper right of the photo collage above.  Pikes Peak is a 14,115-foot (4,302.31 m) high mountain located in Pike National Forest.  My husband and I have driven to the top of the mountain many times and took the Cog Railroad to the top once.  There have been many renovations happening on the mountain with a new visitors center and new cog railroad track and cars--click here-- to see a visit we made with friends to see those renovations in progress last summer.  The famous "Kissing Camels" formation is seen in the lower right photo in the collage above.

Before we left the Colorado Springs area we took a drive to historic Manitou Springs, located at the foot of Pike's Peak. Please click on the photo collage above to enlarge it for easier viewing.

Please click on the photo to enlarge it to read the information on the placard.

There are eight naturally-carbonated mineral springs in Manitou Springs. Deep underground beneath the town is a system of cavernous aquifers whose healing waters have drawn people to the town for centuries. Our friends sampled the water at one of the springs.  My husband and I sampled the mineral water at each of the fountains in Manitous Springs one summer, and you can see more about them and the town in this post.

Another wildlife sighting and traffic jam made us laugh as we left Manitou Springs!  A flock of Wild Turkeys was crossing the road!

They seemed to enjoy peeking at the rocks of a Sinclair Gasoline Station and the green brontosaurus sculpture did not scare them a bit!

The light was fading as we drove home...

...and we were fortunate to see a gorgeous golden sunset light up the entire Colorado Front Range!

Our friends left the next day to go skiing in Steamboat Springs, where they had a wonderful time. We hope they will return in the future for another visit with us and another ski adventure. It was so much fun to share some of our favorite places with them and we will have even more show them next time

In the meantime, you can also find me on

Instagram Twitter Facebook 

Pinterest

I'm linking this post to some of the following blog events:

 Mosaic Monday, Blue Monday, Through My Lens Monday, Hearth, and Soul Link Party, You Are the Star Blog Hop, Inspire Me Monday, Home Matters Linky Party,  Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Travel Photos, Travel Tuesday, Happiness Is Homemade, Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures, Tuesdays With A Twist, Wordless Wednesday on a Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Wednesday My Corner of the World, Wonderful Wednesday, Signs2,  Little Things Thursday, Thankful Thursday,  Thursday Encouraging Hearts and Home,  Thursday Thinking Out Loud, Thursday Favorite Things, Friendship Fridays, A Morning Cup of Joe, Friday Features Linky Party, Skywatch Friday, Weekend Roundup,  Pink Saturday, Saturday Sparks, Saturday Critters, Sunday on Silverado