Garden of the Gods

The land that became Garden of the Gods was bought in the 1870s by Charles Elliott Perkins, a railroad executive who never built on it, wanting instead to keep it wild and open. He intended to give it to the city as a park but died before doing so, and in 1909 his children fulfilled his wishes, deeding the land to Colorado Springs with the condition that it remain free to the public for all time and forever be known as the Garden of the Gods.

That condition has held for well over a century, which is why the park charges no admission and never will. The name itself dates to 1859, when two surveyors laying out a townsite came upon the rocks. One suggested it would make a fine beer garden, and the other replied that it was a place fit for the gods to assemble, and the grander name stuck.

The dramatic red rocks are made of sandstone laid down flat, hundreds of millions of years ago, as sand on ancient shorelines and dunes. What makes them so arresting is that they no longer lie flat. When the modern Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak pushed up along the Front Range tens of millions of years ago, the immense force tilted these once-horizontal layers until they stood nearly vertical, like pages of a book stood on their spines.

Erosion did the rest, wearing away the softer surrounding rock and sculpting the hard, upended layers into the fins, balanced rocks, and spires visitors see today. The deep red color comes from iron in the sandstone, oxidized like rust, and the contrast of that red rock against a blue sky and the white of Pikes Peak's snow is what makes the park so unforgettable.

Long before it was a park, this ground was known and used by Native peoples for thousands of years. The Ute people in particular have deep ties to the Pikes Peak region, wintering and gathering in these sheltered foothills, and other Plains peoples, including the Cheyenne and Arapaho, moved through the country as well. The Ute, whose homeland this is, still hold ties to the region today, and the park works to honor that history.

The rocks drew visitors from the earliest days of Colorado Springs, becoming a destination almost as soon as the town was founded. Today a visitor center on the edge of the park interprets its geology, its wildlife, and its human story, and the paved central trails make the most spectacular formations accessible to nearly everyone, from small children to those who cannot walk far.

The park is laced with trails for every ability, from the flat, paved central loop among the giants to longer dirt paths that climb into quieter corners with wider views. The towering walls also make Garden of the Gods a well-known rock-climbing destination, and watching climbers inch up the sheer red faces is part of the experience, though climbing itself requires a free permit and real skill.

The park sits at the doorstep of the greater Pikes Peak region. Just beyond lies Manitou Springs, a historic resort town of mineral springs and arcades, and Pikes Peak itself, one of Colorado's most famous mountains, reachable by cog railway or highway. Garden of the Gods makes a natural centerpiece for exploring the whole area west of Colorado Springs.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.