Garden of the Gods & Pikes Peak

Garden of the Gods was our multi-day stopping point on our way home from our October 2020 journey; it was also the first place we went on our honeymoon, and this was the first time we returned since then. Once, freshly married, well rested, and otherwise bright-eyed and bushy-tailed; the second time older, wiser, and with more children and much less sleep. 

I liked it better the second time.

The first time, we did what I think most people do--drive in, do the visitor's center, walk the paved paths and see the cool rocks. If that's all you do, it's still otherwordly and interesting. You see amazing things and learn cool history, and it's all very accessible--it's a great place no matter how you tackle it. 

The second time, though--this second time was something more for me. There's a decent amount of easy to moderate hiking all through Garden of the Gods, and since we just came off much higher elevations, it was all cinch. Our hiking was extremely facilitated by the fact we stayed at a VRBO that was literally on the park boundary, so we just hiked in all the days we were there. 

Both times we've been, we've also done Pikes Peak. We've only done the drive up, hang out, drive down thing, with some stops and tiny hikes at a few places. 

Stay

We loved our VRBO house this time around. We stayed in a house right by the Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site, and we hiked in through there.

Hiking

There are 21 miles of hiking in Garden of the Gods, and we often combined trails at intersection points.

South Garden Parking Lot--we did the Ute Trail, Niobrara Trail, Ridge Loop, and Old Colorado City from this parking lot / trailhead. We rarely were around people, and it was easy hiking with fantastic views. Some times you are meandering through a grassy plain area, looking at the wild rock formations, and then suddenly you are IN the rock formations. It was the best of both words, and these were the trails we actually most often took from the backside, hiking in from our rental.

From the Trading Post area: We did a slightly shortened version of The Scotsman Trail, which gives you some big highlights of this side of the park (Balanced Rock, Siamese Twins, The Scotsman, and a bit beyond before looping back.

Accessible Trails: These are paved and real stunners. We treated them more like easy strolls and exploring, and we got to see a bunch of rock climbers, which really set the kids' imaginations on fire. Get here from the main parking lots. 

Hikes for the future at Garden of the Gods:

1. Buckskin Charlie Loop
2. Full Scotsman Loop
3. Full Cabin Canyon and Central Garden Trail Loop (about 4 miles total)
4. Complete Outer Loop of the Park
5. Bretag Trail combined with Palmer Trail

Eats

Basically all our meals on this trip were at home, with the notable exception of ice cream at the Colorado City Creamery and high elevation doughnuts at the top of Pike's Peak. The last time we were here, we stayed at a B&B and snagged take out, so I am afraid I am of no help on this point. Other than the ice cream. Ice cream is always a good choice. 

To Do List for the Future

I am absolutely, 10000% going to sign up for rock climbing lessons and sessions next time we are there. You'll find that's probably a theme for me--it's something I really want to try generally--but it's even more true here. There were people! Climbing up these gorgeous red rocks! Standing on the peaks of rock fins! It was so cool.

If it had been running, we would have done the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, but alas, the entire peak was under construction while we were there, and it was honestly all a mess. I was glad we had memories from our honeymoon of how outstanding it can be, because otherwise, it was disappointing. We would have loved to get our train-obsessed little one on the railway, so that's on the list for next time. 

Speaking of Pikes Peak, that's one I would like to do again, for the third time in my life, but I want o hike parts. I would love to take a shortened summit route, or even just point-to-point hike part of the trail with a vehicle pick up. I'd also like to spend more time hiking the trails at the lower elevations and points of interests.