Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods Entrance

Garden of the Gods is one of those places in Colorado that I have taken for granted over the years. Growing up I (well at the time my parents) drove through Garden of the Gods more times than I can count. I even attended my first year of college at UCCS, mere miles from the park entrance. Across from the main entrance is a visitor center where there is a cafe, you can watch a historical movie about the are and tours.

Throughout the park there are various parking areas with accessibility to different hiking trails. The park is also popular for biking and rock climbing. The hiking trails are family friendly and some are even handicap accessible. Garden of the Gods is a wonderful place to explore a little while in the area.

 
The history of Garden of the Gods as quoted from www.gardenofgods.com:

Park History
By the 1870's, the railroads had forged their way west. In 1871, General William Jackson Palmer founded Colorado Springs while extending the lines of his Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. In 1879, General Palmer repeatedly urged his friend, Charles Elliott Perkins, the head of the Burlington Railroad, to establish a home in the Garden of the Gods and to build his railroad from Chicago to Colorado Springs. Although the Burlington never reached Colorado Springs directly, Perkins did purchase two-hundred and forty acres in the Garden of the Gods for a summer home in 1879. He later added to the property but never built on it, preferring to leave his wonderland in its natural state for the enjoyment of the public. Perkins died in 1907 before he made arrangements for the land to become a public park, although it had been open to the public for years. In 1909, Perkins' children, knowing their father's feeling for the Garden of the Gods, conveyed his four-hundred eighty acres to the City of Colorado Springs. It would be known forever as the Garden of the Gods "where it shall remain free to the public, where no intoxicating liquors shall be manufactured, sold, or dispensed, where no building or structure shall be erected except those necessary to properly care for, protect, and maintain the area as a public park."
How we got our name
It was August of 1859 when two surveyors started out from Denver City to begin a townsite, soon to be called Colorado City. While exploring nearby locations, they came upon a beautiful area of sandstone formations. M. S. Beach, who related this incident, suggested that it would be a "capital place for a beer garden" when the country grew up. His companion, Rufus Cable, a "young and poetic man", exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods." It has been so called ever since.

Garden of the Gods is one of those places that reminds me to 'stop and smell the roses'. I have always appreciated the beauty of Colorado, but this reminds me how amazing things in this state are, even the places I've seen and taken for granted over the years.