Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak, the highest summit of Colorado’s southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, is a stunning backdrop for the rock formations in the “Garden of the Gods”, as seen from the Garden of the Gods Club & Resort, Colorado Springs.
It’s impossible not to look to the sky in Central-Eastern Colorado: mountains, cliffs, and ancient stone monoliths launch up into a limitless expanse of blue – broken only by the vapour trails of airforce training jets thundering through.
It seems apt that the area is home to the “Garden of the Gods”: magnificent natural rock formations, set against the backdrop of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and under that ridiculously blue sky.
Fine sand from primordial beaches, coarse sand, gravel, silica, and hematite, compressed by the ages into ancient sedimentary beds of red, pink, grey and white sandstones, conglomerates, and limestone, were lifted up and tilted during the same geological upheaval – millions of years ago – that raised the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak. Subsequent ages of erosion and glaciation worked their magic, carving out the amazing formations we see today.
Named “Garden of the Gods” in 1859 by Rufus Cable, a young surveyor, the lands were gifted to the City of Colorado Springs upon the death of their owner Charles Elliott Perkins in 1909. Today, the park is open to the public daily, free of charge.
We were staying nearby, and managed a couple of visits to the extraordinary Gardens – as well as to the simulated Anasazi Cliff Dwellings at Manitou Springs, and Colorado Springs’ United States Air Force Academy.
Impossible Colours
Blue-green semi-desert shrublands, dramatic grey and red Lyons sandstone rock formations, a snow-capped Pikes Peak, and a cloudless blue Colorado sky…
Garden of the Gods Club and Resort
… combine to make for an arresting view.
Kissing Camels and White Rock – Garden of the Gods
The colours of the white and red Lyons sandstone formations are even more dramatic close up.
Garden of the Gods
The jagged red rocks rise up out of the landscape.
North Gateway Rock
Hiking trails – including those accessible to wheelchairs – wind around the 1,364 acres of public parklands.
Scotsman
The rocks in the Garden of the Gods have imaginative names – some dating back to the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1858.
Balanced Rock and Steamboat Rock
Garden Drive is one of the paved roads winding through the Gardens…
Balanced Rock
… giving close access to several distinctive rock features.
Kindergarten Rock
The longest continuous expanses of exposed rock in Garden of the Gods is the pink-grey sandstone of Kindergarten Rock.
North Gateway Rock
Gateway Trail leads past the limestone monoliths into the gardens.
Climbers
Almost invisible against the rock face, climbers make their way up to the peak.
On the Rock Face
Climbers need to be licensed, ascend with a buddy, stay on established routes, and use proper equipment.
Sentinel Rock
Visitors sit and chat along the Central Gardens Trail.
Central Gardens Trail
Sharp spires are all around the shadowed central gardens.
Garden of the Gods
Awe Inspiring
Kissing Camels
The Kissing Camels are a prominent feature on top of the North Gateway Rock formation.
Woman at the Springs
The Cheyenne, Mountain Ute and Arapaho people who settled in the region at the base of Pike’s Peak considered Manitou Springs sacred. They thought that the bubbles in the effervescent artesian springs all around the area were from the breath of the Great Spirit “Manitou.”
The Manitou Cliff Dwellings
The Ancient Ones (Anasazi) left cliff dwellings – like these reconstructed ones – abandoned all across Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. Our visit to this small museum prompted our later visit to Bandelier National Monument further south in New Mexico.
T-38 Talon Thunderbird
A jet trainer sits outside the United States Air Force Academy with the ubiquitous Pikes Peak in the background.
The United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel
The unique architecture of the Cadet Chapel is the first thing visitors to the Academy see.
Fly Boy and Girl in the Terrazzo
Cadet dormitories stretch around the Terrazzo at the Air Force Academy…
Cadets and an F-15 Eagle
Static aircraft sit in the Academy quadrangle.
Inside ~ Looking Out
The Chapel overlooks the greens and the dormitories.
Inside the Chapel
It is cool and dark inside the chapel, where the windows vault into the sky.
Cadet Chapel
The glass in the lower level of the multi-faith chapel is stained in warm colours.
That fresh air, wide open sky, and magnificent scenery – natural and man-made – certainly inspires one to look up and give thanks.
Happy Travels!
Pictures: 16-17May2013
