Colorado Springs: Walking Through the Garden of the Gods

I was originally attracted to Colorado Springs by its airfares: far less than what the carriers were demanding for flights from the Midwest to Denver. They made ‘The Springs’ a great alternative for persons visiting southeastern Colorado, which I had occasion to do four years ago.

The biggest shock of my return from that 4-year absence was ... SPRAWL. On my 1997 visit, an inexpensive bus from the airport brought me quickly into a downtown notable for wide, pedestrian-friendly streets. My October, 2001 highway trip from Denver went past miles of malls and business parks, six-or-eight-lane trafficways, and subdivisions isolated behind high stone sound-barrier fences. The city currently holds some 360,000 people.

Fortunately, the relatively compact central business district turned out to be the lower-key place I’d remembered; the streets, in fact, had been enhanced with center islands and scores of sculptures created by local artists. And, the place still abounded with inexpensive, yet quality, lodgings and restaurants.

The real attraction of Colorado Springs is what you can see by using this city as the base for a tour. This journal will introduce you to some of the attractions; the writer’s earlier report from nearby Manitou Springs describes more.

Quick Tips:

Here’s what I found after returning to Colorado Springs in October, 2001, four years after an earlier visit ...

There were some modern new buildings --- especially on the west end where the City and County government complexes are located --- and the venerable Antlers Hotel had been thoroughly refurbished, expanded, and turned into an Adams Mark. The old Union Train Station, then and now a restaurant, was as attractive and popular as ever. The fine, turn-of-the-century homes along Colorado Avenue, toward Old Colorado City, were something I’d failed to discover on my first visit and were well worth seeing. So was the Old City itself, extending along Colorado Ave. between 24th and 27th Streets. See jemery's Manitou Springs journal for a photo tour.

The Pike’s Peak Cog Railway --- another ‘must-see’ --- is also described in that earlier journal.

Colorado Avenue between Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs was lined with inexpensive motels and bed-and-breakfasts. One I found especially appealing, the Garden of the Gods Motel, is also reviewed in my Manitou Springs journal. The Historic District of Pueblo, Colorado, 42 miles to the south of Colorado Springs, is also worth a visit.

Best Way To Get Around:

Surprisingly, there’s no public transportation service to the U.S. Air Force Academy, whose chapel is a widely-photographed travel attraction. Nor, now, is there any city bus service to the airport or the Garden of the Gods.

All the city’s bus services begin and end at a transportation center at Nevada and Kiowa Streets, downtown. Buses generally run once every half-hour, but service to outlying areas, including Manitou Springs and the Pike’s Peak region are only hourly. There’s no Sunday service and you can’t get downtown from Manitou Springs after 6:09 p.m. Saturday.

TNM&O Trailways runs six buses daily between Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

The ‘Mason Jar’, a little less than three miles northwest of downtown Colorado Springs, calls itself a ‘family restaurant’. At least half the tables were, in fact, occupied by families with children when I visited there at 7:30 one Wednesday evening. And, it was FULL: The waiting line in the lobby was at least 10 people long.

Fortunately, people with kids don’t generally linger at the table over drinks; I was escorted inside after just seven or eight minutes. Well before that, a hostess had fetched me a pre-dinner cocktail as I sat waiting in the anteroom.

The drink --- a properly-made Manhattan --- revealed the origin of the restaurant’s name: It was served in an apparently-genuine, two-thirds-cup Mason Jar like the one my mother used to ‘can’ jams and jellies during World War II. When I ordered a ‘half carafe’ of wine, it came in a 450-milliliter Ball Corp. jar like the ones she used for fruits and vegetables.

The menu included the usual stuff you’d expect of a Western family-style restaurant: fried chicken, chicken-fried steak, many beef, barbecue and other meat-and-potato dishes, plus burgers and other kid-friendly selections. Surprisingly, there was also some good, low-fat seafood in addition to the typical fried shrimp. My first night, I had a generous serving of fork-tender ‘Boston bluefish’ with a nice accompaniment of potato and carrots. On a return visit, there was a surprisingly good dinner of grilled trout --- normally something attempted only by more upscale restaurants.

On my first visit --- the 7:30 arrival --- service was somewhat chaotic at first but, as the crowds began dispersing, became more diner-friendly. My server was a cordial, capable young man and, though obviously overextend early on, was, by the end of the evening, as attentive as anyone could have asked. On my second evening, when I arrived shortly before 5 p.m., things were much more relaxed with service prompt and capable. However, by the time I was ready to leave shortly before seven, the place was becoming hectic again.

If you prefer quiet dining, it’s best to come here early. But for someone accustomed to Chicago restaurant prices, the tabs at the Mason Jar were a revelation: Dinner, three pre-dinner cocktails and wine during dinner plus, on my final night in Colorado Springs, a brandy, never more than $32 before taxes and tip.

Geologists say The Garden of the Gods is at least 350 million years old --- the time it took subterranean forces to create the Ancestral Rockies, for erosion to wear them away, for an inland sea to flood the remains, and for new tectonic collisions to build the present-day Rockies. The combined result of mountain-building, erosion and sedimentation created the fairy-castle red sandstone pillars now strewn throughout this 1,370-acre park.

They have such delightfully descriptive names as ‘Tower of Babel’, ‘Cathedral of Spires’, ‘Keyhole Window’, ‘Steamboat Rock’, and ‘Giant Footprints’. A map identifying 19 of these formations, and showing which trails run past them, is available at the Visitor Center. This is a convenient first stop if you're entering the park on foot or bicycle from Colorado Springs. If you're hiking in from Manitoba Springs, though, you'll have to walk through most of the park to reach it.

Surprisingly, Garden of the Gods is a CITY park; not National, not State or County. The family of the late Charles Elliot Perkins, reputedly ‘a railroad magnate’, gave the initial 480 acres to the City of Colorado Springs in 1909 on the condition that it ‘always remain free.’ Administered by the City Parks and Recreation Department, it remains free today. Despite having no admission revenue --- and having to accommodate some two million visitors a year --- the City has been able to triple the park’s area over the years.

The easiest way to see the park is in your own car, stopping at various parking places for closer, on-foot views. There are many trails, ranging from an easy, wheelchair accessible quarter-mile route to some half-mile and mile-long ones described as ‘easy’ to ‘moderate’ and one 2-1/2 mile route for serious walkers. There are some pedestrian-only paths, some allowing both hiking and biking, and some dedicated mountain-biking trails. There are also some equestrian trails, with rent-a-horse stables nearby.

Garden of the Gods is about four miles northwest of downtown Colorado Springs via Colorado Ave. and 30th St. The closest city bus stop (fare $1.25 adult, $0.60 senior) is on route 11-B at 30th and Fontmore, leaving about a mile and a half walk to the Visitor Center and another 3/4 mile into the center of the park itself. Bus service here is just once per hour; there’s half-hourly service to 30th and Colorado Ave., another half-mile or so further away. Hikers from Manitou Springs can enter the park from the intersection of El Paso Blvd. and Garden Drive, a much-more daunting hike of at least 3-1/2 miles. A better bet would be to take the hourly 11-A bus and walk in from Colorado Ave. via Ridge Rd. Bus service to the Garden of the Gods entrance was available in summer, 1997 but not in October 2001.

On the other hand, there are some new trails and a delightful new movie, ‘How Did Those Red Rocks Get There, Anyway?’. It costs $2, takes about 13 minutes, and I highly recommend it.

It’s 1,053 feet down from the upper rim to the river at its bottom. Getting across it requires the world’s highest suspension bridge --- yet it’s so steep and narrow that one can walk across in just five or ten minutes. Its red granite walls and the fast water roaring between them make it one of North America’s most spectacular sights. And engineers somehow managed to build a railroad through it!

Welcome to the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River.

Twelve miles west of Canon City, Colorado, and an hour’s drive from Colorado Springs, the gorge is a spectacle to be seen twice: once from the bottom and again from the graceful ‘Hanging Bridge’ above it. (The park that controls entry to the bridge also operates an inclined railway to the canyon floor, but seeing the gorge only from the small clearing at the lower terminal can’t compare to actually taking a train through it.)

This is an experience that needs to be described through pictures, not words. Suffice it to say that, when the legendary Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad carried passengers over the line, they named their train ‘The Scenic Limited’.

As passenger railroading lost its luster, and larger, stronger competitors swallowed up the Rio Grande, the Royal Gorge Route gradually lost its economic value. Not long after the special convention train pictured below ran, the then-current owners applied to abandon service and tear up the track. Fortunately, the State of Colorado bought the most scenic portion, and, with the help of the Canon City business community, brought the trains back in 1999. In summer 2001, there were three trains daily departing Canon City for the two-hour round trip through the gorge. For winter, mild in Canon City, there are to be one noontime departure every Saturday and Sunday.

Train fares are currently $26.95 adult, $16.50 for children aged 3-12. If you’re a serious train fan or photographer, you can ride in the locomotive cab for $95. (The company’s website says this option sells out rapidly.) For more, go to www.royalgorgeroute.com.

The park at the top of the gorge, of which the suspension bridge is a part, requires an admission of $16 adult, $13 per child older than four. This includes unlimited use of the bridge and buses across it, the inclined railway to the bottom of the gorge, the aerial tramway, a miniature train, and several other attractions. Warning: during my 1997 visit here, on a group tour, the lines at the inclined-railway station were too long for me to ride during the hour or so allotted for our stay. This is a popular place in summertime! Find current information at www.royalgorgebridge.com.

I wasn’t able to return to the Royal Gorge during my 2001 Colorado trip, but I’ve ridden trains through it twice and spent an hour or more photographing it from the top on earlier visits. I’ve GOTTA believe it’s still as magnificent now as it was then.

Pueblo officials say their city, 42 miles south of Colorado Springs, has more buildings on the National Register of Historic Places than any Colorado city other than Denver. If your itinerary takes you anywhere near there, consider spending an hour strolling through Pueblo’s Union Avenue Historic District and Riverwalk.

The Riverwalk was the original channel of the Arkansas River, until massive flooding diverted its course into a new channel south of downtown. A local historian told me that what’s now the Riverwalk was once the international boundary between the U.S. and Mexico; the six flags decorating the Main St. Bridge represent the various countries that governed the city over the years.

The former Union Station, at the south end of the Historic District, has been nicely restored and is now a banquet facility and office center.

Pueblo also has its modern side, including a 12,000-square foot, $3 million children’s museum, opened in summer 2000, and an adjoining conference center. The city of 104,000 has several museums and other cultural centers.

I didn't feel Pueblo's Historic District was unique enough to justify a special trip from Colorado Springs, but having been in the vicinity already, it would have been a shame to have missed seeing it.