Garden of the Gods, Colorado Spring, CO

February 19

After looking for things to do in and around Canon City, I discovered that Garden of the Gods was in Colorado Springs which is only an hour away from Canon City. We added it our to-do list and I did my requisite deep dive to discover as much as I could about it.

Heading Out

I had done research and found a handful of trails I wanted to try. I added them to a small list on AllTrails and made sure I got them downloaded, in the event we lost our cell signals.

Monday morning, I headed out to Big O tires to get a slow leak fixed up before we made our way through the awful construction traffic on 115 to Colorado Springs. We found ourselves at the Garden of the Gods Visitor’s Center and met Christy and Jess, a coworker of Christy’s, former coworker of Brandy’s. We went into the visitor’s center, Ash in tow, and picked up our requisite souvenirs.

The gift shop was in the upper level of the Visitor’s Center. Ash was allowed in any uncarpeted area of the center and since the gift shop was carpeted, Brandy and I took turns shopping for our souvenirs. While Brandy was taking her turn, I went out to a balcony that overlooked the parking lot where we’d parked. Across the parking lot, then the road, the reddish-gold rock formations jutted from the terrain in an awe-inspiring scene. Between two of the formations, Pike’s Peak, covered in blazing white snow, stood proud.

When Brandy finished her shopping, I went in and found a baseball (yay!) and a sticker for my growing cup-sticker collection. I also found a pressed penny machine where you could pay a dollar for one design, or five dollars for all eight of the designs offered by the machine. Apparently, the machine keeps nice, shiny pennies stocked in the machine, and if choosing the five dollars for eight designs option, you could pay with a debit card, which is exactly what I did.

With souvenirs safely tucked away, we went back to our cars and headed into the park’s first parking lot where Brandy and I were lucky enough to snag a spot in the packed lot almost immediately. Christy and Jess, however, weren’t so lucky. They circled the lot for 20 minutes until a spot opened up and they were able to park.

Another Holiday Weekend Bust

The four of us, with Ash, headed in to the park and I was dismayed at the crowds. There were SO many people there. I suppose we hadn’t learned our lesson from our holiday weekend trip to Cripple Creek, Estes Park, Leadville, etc, or our holiday weekend trip to Grand Teton National Park. No, we insisted on trying to visit Garden of the Gods on Presidents’ Day and true to form, it was packed.

Not only were there a ton of people there, there were also a ton of dogs. Having Ash with us with all those dogs there did not make for a joyous experience. Christy, Jess and Brandy basically sprinted through the park leaving me few opportunities to stop for pictures. Then, once I’d decided I was going to go at my own pace and stop to take pictures if I wanted to, the decision was made that we were done with this part of the park and we should move on.

I hardly got any pictures, I was left largely on my own as Brandy, Christy and Jess cliqued and socialized, leaving me to contend with Ash on my own, and, in a bout of frustration, I called the trip early. We headed back to the visitor’s center where I overpaid for a burger and breakfast burrito ($25!) and we headed back to the AirBnB.

We chalked the day up to another bad decision to try to do something on a holiday weekend and called it a night.

Conclusion

Was I disappointed that Garden of the Gods was another holiday bust? Yeah, but mostly I was disappointed at myself for allowing it to happen again. I’m hoping the third time was the charm, and we can avoid trying to do things like that on holidays, or during holiday weekends.

Anyway, the few pictures I was able to take can be found in my Photo Diary. Make sure you follow along the rest of the trip on the main hub for the winter 2024 edition of our visit to Colorado.

Until next time!

-Phil