Garden of the Gods … Redux

Tuesday, 30 June 2015 (Part I)
Peregrine Pines FamCamp; USAFA, Colorado Springs — Colorado
Temps: Hi 87F (31C) / Lo 52F (11C)

When we left the house this morning, we had no intention of going to the Garden of the Gods.  But we had to jiggle our plans a bit, so that’s where we ended up.

Before I get to today, a quick look back on Saturday.

My cousin Shirlene and I lost touch several years ago.  If my recollection is right, we last saw each other in 1985, although correspondence continued for a while after that.  At the time, she was living in New Hampshire with her family.  Later, they moved to Hawaii, and from there to New Zealand’s North Island.  Eventually, they returned to the US and settled in Colorado.  They won’t be here much longer, though; they’ll be moving back to Hawaii sometime in September.

Getting together here in CoS was a priority, and we finally did so on Saturday — a BBQ dinner at our site at the FamCamp.  Of Shirlene and Ron’s three kids, only Tyler is in the area; he joined us with his girlfriend.  It was nice to reconnect after so many years.  We have an open invitation to visit them in Kauai — we’ll give them some time to settle in before we knock on their door … in the next few years.

«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»

So what happened this morning that we found ourselves at the Garden of the Gods (GotG) for the third time on this trip?  We set out from home intending to hike in the Red Rock Canyon Open Space.  We’d seen the signs for it and knew exactly where to find it.  Unfortunately, it turns out that the area is closed due to flooding.  I’m not sure how long that’s been the case, but we didn’t find anything about the closure on the web when we checked it out yesterday.  The sign at the entrance was marked up to include “hikers, bikers, and [horse] riders,” which tells me that the flood damage is pretty serious.  Bummer!

from the Perkins Central Garden Trailhead near the North Parking Lot at the Garden of the Gods.

There are lots of trails in the CoS area, but we weren’t prepared with information about them.  Nor did we want to waste the cool morning temps searching for another trail.  So — back to the GotG we went since it was just a few minutes’ drive from where we were.  Even though the hour was still early, the North Main Parking Lot was quite crowded.  Turns out, most of the people were there to climb the North Gateway Rock, so we had the trail through the Central Garden to ourselves — an unusual but appreciated turn of events.

Couple of skittish deer welcome us to the Central Garden.

Studying the nearby map sign, we decided to cobble together a multi-trail hiking route for ourselves — going through the Central Garden to connect to the Scotsman Trail; then getting on the Palmer Trail heading north; and finishing up with the Bretag Trail to connect back to the Central Garden.  This last trail was an afterthought; turned out to be a very scenic addition.

Left: Our cobbled-together hiking route is outlined in red and blue on the map.
Right: A closer look at the trails from the map sign in the North Main Parking Lot.
We got on the Palmer Trail from the Scotsman Picnic area.

Three of the trails were flat; with the one through the Central Garden paved and wheelchair accessible.  The Palmer Trail had a bit of an elevation gain, but I’d be hard pressed to describe it as anything but easy even though the brochure says it is moderate.  One does have to watch out for the rocks and tree roots on the path, however, as it would otherwise be easy to take a tumble.

So, let’s get going — starting with the Perkins Central Garden Trail.

South and North Gateway Rocks

Sentinel Spires (foreground) with North Gateway Rock.  If you look closely, you
can make out (barely) the Kissing Camels in the second peak from the left.

Another member of today’s wildlife welcoming committee.

Rock Pigeons decorate the ridgeline of the red rock formations.

A rock pigeon flies down to bid us adieu as we leave the Central Garden …

… for the Scotsman Trail — where a Western Scrub Jay bids us welcome.

The Scotsman Trail is a hike in its own right.  We didn’t do all of it, however, as we were using it mostly as a means to get us to one of the access points onto the Palmer Trail.

The summer temps have done a number on the snow on Pikes Peak — there’s a lot less of the
white stuff frosting the mountain now than there was when we arrived in early June.

Black-Billed Magpie

Musk Thistle … just starting to bloom.

We didn’t dally long on the Scotsman Trail.  The route we followed dumped us by the picnic table where we had lunch last time we explored GotG.  A short walk from there found us in the parking lot.  Crossing Garden Drive to the access point, we turned right to head north on the Palmer Trail.  Here we found plenty of red rock formations to keep us entertained and take our mind off the rapidly rising temperature.

Mui provides perspective for the size of the Giant Footprints — we played around here for a while.

My short legs aren’t going to cut it, but maybe Mui can climb this rock.

Tree sculptures abound on the Palmer Trail.

From the way the trails are laid out, I figured the Palmer Trail would be a good one with great views of the Central Garden.  I was right.  And as anticipated, the light in that direction was not great.  I snapped off a few photos, but this is one trail I would like to do in the late afternoon to see the formations lit up by the sun when it is lower on the western horizon.

The Central Garden formations would be glorious when lit up by the afternoon sun.

Central Garden in B&W

Heartleaf Arnica (?)	Gunnison’s Sego Lily

Tower of Babel

Beautiful … in color …

… and in B&W.

Once we reached the North Main Parking Lot, we decided to continue our hike for a bit more.  The temp was rising fast, and there was no shade; but we weren’t ready to call it quits yet.  While Mui was getting a few more bottles of water from the car, I perused the map sign.  By the time he rejoined me, I had our route laid out — Bretag Trail to to the Perkins Central Garden Trail and a shortcut from there back to the parking lot.

Panorama of (L to R) Gray Rock, and South Gateway and North Gateway Rocks.

Gray Rock & Musk Thistle	Prickly Poppy	Musk Thistle & Gray Rock

Pikes Peak peeks out between South and North Gateway Rocks;
and if you take a close look, you might even see the Kissing Camels again.

At the Gateway Road Intersection.  A short walk from here will put us back at the car.

Even though we started out early, and it was only 10:15a when we got back to the car, the temps rose more quickly than was forecasted.  Despite how draining the heat was during the last hour of our walk, we enjoyed our return visit to the Garden of the Gods.  Our only real complaint — “human” trails should really be separate from “horse” trails ;-)  Even though the parking lot was filled to the gills, we only occasionally encountered fellow-hikers on the trails — that we liked very much.

Normally, we’re a “one-activity-per-day couple.”  But once we got in the car, we didn’t head back home.  What we did is a story for another post, however.

© 2004-2015 Two to Travel's Phaeton Journeys.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.