Edgar's Adventures

A big friendly dog's adventures in a RV.

Garden of the Gods

by ·

Our next adventure was to explore “The Garden of the Gods”. The name for this area was created in 1859 when surveyors from Denver thought the area would make a really good beer garden once it was developed. But one of them thought that it would be a place fit for Gods and soon it was being called The Garden of the Gods. In 1879 Charles Elliot Perkins, head of Burlington Rail Road, bought two-hundred and forty acres and later he added more property but decided to never build on it. When he passed away in 1907 nothing had been done to make it a public park but his children knew his plans so in 1909 it was transferred to the City of Colorado Springs where it would be a free park that would only allow the erecting of only the buildings needed to maintain the park. Today there is almost two thousand acres in the park.

At the visitor center we got a brief education of the park and explored the options for seeing the park. While driving around the access roads we got to see some of the sights but the parking spots were mostly occupied by early hikers so some sort of a tour would be nice. Since we are trying to social distance the idea of a bus tour was not considered, we could have taken a one hour horse back tour but it was really hot and neither one of us has been on a horse in a while so we decided to take a Segway tour. We were the only two in our tour it was so much fun. Our guide was really good and his presentation was so informative our 90 minute tour was over before we knew it. This was our first experience with Segway vehicles but it will not be our last. Just like every other place we have visited out west the photos are not what I wish they were because of the smoke from the fires in California and Oregon.

Judy getting trained on the art of riding a Segway
On the Segway tour

One of the more interesting places on the tour was a meeting place used by Native Americans. The grassy area to the right was where the people would meet but there is an open space inside the rocks on the left that was off limits to all except the chief. That is where he would set up his camp. I tried to imagine what it may have looked like with lodges set up all around the area and hundreds if not thousands of Native Americans in one location.

The meeting area

The scenery in this area was so interesting and diverse at each turn of the paved path there was a different view. I will let the photos tell some of the story.

This formation is called “Kissing Camels”
This one is called “Praying Hands”
This one is “Expectant Mother”
It looks like a head on the right hand side so this one is called “Sleeping Giant”
Not taken while on the Segway tour but this is “Balancing Rock”

Each part of the west has something different to offer and each day out here has been so interesting. The altitude may have made some days a little uncomfortable but not bad enough to make us slow down. We can only imagine what lays ahead! Thanks for following us, feel free to share with friends and let us know what you think.

You may also like...