Roaming the Red Rock

Garden of Gods is a hard place to shake. The spires and enormous chunks of red rock stand in contrast to the bulk of the Front Range and Pikes Peak that backdrop them.

Now that I live in Colorado Springs, Red Rock Canyon Open Space has already proven a greater draw. The trailhead gives little indication of the geologic beauty tucked into its folds and rises.
This isn’t the Red Rocks of Denver, even if the geology is similar.

Still gasping for air a month into my Colorado residency, I picked the canyon for a hike with my friend Tim, an old newspaper colleague who relocated to Denver and was in town on a recent Saturday.

Think of Red Rock Canyon as an extension from Garden of the Gods. Similar rock formations sprout in both protected areas, although Red Rock Canyon was privately held and shows signs of past industry – mines and gravel pits. Garden of the Gods was protected from the late 19th century onward and deeded to the city more than a century ago.

The Springs did not acquire the full Red Rock Canyon parcel until the early 2000’s and paid off the purchase in 2018. Portions are still off-limits to the public. More trails are coming at some point, but the ones already crossing the hogbacks (eroded ridges) and ravines provide spectacular views and settings for a good urban hike.

On my first trip, a took a series of short trails on the west side of open space, drifting below the fins of red rock that as if they were thrust into Pikes Peak’s foothills. I spent more time photographing swallows nesting in the rocks than roaming.

 The second visit brought a chance to really explore the hogbacks, ravines and surprisingly active ponds. The trails atop the ridges don’t have a lot of shade, but random rocks and pins threw timely shadows whenever we needed a break. Wildflowers and cacti bloomed along the trails. Along with wide trails that accommodated hikers, runners, mountain bikes and horse riders, a series of smaller trails snaked down into the ravines.

Eventually we looped back to a series of ponds.  I could not tell if they were from old quarries, but the diving birds and jumping fish beyond the vegetation in shallow water revealed a lively ecosystem, not a spent industrial site. One appeared to be quite deep - the birds dove underwater for long minutes, surfacing with fish pinned in their beaks.

At first, we thought they were herons, but I recognized the shape from Lake Superior – they were double-breasted cormorants, black except for orange beaks and faces, the sleek heads and beaks perfectly suited for spearing unwary fish. What appears like a defensive pose was just the birds drying their wings. Cormorants need a little assistance from the sun and stood along a far bank showing off their wingspans.

For all the activity in the open space, it rarely felt crowded. Other than a few narrow trail passages, it was easy to avoid crowds and finish at an early hour before crowds grew larger. Even as we reached the trailhead, a pair of tour buses queued in the lot.

 From the top of ridgebacks, there’s no need to pine for Garden of the Gods – the wedges and slabs around the ravines form a trail that points directly to the central Garden miles to the south. The views are worth the steady incline up Red Rock Canyon’s hogbacks.