A Glimpse of the Divine at Garden of the Gods

One of the highlights in the Colorado Springs area is Garden of the Gods, a registered National Natural Landmark (say that ten times fast) and the home of majestic rock formations jutting up from a relatively tame landscape.

I was in Colorado last week with Brandon’s family, and was awestruck by the beauty of Garden of the Gods. The pictures hardly do it justice (such is the case with mountain shots) but I will try.

If you haven’t been here already, you’ve probably seen photos of Balancing Rock, one of Garden of the God’s more famous landmarks, an enormous 700-ton monolith teetering on the edge of a cliff beside the road.

Like many of the rock formations in Garden of the Gods, balancing rock looks like it could come unhinged and start rolling down the mountain at any moment, crushing anything and anyone in its wake.

And since rocks coming loose and rolling down hillsides is, like, a thing in Colorado, it makes me wonder…is today the day? Should we be sitting next to these rocks? Are we a little too confident?

But then I think, YOLO.  Climb on up that rock sweetie and lemme take your picture.

Garden of the Gods is totally doable in one day, and most of the important rock formations can be seen in a quick hike or drive.

One of the great things about the Garden of the Gods trail system is that the trails are relatively flat, and therefore doable by all ages and stages in life.

Brandon’s family right now consists of two children under the age of five, one in utero, and one person over 90 (Grandma), so the easiness fit our needs well.

Pro tip: parking spaces near trailheads fill up fast, so get there as early as you can.

Several of the trails were good for biking, too. That would have been a lot of fun!

Spending a day around all of these somewhat unusual rock outcroppings, you start to wonder,

So how did these rocks get here, anyways? Can someone explain without going into tooo much boring detail about geology? I want high level, with pretty pictures please, and–oh, shiny object!

Or, at least that’s how I felt. So we headed back to the Visitor’s Center to watch the video about the park and how it was formed many moons ago. Totally worth every penny of the $6 we paid, the movie informed but entertained at the same time. I wrote more detail on it in this post: That’s Beautiful!

One other thing I want to point out before wrapping up this post–the gift shop.

It was delightful, and trust me, I’ve seen my fair share of gift shops!

As if the view from it wasn’t enough, it seemed to go on forever and was packed with GOOD stuff. Some gift shops are just full of Made in China plastic junk, but this one had quality items in it. Shirts with clever sayings, a smorgasboard of cookbooks (I bought 101 Things to Cook in a Dutch Oven), pottery, handmade jewelry, fudge, rocks, an array of things to tempt your children, prints, stuffed animals, and did I mention fudge?

Definitely take some time here.

In summary, Garden of the Gods is a must-see in Colorado. Here are the deets to file away for your future trip:

• Website: http://www.gardenofgods.com/home/index.cfm
• Things to see: gift shop, balancing rock
• Where to eat lunch: picnic by Pull Off #12. You won’t regret it!
• Where to park: Visitor’s Center, and walk from there if you’re able, otherwise park near the trail heads
• Best views: by Pull Off #6 (marked on map), by balancing rock

Have fun!