Stewart M. Green - Best Hikes Near Colorado Springs

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Copyright 2014 by Rowman & Littlefield

Photographs by Stewart M. Green except pages 134 and 166 by Susan Joy Paul.

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ISBN: 978-0-7627-8077-8

The author and Rowman & Littlefield assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Best Hikes Near Colorado Springs is an exploration of the wild lands surrounding my hometown. Almost every day in summer when I grew up near North Cheyenne Caon, I would pack a lunch, fill my steel army canteen with water, and shoulder an Austrian rucksack for the days adventure.

I would walk in the cool morning to the pine forests at the canyon entrance. Some days I puttered along the creek, taking off shoes and wading in glassy water. Other days I watched 10th Mountain Division soldiers give climbing exhibitions at an amphitheater below the Pinnacle. But usually I logged miles on my boots, hiking Columbine Trail, then branching to St. Marys Falls and the summit of Mount Rosa or hoofing it up to Captain Jacks, Tenney Crags, and Mount Arthur. I would arrive back home in the eveningfootsore, tired, but always happy.

This book details those hikes I did as a boy and more. There is no shortage of great hikes near Colorado Springs. The city park system is simply one of the best in the United States. There arent many cities that offer so much hiking on public lands. The Springs was fortunate to have General William Jackson Palmer, its forward-thinking founder, donate natural areas as parks but also to have a wealth of undeveloped land for recreation, including El Paso County parklands, Colorado state parks, and Pike National Forest. My thanks to the general, as well as other residents who love Pikes Peak Country and work to preserve and protect its natural values and diverse trails.

Thanks to all of my trail companions over the years as well as other hiking experts, FalconGuides editors, and park staff at state and city parks who reviewed the manuscript, offered advice, proofread sections, and added their ten cents, including Deb Acord, Chris Baddams, Kevin Baker, Katie Benoit, Howard Brooks, John Burbidge, Bob DAntonio, Jimmie Dunn, Dave Golec, Brett Green, Ian Green, Isaac Hamilton, Doug Hatfield, Mike and Sherry Heinrichs, Bob Hostetler, Dennis Jackson, Jewels Johnson, Dennis Jump, Mitch Martin, Cindy McCaffrey, Martha Morris, Susan Joy Paul, Max Phelps, Brian Shelton, Nancy Spencer, Bill Springer, Spencer Swanger, Autumn Thorpe, and Jeff Wolin.

Introduction

Walking is one of the most basic human activities. Walking is physical exercise that any able-bodied person can do, yet all too often we get in the car and drive somewhere when we could walk instead. There is great joy in walking or hiking for pleasurein putting on lightweight boots, shouldering a pack, and setting off on foot into the world and into the wild.

The way of the trail is a great American tradition. The Native Americans followed ancient worn paths across Colorados mountains, plateaus, and plains. Later trappers, traders, miners, and settlers trod the Santa Fe Trail, Smoky Hill Trail, and Cherokee Trail into this vast untrammeled land, taking to heart the words of the great nineteenth-century poet Walt Whitman: Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road. Healthy, free, the world before me. The long brown path before me leading me wherever I choose.

One of the best ways to enjoy, understand, and appreciate the beauty and diversity of the Pikes Peak region is by hiking across its varied landscapes. Footpaths take you away from highways, roads, and suburbs and into ancient places preserved in the rarefied air, past lakes ringed by windswept grass and in the shadow of shining mountains. Anyone interested in Colorados different ecosystems, from plains to peaks, can learn much by hiking the areas many trails.

A hiker crosses a broad meadow on the Aiken Canyon Trail ().

Hiking Pikes Peak Country

The Pikes Peak region, including the city of Colorado Springs, is simply one of Americas best areas for hiking and trails. Over a thousand trail miles thread across prairie, peak, and canyon, climbing to cloud-scraping summits, ending at tumbling waterfalls, crossing wildflower-strewn meadows, and finding silence and solitude on wild lands within sight of a major city.

It is hard to decide what are the best hikes in Pikes Peak country and the best within an hours drive of Colorado Springs, since there is no shortage of great hikes. There are no objective criteria that can be used to determine the best hikes, but the forty hiking adventures in Best Hikes Near Colorado Springs offer outdoor rewards for hikers of every ability, from beginners seeking an easy 2-hour day trip to intrepid trekkers who want to hike to the back of beyond.

You will find amazing hikes that wind among the soaring sandstone formations at the Garden of the Gods, follow tumbling creeks in Lost Creek Wilderness Area and North Cheyenne Caon, and reach lofty summits like Mount Herman and Pikes Peak.

The hikes are divided among the regions three geographic provinces: prairie, foothills, and mountains. The mostly easy prairie hikes traverse open plains and climb bluffs with views of distant mountains. The foothills hikes, including the city of Colorado Springs, lie in a long strip of land sandwiched between the plains and the mountains. These hikes are easily accessible for year-round expeditions. The mountain hikes, the largest number in the book, explore the rugged Front Range peaks and valleys. These diverse hikes, taking you to scenic vistas and through gorgeous terrain, are of varied distances, difficulty, and steepness.