It’s time I spotlight something a bit farther outside Denver than I’ve yet to do. There are places outside of the Denver area and its surrounding cities that deserve highlights too. There are places like Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs – a free park featuring beautiful red rocks and hiking trails. You can drive through it. You can walk it. And you can climb it. It’s a must visit if you’re in or near Colorado Springs, especially on a pleasant day. Wear a hat and sunscreen and wander around the handful of trails. There are a handful of parking lots but they do get busy so go on off hours like during the weekday or early in the morning. If you have the time, walk around a bit, the areas close to the parking lots can get somewhat crowded so to lose people you’ll need to walk a mile or so. It’s worth it though to have a bit of space and to look up at the rock formations.
The park is close to restaurants so no need to pack food if you don’t want to, besides I don’t think there’s lots of picnic tables, anyway. Just bring a couple of snacks and lots of water as you explore. Check out the the Kissing Camels rock and Balancing Rock while you’re there. One time I visited I came across an astronomer who set up his telescope and was letting anyone take a look. It was full daylight so I’m not sure what they were looking at but I thought that was awesome. Another time I saw a professor giving lessons to his students, I’m guessing geology, and I thought that was great too. What a neat place for a field trip!
As I said in my post on Elvis Cinemas, most things in and around Denver aren’t cheap, so the fact that this park is completely free, is a huge plus. You can drive through the entire park in an hour or less, I’d say, if you aren’t stopping. But you shouldn’t definitely stop and wander around a little. Shout out to my dad who took all of the pictures in this post. Another thing you could do at Garden of the Gods – take pictures! Whatever you end up doing there, I know you’ll enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Check out all the things I like about Colorado here!
Just Lauren 
I very much look forward to going back to Garden of The Gods sometime.