June 12 Garden of the Gods fun trail ride in Colorado Springs, CO

Garden of the Gods is a true gem of Colorado Springs.  Horses are allowed to ride the trails in all areas of the park EXCEPT the middle paved area around the large red rock formations.   

Bikes are allowed only on the east side of the park.  Dogs, strollers, joggers, hikers, tourists are in plentiful supply but usually very friendly and kind towards horses.  

Note this is a boot the poop park.  The trails receive millions of visitors and it is a City of Colorado Springs park.  In such a heavily used part this makes a lot of sense even if it is inconvenient to get on and off your horses.  

Trailer Parking - is available in one lot.  It has 6 large spaces. The parking lot is paved but is marked for trailers.   It can be a little difficult for really large rigs but we've had 4 large trailers in the lot and were able to move around.  You can find the location by typing in 'garden of the gods horse parking. Many of the roads in the park are one direction so make sure to check the map to know which side to access the park. We prefer entering from the Becker Lane side so you dont have to follow the one lane road behind all the cars. 

The trails are generally gravel but have a fair amount of rock or redstone slab. Shoes are recommended.  Palmer trail can have ice and snow in the winter on some tight ledge spots.  So not recommended unless you know the trail is clear where there are shaded areas.  The Cabin, Siamese twins and Palmer trails are the most technical but are really beautiful and can be looped together.   Niabrara on the east side of the park goes through the beautiful valley and links to the top limestone ridge that runs along the east side.   The two sides of the park are connected by the Buckskin Charlie trail which takes you through scrub oak and some really nice views of the park.   The whole park and every horse trail can be done in about 3 hours.  There is a definite variety of inclines and the Palmer trail has a sustained rock stairs climb.   The pass through the middle of the Siamese Twins itself - is the most technical obstacle in the park.  It is the only way to cross over directly to the Palmer trail without having to do an out and back over to Strausenbach. But if it's too technical, you can just loop back onto Strausenback back towards the horse trailer parking. Note the park closes each night (earlier in the winter) so there is no overnight parking.

Garden of the Gods trail riding is an absolute must do!  Rocky Mountain BCH offers a led trail ride each year.  Join us for this and many other great gems of the state.