Colorado Springs to do

1,232 Views | 15 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by 10andBOUNCE
Absolute
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AG
Wife and I are going to Colorado Springs for a week in July while the kiddo is at a camp.

Recs on things to do, must sees, places to eat, etc? Will be our first time to Colorado not to ski.
dirkjones
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AG
A week seems like a long time in Colorado Springs. I'd make a loop from the Springs through some of the smaller mountain towns for the week. Something like canon city-SAlida- Gunnison-Crede-Buena vista-Leadville-cripple creek back to springs.
Absolute
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AG
Well, actually we get in Sunday and leave Thursday morning. I was generalizing. So more accurately 3.5 days to do stuff.

Manly looking to relax a bit. Definitely open to driving a little for some interesting stuff. Not huge hikers, but not opposed to a bit of it. We ride road bikes pretty seriously, have never mountain biked, but could probably handle some easier stuff to maintain our training (though it also won't kill us if we don't ride that week.) Hoping if nothing else the weather will be a bit nicer than Dallas.
water turkey
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Eat breakfast at Mountain Shadows in Old Colorado City. Best breakfast in town. My daughter, Sarah, is a waitress there. She also slings beer at Goat Patch Brewery.

JustPanda
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AG
Monsoon starts Thursday and continues for 10 days. So, prepare for thunderstorms and potential hail on the front range when it hits.
Absolute
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AG
Not going till the 17th. Monsoon finished by then?
CanyonAg77
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AG
Similar thread on Outdoors

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/3298714
JMac03
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AG
Cog Railroad, Garden is the Gods. It's been a few years but we also went to some outdoor museum type place that was basically house rooms built in the dirt from a really long time ago. I wouldn't even know what to search for to see what it was, but it was neat.
CanyonAg77
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AG
So is the kid at a camp at USAFA? Our daughter was a Zoomie. There are some interesting things to see on campus. You can't get into the dorms/classrooms, but the Class of 2026 is already there for Basic Cadet Training, you can see their formations on the Terrazzo(Quad) if you time it right. Chapel is being refurbished, but you can see airplanes on sticks, watch glider/parachute ops, tour the visitor center and fieldhouse, drive through a lot of the huge grounds.

Garden of the Gods. Drive up Pikes Peak or take the cog railway. Zoo. Drive to Canon City and take the train through the bottom of the Royal Gorge. At Canon City, drive Skyline Drive. Florissant fossil beds if you want to drive that far, and there is a wolf rescue along that road that seems popular. Never been, but I believe you can tour the Olympic Training center. There is a back road (unpaved) that goes from COS to Cripple Creek, called Old Stage Road. Nice drive if weather is good. At Cripple Creek, there are tours where you take a double level elevator into a gold mine.
JustPanda
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AG
It's usually 10-14 days on and then 7-10 off and then back on. It's really a crap shoot though.
knoxtom
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I live here is Springs and here is what I recommend...

I see you are road bikers. If you have gravel bikes then this is a amazing place. Park at Trails End Tavern. Ride up Gold Camp until it becomes gravel, maybe 6-7 miles with some good elevation gain. Continue on the gravel and at the second parking lot go to the back of the lot and continue on Gold Camp (no more cars allowed from this point.) Continue out GC road past 2 tunnels and to the collapsed tunnel. Turn around and come back here or if still feeling it, walk your bike over the collapsed tunnel and continue on as far as you want. Return to Trails End for a beer. Probably 20 miles each way with 2-3k climbing.

An even better gravel ride is to combine Shelf Road and Phantom Canyon starting near Canyon City. It is 70ish miles but is as good a gravel ride as anywhere in the country. Spectacular ride.

The best actual road cycling combines the stuff around Red Rocks open space and the Garden of the Gods. This is where the pros ride going up Gold Camp to the start of the gravel then coming back and going into the park on Ridge Road. There will be a LOT of pros and olympians in this area.

Stuff to see - Garden of the Gods is not overrated at all. It is really cool. Crowded.
The cog railway is ok, it is better than driving the road
Best short hike is probably the Mt Muscoco/Mt Cutler combo. It is in Cheyenne Canyon. 3 or so miles total and a lot of stuff to see.


Best restaurants - Carlos Bistro but it is very expensive, anything at the broadmoor, but crazy expensive
Rabbit Hole is cool, this was originally the City Morgue
Gotta hit Denver Biscuit one morning
The 59er is super cool - it is a gaming speakeasy and by gaming I mean board games. It is in Old Colorado City through a little door in the back of a game store
Skirted Heifer is a really good burger

I also recommend a night bar hopping downtown. Actually just try Shame and Regrets and The Archive. Both are hard to find but really cool. The Ivywild scene is also cool
JustPanda
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AG
Don't leave anything valuable in your car or it unlocked - I just got broken into in the Springs on Friday.
lazuras_dc
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AG
So I've heard Pike's is not a "real" 14'er because you can drive to the top.
Are there trails to hike up too from different points?

At what elevation do you need to start for it to be considered a "legit" 14'er?
Aggie_Boomin 21
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AG
The elevation to be considered a 14er is just a minimum 14,000 feet. Pike's Peak is a 14er, you just can't say you "did a 14er" if you drive to the top or take the cog. There are multiple trails that you can take to hike to the top, I'm not sure which of these are long enough to be considered adequate to be able to say you've "done a 14er".
knoxtom
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lazuras_dc said:

So I've heard Pike's is not a "real" 14'er because you can drive to the top.
Are there trails to hike up too from different points?

At what elevation do you need to start for it to be considered a "legit" 14'er?


There are many trails to the top. On the Springs side your have the obvious Barr Trail, which is the normal route. Something like 13 miles and climbs 7500 feet. If you climb via Barr no one will say you haven't done a real 14er. You can also link a bunch of others, for example missing link joins the Almagre/Kineo mountain area to the elk park area. If you were to climb Captain Jacks to Kineo, to Jones, to Almagre, to Missing Link, to Elk Park or Barr for the finish and someone said you didn't climb a real 14er then they are a f'ing idiot. That would be 26 or so miles and 8500 feet up. I think that qualifies.

There are other routes out of Manitou/Green Mountain and some that come in on the southern (coming out of South Shore Rec area) and western faces (Devil's Backbone). All of these are very legit hikes/climbs.

Last there are less spoken of routes that involve real climbing and emerge out of the rock faces below the summit. I know people who have climbed out of the bottomless pit route. That is seriously legit 60% range for extended periods at 12k feet.


As a comparison, Bierstadt is 3500 feet up over about 5 miles. How can people say Bierstadt is legit and Pikes isn't? My advice is to not listen to these people. If you drive to the top or take the train then it doesn't count. If you hike it does.
10andBOUNCE
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AG
*Tons of Breweries and Distilleries- some of my recommendations would be Axe and Oak, 291, Phantom Canyon, Pikes Peak Brewing, FH Beerworks
*little winery in Cascade (short drive on 24) - wines of Colorado - nothing special but decent and an excuse to take that drive.
*donuts in Woodland Park
*could take a picnic lunch / short hike out to Rampart Reservoir
* short drive up to Castle Rock, could walk to town, I recommend dining at Union
*Mueller State Park, about 45 minutes on the backside of Pikes Peak
*Check out Manitou Springs after a morning at Garden of the Gods
*Take a drive up and around Gold Camp Road
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