Garden of the Gods: September 2012

Sprinted down to Garden of the Gods Sunday afternoon with Zak, Ginny and my mom's husband Michael.  Just looking for something neat to see that wasn't too far of a drive.  And it wouldn't have taken much more than an hour to get there if it weren't for the inevitable traffic jam on I-25 once we got close to Colorado Springs.  Seriously, I've lived here for 15 years and it doesn't matter what time of year, what day of the week or what time of day it is.  There is always traffic on I-25 around Colorado Springs.  It's a little spooky.

Oh, and this is South Gateway Rock.

I wouldn't have known the formation in the upper left was known as White Buffalo if we hadn't passed by a ranger-led walk and overheard him say it.  Nice when there's no questioning a formation's resemblance to its name.

Sorry -- it's been pointed out to me that the White Buffalo isn't actually that apparent in the prior picture. Hopefully this one makes it more obvious. :)

Even with fairly harsh lighting at 2:30 in the afternoon, the partly cloudy conditions provided some nice texture in the skies.

And you could even find a little contrast on the rocks from certain angles.

Cathedral Spires, which was striking but I don't think lived up to its namesake quite as well as the White Buffalo formation did.

Zak, in a completely unsurprising move, found a little rock tower he wanted to climb.  I set down my guidebook and put my lens cap back on my camera in preparation for discussing the pros and cons of the idea.  In that time, Zak managed to hand Ginny's leash to Michael and scramble up the 12-foot formation.  He even got a round of applause from about a half dozen onlookers after he scampered down.

I was totally going to let him do it anyway.

It's great to be able to see more than half the named formations in the park on one loop less than a mile long.  It's also great that the park is still free, per the terms of the property's sale to the city of Colorado Springs by the children of Charles Elliott Perkins.

One last peek back at the Kissing Camels formation on our way out.  I feel like I say this with half the places I visit, but I really need to get back here at sunrise or sunset sometime to take some pictures in more dramatic lighting!