Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs: Our Experience Visiting With Dogs

With its massive red rock formations, paved walking paths and views of the Rocky Mountains, Garden of the Gods is one of the most recognizable and popular places in Colorado Springs.

I had wanted to visit Garden of the Gods for years ever since our first trip to Colorado Springs in 2022. That trip was part of a much larger road trip where we drove from Alabama to Yosemite National Park for our honeymoon. That short stop had us climbing the Manitou Incline and visiting Great Sand Dunes National Park, but we never made it to Garden of the Gods.

Four years later, we were driving through Colorado Springs again as part of another cross-country road trip. We were driving from Alabama to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming with our dogs, Toby and Lily, and Colorado Springs was our first major stop along the trip.

Our home in Alabama sits just under 500 feet in elevation so stopping in Colorado Springs gave us and our pups a chance to start getting used to the high elevation. Colorado Springs sits just over 6,000 feet above sea level, and the rest of our trip to the Tetons would keep us above 5,000 feet.

If you’re planning a visit, here’s how we spent a little over two hours exploring Garden of the Gods with our dogs.

What to Know Before Visiting Garden of the Gods

Where Is Garden of the Gods?

Garden of the Gods is just west of downtown Colorado Springs. One thing that surprised me the most was just how close the park actually is to the city. We stayed in an Airbnb in downtown Colorado Springs and it took us about 20 minutes to drive to Garden of the Gods with traffic.

I always thought the park was farther away from the city and more into the mountains. Instead, you’re still very much in Colorado Springs.

Parking at Garden of the Gods

We visited on Tuesday, August 18^th and pulled into the Main Parking Lot (P2), near Kissing Camels, around 6pm. This lot was already pretty packed, but we didn’t need to wait to get a parking spot.

Because the full parking lot was so full, I thought the park itself was going to be extremely crowded. And it was, at least around the parking lot and restrooms. Once we walked past those, the crowd spread out quite a bit. The park was still very busy, but I think the size of the park kept it from feeling crowded.

How Long Do You Need at Garden of the Gods?

We spent a little over two hours at Garden of the Gods. We weren’t following an itinerary or trying to see every famous formation, so we just walked around, mostly stuck to the paved path, took pictures and stopped whenever something caught our attention.

If you want to hike more trails, rock climb or spend more time exploring, you’ll need more time. Since we were there to casually walk around with our pups and take pictures, a couple of hours was enough.

We didn’t even make it to every well-known formation, like Balanced Rock, and I didn’t feel like we missed out because of it. I found this way of exploring Garden of the Gods to be great for us instead of feeling like I needed to see every formation.

I’m sure we’ll be driving through Colorado Springs for another road trip in the future, so we can spend more time in the Garden of the Gods then.

Is Garden of the Gods Dog-Friendly?

Garden of the Gods is a very dog-friendly place, which made it a great stop for us. Dogs are allowed almost anywhere in the park, with some restrictions. They are not allowed on carpeted areas or in dining areas.

We didn’t feel limited by our dogs, either. We weren’t going into any carpeted areas or dining there, so the restrictions weren’t an issue for us. Both of our pups stayed on their leashes, and we were able to explore the place together without having to leave them at the Airbnb.

We brought water and a collapsible dish for the dogs as we usually do for walks. Because Colorado is so much drier than what we’re used to in Alabama, they drank a lot of water.

Garden of the Gods Elevation

The elevation was one of the reasons we wanted to spend some time in Colorado Springs at the beginning of our road trip. The city sits at just over 6,000 feet above sea level, which is quite a bit higher than what we’re used to at home in Alabama (under 500 feet).

Our eventual destination was Grand Teton National Park, and a lot of the road trip would have us spending time above 5,000 feet. We would also be hiking and camping at higher elevations, so we wanted to start getting used to the thinner air before getting farther into the Rocky Mountains.

None of us had any problems walking around Garden of the Gods. I didn’t have any shortness of breath, but I did notice that my heart rate was elevated compared with what I’d expect from being at home.

Colorado Springs Weather

One thing we did notice immediately was how dry the air was. Colorado’s summer heat felt very different from the summer weather we’re used to in Alabama. In Alabama, temperatures in the 90s usually come with high humidity, while in Colorado we barely seemed to sweat at all. We needed to be intentional about drinking water.

Our Experience Visiting Garden of the Gods

Arriving in Colorado Springs

Garden of the Gods was our first real stop on our road trip from Alabama to Grand Teton National Park, and I think it was a good way to start the trip.
We had spent the previous part of the drive traveling through the Great Plains, and Colorado was where the landscape started changing from flat plains to the mountains.

Driving west from Alabama takes you through several very different environments, from the foothills of the Appalachians to the flatter landscape of Kansas and eastern Colorado before hitting the Rocky Mountains.

We left from Tulsa, Oklahoma late at night (or really early in the morning, depending on how you view things) so we could make it to Colorado Springs by late morning. We like driving during the night because it helps us avoid traffic.

We got to Colorado Springs around 11am and messaged our Airbnb host to see if they could check us in early (they said yes!). This gave us some time to relax for a couple hours before exploring Garden of the Gods in the late afternoon.

That was probably a good choice because temperatures were in the 90s during the early afternoon. While 90-degree temperatures made it hot, the dry Colorado air made it feel much more comfortable than the same temperatures would have been at our home in the humid state of Alabama.

We decided to wait until later in the afternoon before heading over to Garden of the Gods. When we got to the parking lot, the temperature was in the mid-70s which was much more comfortable to walk around in.

We planned to visit Seven Falls the following morning, so Garden of the Gods was our main activity for the afternoon and evening.

Seeing Garden of the Gods for the First Time

The first thing that stood out to me was the size of the formations. Photos don’t really capture how large these rocks are, especially when you don’t have much around them (except for other formations) for scale. Standing in front of them gave me a better idea of their size. And they are massive.

I didn’t realize that the park was so close to Colorado Springs. I thought we would need to drive farther into the mountains before reaching the formations, but instead the park is essentially right next to the city.

We saw families with young children walking the paved paths, people out with their dogs and rock climbers making their way up the formations.

The rock structure and texture looked just like the photographs we’d seen online, although they weren’t quite as intensely red as I expected. The formations really are red (and some are white), but I think many of the photos online have their saturation increased to look more vibrant.

Even looking through Google Maps photos after our visit, I noticed how many made the rocks look much more saturated than they looked in person.

Walking Through the Park

Another thing that surprised me was that the main walking paths are paved. I probably naively thought that most of the park would have dirt trails, but many of the primary walkways are paved. They are even colored a similar reddish color to the rock formations.

We also saw some deer near one of the trails. They didn’t seem too bothered by the people walking around.

While our priority was sightseeing, Toby and Lily’s priority was sniffing. They sniffed around and explored all the new smells while we took photos of the red rock formations. Since dogs were allowed in all of the areas we planned to visit, they were able to join us for the entire walk.

There are still dirt trails and areas where you can get closer to the formations. We took some stairs up onto a dirt trail that brought us to a rock formation where people were sitting to watch the sunset. We didn’t wait for the sun to set and instead kept exploring more of the park.

As we explored more, one thing we loved was coming across plaques and signs that explained what we were looking at and provided some history about the area.

We learned that when the area was first discovered, people thought it would make a perfect beer garden for the gods to spend time in. Why did they think that? I have no idea, but I do think the name they ended on, Garden of the Gods, is a great name for the park.

Visiting Garden of the Gods at Sunset

We walked through the park until the sun started to set. One of our favorite things to try when traveling to beautiful places is astrophotography with our Google Pixel phones after dark, but we read that the light pollution from Colorado Springs would make that difficult.

We picked up some food from Chipotle near the park while we waited for it to get darker, we then drove through the park again. Unfortunately, the city lights were too bright, and clouds started rolling in as well. The park also closes at 10pm (from May 1^st to October 31^st and 9pm from November 1^st to April 30^th), making it even more difficult for us to get a dark sky.

We decided to call it a night and thought we’d have better luck when we visited Rocky Mountain National Park on our drive home. I’m sure if you have better gear than we have for astrophotography, you’ll have better luck.

Garden of the Gods vs. Other Colorado Springs Attractions

This was our second trip to Colorado Springs, and we’ve now visited three of the area’s better-known outdoor attractions: the Manitou Incline, Garden of the Gods and Seven Falls.

We’ve enjoyed all three, but they’re very different experiences.
The Manitou Incline is one of the most challenging hikes we’ve done. You’re climbing nearly 2,000 feet in less than a mile while working your way up 2,744 stairs.

Garden of the Gods is much more relaxed. We spent a couple of hours walking around, taking pictures and exploring with the dogs. There are paved paths, places to sit and look at the scenery without it becoming a hike or workout.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, which we visited during our first Colorado trip, is different again. The massive sand dunes sitting in front of the mountains create a landscape that gives you a completely different sense of scale.

Because we’ve only spent a limited amount of time in Colorado Springs across our two trips, I don’t think we can tell someone that they absolutely need to choose Garden of the Gods over another attraction. It really depends on how much time you have and what you want to do.

If you’re looking for a difficult physical challenge, the Manitou Incline is going to be a very different experience. If you want to walk around and see incredible rock formations, Garden of the Gods is a much easier option. And if you’re traveling with dogs, being able to bring them along for most of the experience is another advantage.

Is Garden of the Gods Worth Visiting?

I definitely think Garden of the Gods is worth visiting if you’re spending time in Colorado Springs.

For us, it was something we’d wanted to see since our first visit to Colorado Springs in 2022. We didn’t see every famous formation, go for a long hike or spend the entire day there, but we still felt like we got a good experience from our two-plus hours in the park.

If you’re visiting Colorado Springs, I don’t think you need to spend an entire day at Garden of the Gods unless you have something specific planned like rock climbing or spending more time on the trails. For a casual visit like ours, a couple of hours should give you plenty of time to see the formations and get a feel for the park.