Less than 2 miles down the road from the famous Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, lies the quiet and beautiful park called Red Rock Canyon Open Space. Our family loved hiking here, away from the crowds, in this beautiful land of red rocks.
Red Rock Canyon Open Space, CO
Red Rock Canyon Open Space is a free park that is conveniently located between Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs and almost right across the street from the famous Garden of the Gods site. This makes it a great addition to any itinerary while visiting in the area.
There are several great trails within this park to hike and our family chose to hike the Quarry Trail Loop. To hike the Quarry Trail loop we began on the Red Rock Canyon Trail (which goes into Red Rock Canyon Path), then we cut over on the Quarry Pass Trail and finally we took the shortcut back to complete the loop on the Greenlee Trail. This makes and incredible 1.8 mile loop and we loved it!
Quarry Trail itself is a great trail to hike for kids, history buffs and anyone looking for a story behind their hiking trail. Established in the 1800s, Quarry Trail allows you to hike next to the enormous red sandstone formations that still display, to this day, the geometric cuts on their rock face from the quarry days. Quarry trail also has the largest rock formations in the park which provides some pretty amazing scenery on this trail.
There are other ways to get to Quarry trail so make sure you check out their trail map before you go. Click here to access a map of all of the trails in this park or visit their website here.
Red Rock Canyon Path Hike
Our family began our hike by starting on Red Rock Canyon Trail. If you park in the middle parking lot, this trail begins just past the bathrooms. Shortly after starting on this trail, look to your right and you can get on the Red Rock Canyon Path. This parallels the Red Rock Canyon Trail but this path is more immersive and scenic. Both trails go to Quarry Pass Trail so really you can take either.
Our family began this hike first thing in the morning and I highly recommend doing this. The air was cool, there was almost no one on the trail and we could really take our time and enjoy this incredible scenery!
Our family really loved how peaceful this trail was and how you could really get away from it all!
At the end of Red Rock Canyon Path you will turn to the right to begin Quarry Pass Trail. Here the trail will begin to climb up this beautiful red sandstone formation.
Quarry Trail
Now begins our children’s favorite part of our hike, “Miners’ staircase!” Here you will begin to climb a steep “miners’ staircase” that is cut directly into the rock!
Traveler Note: There is a normal dirt path with switch backs that you can use as well.
Miners’ Staircase was a definite highlight for our kids!
And don’t worry, it looks much scarier than it was. I never felt it was unsafe for our kids and our youngest had only just turned 5.
Our 5 year old is a good hiker who listens and he’s good at staying on the path so for me, I wasn’t worried. (These are just my thoughts, only you know your child and their abilities.)
At the top of the “miners’ staircase” the trail will now take you through the quarry. This is an impressive site. Here, is a great time to talk to your kids about what a quarry is and how those lines and cuts in the rock came to be.
After Quarry Pass the trail will bring you back down to level ground and you will begin your hike back on the Greenlee Trail shortcut. For some reason none of my pictures came out good on this trail. I think the sun was in the wrong spot and I forgot to try and correct for it with our camera, but overall it was a nice hike back on Greenlee Trail as well.
How Long to Hike at Red Rock Canyon?
This loop took our family 1.5 hours to hike. (at a meandering pace)
In Conclusion
So, in conclusion, if you and your family are visiting the Colorado Springs area to see Garden of the Gods, then I highly recommend stopping at Red Rock Canyon Open Space if you have any extra time. Here you will find an incredibly relaxing hike, without a ton of people and be able to walk through some pretty fantastic scenery. Our family absolutely loved hiking at Red Rock Canyon Open Space and we hope your family will too!
Have a Great Adventure at Red Rock Canyon Open Space with Your Traveling Feet!
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