Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
COLORADO SPRINGS & THE SOUTHERN
FRONT RANGE
From Pikes Peak and Colorado Springs to the rapids of the Royal Gorge and the slots of
Cripple Creek, the southern Front Range is a place of high-profile attractions known
throughout the country. Follow Hwys 24 and 50 into the hills to find a marvelous country
of arid landscapes, jumbled rose-colored boulders and pine-shaded hiking trails waiting to
be explored.
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Colorado Springs
POP 416,427 / ELEV 6010FT
One of the nation's first destination resorts, Colorado Springs is now the state's second-
largest city and one of many faces. Its natural beauty and pleasant climate attract legions of
visitors from around the globe, who come to ascend the summit of majestic Pikes Peak and
admire the exquisite sandstone spires of the Garden of the Gods.
The city itself, however, lacks the cultural soul of Denver and Boulder, and its strange,
sprawling quilt of neighborhoods - which encompass four military bases, the national epi-
center of the evangelical movement, the old money of the Broadmoor, a small liberal arts
college and the New Age holdout of Manitou Springs - can be difficult to navigate.
Nonetheless, a handful of sights, from the excellent fine-arts museum to the historic Air
Force Academy, add to the undeniable appeal of the monumental Front Range. And the
town's resilience in overcoming two equally devastating wildfires in 2012 and 2013, which
destroyed some 850 homes in total, is certainly to be admired.
Visitors can best come to grips with the area by dividing it into three neighborhoods,
connected by the east-west Colorado Ave and Hwy 24. Most travelers will naturally gravit-
ate toward Manitou Springs, which is just beneath Pikes Peak and easily navigable on foot.
East of here is Old Colorado City, the original town founded in 1860, whose Wild West
dens of vice (21 saloons in four blocks!) now host restaurants and souvenir shops; to the
north is the Garden of the Gods. Finally, further east across I-25 is the city itself, whose
sights are spread far and wide.
