Colorado Nature Narratives

At 5:00am, I was treated to my first unexpected view of the pre-dawn world. I opened the curtains of my west-facing window, and there was the constellation of Orion setting over Pikes Peak. The three bright stars of Orion’s belt glittered just above Pikes Peak like a crown of diamonds. The bright, very full moon gave no hint of what was to come.

However, by 5:45am, a hazy shadow began to shroud the upper left curve of the moon. My husband and I were now at our viewing location at the entrance to Garden of the Gods Park. We watched in silence as the Earth’s shadow began to cloak the top half of the moon. The December dawn sky presented other treasures. Sirius, the brightest star in our sky, was setting behind the pale saddle of Gray Rock, and the bright stars of Gemini sparkled high overhead.

Eclipsing moon setting before dawn, Garden of the Gods

Just as the top half of the moon was beginning to take on a faint red glow, matching the reddish hues of the towering sandstone rocks of Garden of the Gods, the moon slipped below the mountains of the Rampart Range. In the stillness of dawn, we could hear a great-horned owl hooting in the distance.

Photo Credit: Thanks to my husband Les Goss for capturing this moment.

When I first moved to Colorado Springs, I was an 18-year-old college student. More than anything else about that first year, I remember the thrill of waking up every morning and looking out at Pikes Peak. My parents saved the letters I wrote that fall, letters full of long descriptions about the clear, crisp weather, the sky that always seemed to be blue, and the new snowfall on the tops of the mountains.

Having grown up comfortably enveloped in the hardwood and pine forests of Louisiana, I simply felt different in Colorado. I felt as tall as any tree as I gazed out at the expansive horizon. Views of horizons were new to me.

Here in this place, I could see where I wanted to go. I wanted to go around Cheyenne Mountain to see what was on the other side. I wanted to explore the upended rocks of Garden of the Gods. I wanted to climb Pikes Peak.

Then, I found that wherever I went in the Pikes Peak Region, I could see where I had been. On top of Mt. Cutler, I could see my dorm back on campus. On top of Pikes Peak, I could see the cottonwood trees marking Fountain Creek’s path to the Arkansas River—a river that eventually met the Mississippi and flowed through my home state. Like so many before me, I was captivated by this place. Now it is my home.

In the ensuing years, I have discovered that alongside this Region’s stunning beauty are unforgettable stories of its people; inseparable from its beauty are its native plants and wildlife; and the foundations of its beauty are its rocks, canyons, mountains and horizons.

Pikes Peak on the Horizon & Indian Paintbrush

Photo by Author Melissa Walker

Since mid-March, I have been watching for the return of the White-throated Swifts. Last fall, they “disappeared” from Garden of the Gods Park on September 23 on a very blustery day. Their disappearance was expected, though, and happens every year when the Swifts migrate south for the winter.

Today, it was snowing at dawn, but by mid-morning the snow had ceased and the clouds were beginning to lift. I decided to go ahead and hike in the Garden to look for the Swifts. Since the Swifts left on a very blustery day in September, perhaps they would “reappear” on this very blustery day in April.

Today in Garden of the Gods

My friend and I hiked on the trail that leads from the Main Parking Lot to the Twins Rock Formation. Along the way we saw flocks of Dark-eyed Juncos, cavorting Ravens, a pair of Scrub Jays, several Spotted Towhees, and heard the two-note whistle of the Black-capped Chickadee. But no White-throated Swifts.

Hiking back, we were surprised to see Wild Turkey tracks in the snow – the first such tracks I’ve ever seen in Garden of the Gods.

Wild Turkey Tracks

We also saw Rock Pigeons, an American Robin, a Bushtit, several Black-billed Magpies, heard a Canyon Wren, and watched a fast-flying Prairie Falcon circling North Gateway Rock. Then, I finally heard the familiar, high twittering of the Swifts. There they were, flying high over Gray Rock! Welcome back, White-throated Swifts, to your summer home.

(For more information about the Swifts, visit my very first Nature Narrative Blog dated February 8, 2010.)

In 1992, paleontologists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science discovered a Stegosaurus fossil in the Garden Park Fossil Area north of Cañon City, Colorado. This nearly complete dinosaur skeleton showed conclusively, for the first time, the exact position of the Stegosaurus’s tail spikes. The four knife-like, 12-inch spikes are attached to and point outward horizontally from the end of its tail, rather than upward as previously thought. Paleontologists concur that the Stegosaurus used its spiked tail as a weapon against predators.

One of the first correct depictions of a Stegosaurus dinosaur with outward-pointing spikes was painted in 1995 for the Jurassic Mural at Garden of the Gods Visitor & Nature Center by artists Jans and Debra Vriesen. The Stegosaurus is depicted in its Jurassic landscape of conifers, seed ferns and horsetail plants. In designing the scene, the Vriesens consulted closely with paleontologists of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, where the artists also created murals for the award-winning Prehistoric Journey exhibit.

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Dinosaur Fossil Discovered, then Forgotten
In 1878, Professor James H. Kerr of Colorado College discovered a dinosaur skull “in one of the ridges east of the red rocks of the Garden of the Gods.” A few years later, the famous dinosaur collector O.C. Marsh obtained the fossil skull, identified it as a Camptosaurus dinosaur, and shipped it to the Yale Museum in New Haven, Connecticut.

Then, somehow over the decades, knowledge of the 1878 dinosaur discovery became lost to the Colorado Springs community. While the dinosaur fossil languished in relative obscurity in the Yale Museum, it was forgotten about locally – until 1995.

Dinosaur exhibit at Garden of the Gods Visitor Center

Rediscovery – 117 years later
In 1995, Lenore Fleck and I (then City Park Interpreters at Garden of the Gods) were researching and writing many of the new exhibits for the Garden of the Gods Visitor & Nature Center (then under construction) and were trying to find out what kind of dinosaurs may have lived in this area. Local geology information did not have any record of a dinosaur fossil ever being found within the Garden of the Gods.

However, when we contacted expert paleontologists Kirk Johnson and Ken Carpenter at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Ken Carpenter completely surprised us when he said, “I think I have an article in my files about a dinosaur fossil that was found in Garden of the Gods. If I find it, I’ll send it to you.”

Luckily, he found it! The article was written in 1891 and stated: Camptosaurus amplus No. 1887, Yale Museum, consisting of portions of the skull and lower jaw. It was collected…from deposits in the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado. With this specimen was found the following note in Professor O.C. Marsh’s handwriting “Part of this animal and various Sauropoda bones were taken out by Professor Kerr in 1878.” Continue Reading »

Few communities can boast that the symbol of Rocky Mountain wilderness grazes within their city limits. But that is exactly the case in Colorado Springs where Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep are often spotted on the ridges north of Garden of the Gods Park.

Origins of the Bighorn Festival
In late 2005, John Koshak of the Colorado Division of Wildlife encouraged the staff of Garden of the Gods Park, Visitor and Nature Center to organize an event to celebrate our official State Mammal. A “Bighorn Sheep Festival” would also highlight the 60th anniversary of the re-introduction of Bighorn Sheep to the Colorado Springs area. The inaugural Bighorn Festival was held on the Saturday of Presidents Day weekend in 2006. Even on a frigid day with single-digit temperatures, over a thousand people attended that first Festival. They were excited to gaze through powerful telescopes to observe the majestic Bighorn Sheep grazing on the rocky ridges of their natural habitat.

Bighorn Ram photo by Bret Tennis

In February 2010, I enjoyed attending the 5^th Annual Bighorn Sheep Festival as a citizen, instead of being on the park staff. As in the last four years, the Bighorns attended their own Festival, basking in the winter sun on east-facing hillsides in clear view of the Visitor Center. In addition to observing huge bighorn rams, we visitors watched a separate herd of about 50 bighorn ewes grazing on sparse winter grasses farther up the mountain. Continue Reading »

Rediscovering The Sunset Ritual and Migration Drama
of the
White-throated Swifts in Garden of the Gods Park

Swifts and the National Natural Landmark Designation
Throughout 2009, the Centennial Celebration of Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs gave us the opportunity to reflect upon the Park’s “magnificence as a common treasure” and to learn more about its natural and cultural history. One of the highlights of the celebration was Dr. Richard Beidleman’s Centennial Lecture about our Park’s National Natural Landmark designation. Dr. Beidleman is a renowned ecologist and Colorado College Professor Emeritus of Biology. In 1969, after years of field study, Dr. Beidleman wrote and submitted our Park’s application to the Department of Interior. Two years later in 1971, the Garden was officially designated as a National Natural Landmark (NNL).

Gateway Rocks of Garden of the Gods Park and Pikes Peak

During Dr. Beidleman’s Centennial Lecture, he described how the Garden, with its outstanding geologic formations and scenic grandeur, met the official NNL criteria. However, one of the criteria for becoming a NNL is not as well known: a seasonal haven for the concentrations of native animals, or a vantage point for observing concentrated populations, such as a constricted migration route. The NNL documents state: “The Garden of the Gods affords one of the best habitats in Colorado for White-throated Swifts. One of the largest summer and migratory roosting sites for the White-throated Swifts along the Rocky Mountain Front Range is located at Gateway Rocks. It is a concentration point during fall and spring migration for the Swifts.” Continue Reading »